Business plan crits, comments and feedback

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Comment by Adrian Frielinghaus on April 13, 2011 at 17:54

@Danny yes we're the Moonbase guys. DD could work on MXit. We should meet for a coffee sometime :)

 

1. Well... getting a loan is usually a different process altogether, and seldom works for high-risk ventures like this, unless you personally stand surety, in which case they're more interested in how credit-worthy you are than how sexy the business is.

2. Wow. Minecraft is hot, milk that angle.

3. By meaningless marketing numbers I meant don't include some Gartner study that says Indie games will be worth $3bn globally by 2015. Focus on conrete and relevant examples (like Minecraft),and definitely include and perhaps beef up the detailed implementation stuff you have for the marketing plan. 

4. If you're looking to fund development of multiple games, leave in the section that explains your game development process. If you want to fund one game, leave it out.

Comment by Peter van der Watt on April 13, 2011 at 17:53

 

If you wanted to stick with trying to get project financing perhaps looking at film councils or some such might be a good place to start (although I didn't have much luck with this in the eastern cape)

 

SPII have recently changed their rules around applying for funding and you might actually be able to claim the amount you have already spent (or at least a portion of it) back and further fund project that way

http://www.spii.co.za

 

I would definitely add a small case study on Minecraft and duly mention you thumped it :)

 

 

 

Comment by Danny Day on April 13, 2011 at 17:35

Ah, now we're talking :)

 

@Peter: We actually met the Indie Fund team at the IGF when they revealed their initial crop of games. I'd just applied a few days before we flew off to the US, too close to the conference for it to have been included in their most recent round of application reviews. Still haven't heard anything back from them via official channels, my understanding is that the combination of being really far away and the relatively small amount we're asking for might have made things trickier for them.

 

Yes, this document is aimed at project funding, not business level funding. Although if there was significant interest I guess we'd look at changing that... I think you're touching on a similar point to Adrian with the lack of a 3-5 plan: The previous document had all that in it, but was written pre-DD, so we had all these other games that had done well or won smaller competitions and suddenly we sidelined them in order to follow the opportunity that DD represented. I think that's why I wrote the How QCF Kicks A** section the way I did - it's a systemic representation of how we're going to continue to work, but that means it lacks concrete future forecasting, which is what I think Adrian picked up on.

 

We're working on getting pre-orders ready to go at the moment, actually. Got our PayPal talking to a new FNB account, got the back-end done and most of the in-game account integration, working on the site right now. Just trying to avoid any lean months if at all possible and allow us to expand the team before pre-orders start, that way we don't chase away customers with coder art.

 

@Adrian: You're the MoonBase guys, hi! Mxit reps love you. Why don't you come to more game dev community events? ;) Thanks for the points, they're really good.

1. So you're saying that a debt-securing plan would include information about our personal equity/assets for surety purposes?

2. The Minecraft case study could work, DD is one of only two games to "beat" Minecraft at the IGF/Game Developers Choice Awards this year (it won every other category it was nominated for).

3. Ok, so the marketing plan numbers aren't informative enough (hence meaninglessness), so we should go with a longer-term forecast? Hmm. We could start talking about DLC/expansion schedules then too I guess.

4. Any ideas on how I should change that section? Cut it completely or just shorten it a lot and maybe leave out the previous games?

 

Thanks for the comments! Keep them coming :)

Comment by Peter van der Watt on April 13, 2011 at 16:57

this might also be of use if you haven't come across it yet.

 

http://indie-fund.com/

 

 

Comment by Peter van der Watt on April 13, 2011 at 16:46

 

 

Howzit Danny,

 

firstly congratz on the IGF win! And DD is an addictive little monster that won't stay quite for very long before it needs replaying.

 

Secondly, I've read the plan a few times now and each time it comes across as if you are seeking project finance as apposed to company financing.

Have you considered changing the angle of the business plan to perhaps include DD as one of the many titles you are planning to create. Having gone through the same exercise a few months ago, any of the investors that read the initial drafts wanted to know more about the period after the 1st release of game. As Adrian says that would include a 3-5 financial plan.

 

Had any luck with trying to pre-sell the game? You you might be able to boot-strap the rest of the development that way.

 

cheers

 

Peter

Comment by Adrian Frielinghaus on April 13, 2011 at 16:35

Hi Danny

Congratulations on the game, it's a really good piece of work. I've read the business plan once and here are my comments. [For context I worked at Naspers for 10 years doing business plans and similar work in various digital sectors around the world, and now I run an online gaming company in CT called Blue Leaf Games].

1. I am not sure this is the right kind of plan to use to secure debt funding... typically lenders are more concerned about what security you are willing to provide for the loan than in market forecasts. Then again, this is a very risky venture so anyone putting money in is more likely to want equity - in which case the plan is closer to the mark but you'll need to reconsider your fundraising approach.

2. The passion and enthusiasm of the team definitely comes through, and I get a very strong impression that you have stumbled upon something of a cult indie hit. To excite investors though it would be great to get some kind of idea of how big this thing can be - perhaps a case study on Minecraft would do the trick better than a bunch of meaningless market forecasts. It sounds like you could make a case that DD has a chance to be the next Minecraft and point to some numbers that get the pulse racing.... but again, only equity investors would get excited by the idea of a small chance of getting a big payout.

3. Use of funds - any provider of funds will want to know exactly what they will be used for. Standard form is to break out a 3- or 5- year income statement forecast that shows where the money will go and of course all the awesome revenue that will come. For a business plan this doc is definitely light on the numbers - the explanations are good but anyone with a financial background will want to see an income statemet.

4. I don't personally think the "How does QCF kick a**" section is all that relevant. You're trying to say that your process is better at unearthing hits but really you should be focusing on the hit you have already unearthed and the potential money that can be made with it.

Anyway that's about it. Apart from the points above I think it's a punchy document that reads well and gets its points across well. Think about the debt/equity question though, it could change your approach.

Adrian

Comment by Simon de la Rouviere on April 13, 2011 at 15:24

I think in that case, it would be best to have 2 copies. One that piques the interest and if investors are more interested, then give them the bigger business plan with more info?

Comment by Danny Day on April 13, 2011 at 15:21

@Rene I've been through hundreds of business plan articles, guides and helpers. That's helped me get this initial framework document. What I'd like now is feedback on this, for instance: Is this simple enough, or am I leaving out important information (like Simon suggests)? Have I indicated that I've done my research, if not, how could I show that better? Have I properly indicated my (and my team's) passion for what we do?

Comment by Rene Truter on April 13, 2011 at 15:16

Hi Danny - I'm not sure if you've seen my website, the SME Toolkit South Africa. It has a Business Plans category with guidelines for writing your Business Plan and even an article on preparing your Business Pitch.
My quick tips would be:
*keep it simple
*show that you know what you're talking about/that you've done your research. i.e. Don't thumbsuck
*try and bring out your own passion for your idea/business. The person evaluating the plan is evaluating you as well.
Big ups to you for being brave enough to ask for crits/feedback. Can only add value.

Comment by Danny Day on April 13, 2011 at 15:07

@Simon The old plan had a lot of stuff like that in it, industry studies, examples, etc. Bloated it to 21 pages, it's one of the first things I cut in order to streamline for a loan application - how many more people feel it's important?

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