Your task is to advise an investment group on emerging opportunities and prepare a briefing paper on an opportunity that you believe they should (AUD500k), or should not invest in.
This assessment will be conducted in pairs.
Pairs will be automatically assigned by the MyUni system.
Your task is to take the lens of a venture capitalist and research an opportunity of interest to deliberate whether or not you would invest AUD500K. This task is important for anyone aiming to get involved in the world of entrepreneurship for two main reasons: (1) understanding some aspects of the due diligence process is crucial for all entrepreneurs as this will help them capture the expectations of investors and enhance their ability to raise capital; (2) deliberating as to whether or not a business or a business idea is a good opportunity helps develop a framework to which entrepreneurs can refer when evaluating their own venture.
As this is a foundations course and a general introduction to entrepreneurship, you will primarily be asked to look into the features of the business, market, industry, trends, forms of entrepreneurship, resources and capital structure. You are not expected to analyse the business using complex financial and valuation models as this angle of analysis is beyond the scope of this course. The aim is to analyse the opportunity by referring to entrepreneurship concepts and theory.
You are asked to choose a business that is either (1) already listed or is about to get listed as a public company on a stock exchange (e.g. ASX, NASDAQ, LESG, New York Stock Exchange, Ethereum, etc.), or (2) a new start-up that is currently part of an accelerator, or is being funded by venture capital firms. Remember that the easier it is to find information about the opportunity at hand and its market/industry, the better the analysis and deliberation. The business to be analysed need to be founded within the past 15 years, no more. Avoid the large organizations such as Google, Facebook, Linkedin, Amazon, Tesla, etc.
In-depth research is required in this task and the provision of information from different sources is needed in order to make a rational decision. You can use industry and market reports to analyse the context of the opportunity. You can refer to interviews, press releases, annual reports, announcements or any information published by the business or its related stakeholders. If not published by the business or related stakeholders, avoid using blogs, news articles, vlogs or any types of content that consist of point of views rather than evidence based work.
Each pair member:
- Individually each pair member should identify and research an example of an opportunity that they see existing.
- Each pair member should prepare a short one page brief to share with their team outlining the opportunity for exploration (Include this brief in the appendices section of the report).
The pair:
- Select the opportunity that you wish to further explore as a group.
- The pair must develop an analysis of the opportunity by referring to the opportunity screening tool (provided an explained during the course). The tool will allow:
- Exploring the opportunity in the context of the various forms of entrepreneurship covered in the unit.
- Exploring the market, industry, competition, etc.
- Examining the business model, resources and capital structure
- Drawing conclusions about the particular opportunity (pros and cons) by taking a short-term and long-term approach.
- When deliberating, the pair needs to conclude as to whether or not they would invest the AUD500k and why.
You must write a report examining your analysis. You can use the opportunity screening tool to structure your report, however, this is not mandatory.
A structure similar to this is suggested:
- Executive Summary and Opportunity Overview
- Introduction
- Opportunity overview
- Market
- Finance and Resources
- Environment
- Discussion (Deliberation) and Conclusion
Time / word limits
- Report: 2500 words for pair groups of 2 people and 3750 words for groups of 3 [Write as much as, and no more than, you need to. Aim to be concise]
You will need to be organised to complete this task effectively. A suggested timeline is below:
|
Week |
Tasks |
|
4 |
Finalise pairs |
|
5-6 |
Choose opportunity for exploration |
|
7 – 10 |
Research and develop your analysis |
|
11-12 |
Organise, prepare and submit your report |
Rubric
Assignment 2 – In the Shoes of the Investor
| Criteria | Ratings | Pts | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
This criterion is linked to a learning outcomeWriting style and presentation (5%)• Visual appeal: cover page, font, headings, white space, professionalism |
|
1.5 pts |
|||||
|
This criterion is linked to a learning outcomeOpportunity identification (40%)• Identification of opportunity |
|
12 pts |
|||||
|
This criterion is linked to a learning outcomeResources, Finance and Environment (40%)• Identification of risks and forms of finance |
|
12 pts |
|||||
|
This criterion is linked to a learning outcomeConclusions (10%)• Most significant challenges with the opportunity |
|
3 pts |
|||||
|
This criterion is linked to a learning outcomeResearch effort and correct use of references (5%)• References used are relevant to content |
|
1.5 pts |
|||||
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Total points: 30 |
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