Educational Software Business Plan

Third Degree I.D. is a limited-liability company (LLC) with three founding partners, located in Savannah, Georgia. The company designs, develops, and markets instructional products and services for the corporate, education, government, and healthcare e-learning industries. It is committed to high quality instructional design and educational new media development, and provides a core deliverable of programs, courses, and learning objects for the distance education, distributed learning, and e-learning markets.

The company employs an object-oriented design methodology that yields flexible, scalable, and reusable content, supporting clients with rich, targeted solutions that are easily replicated and maintained. It seeks a balanced portfolio of clients from a variety of industry sectors, and plans to mitigate business  fluctuations with an appropriate number of local, national, and international clients.

Third Degree I.D. develops strategic relationships and builds its business on a returning customer base and an accumulation of educational content that can be re-purposed and re-sold.

The three founding partners of Third Degree I.D. will each invest $35,000 into the company, and are seeking an additional two-year loan of $30,000 to complete the start-up funding. Roughly $19,000 of this initial funding is required for start-up expenses and assets; the remainder will provide a cash basis for the initial year of operations, during which Third Degree I.D. will provide some at-cost work to influential clients to create a solid reputation for our work and capabilities; this reputation forms the necessary basis for marketing and sales strategies after the first year.

Our market research shows our sales goal of $360,000 in the first year is conservative, for a start-up educational software company with our combined expertise. Growth estimates in years 2 and 3 are based on data from comparable businesses in the same industry.

1.1 Objectives

Key objectives for Third Degree I.D. in the first year are as follows:

• Establish a legal business through appropriate licensing.
• Complete business planning and pursue funding–via venture capital, bank loans, grants, and contracts.
• Establish a web presence and list products and services in industry-relevant websites and publications.
• Contract with six  to eight clients requiring consulting, training, design or development work of an appropriate scope ($50,000 or more).

1.2 Mission

Third Degree I.D. designs, develops, and markets instructional products and services for the corporate, education, government, and healthcare e-learning industries. It affords companies and institutions cost-effective, progressive, flexible and well supported solutions to their instructional design and e-learning operational needs. Its principal goal is client satisfaction, serving client interests as an ally and loyal business partner. The company operates on a for-profit basis and provides an engaging and equitable work environment for its owners, employees, and contractors.

1.3 Keys to Success

Success will be dependent upon:

• persistent and creative client development efforts
• exceptional product and service quality
• time-efficient and cost-effective development processes
• expert management and knowledgeable staff
• cash-savvy growth strategies