Raising Entrepreneurial Capital

CASE 4.2 WEB WIRED

The following is an abridged version of an actual business plan (the names

have been changed) that was used to secure financ ing. As you read through

the plan, try to answer the following questions:

. What is the market size for Web Wired? Is their niche well defined?

. Do their revenue projections seem realistic? What about their profit

projections?

. What barriers to entry do they have to protect themselves?

. How effective does their marketing strategy seem?

. Does the management team inspire confidence?

. Are the financials sufficient?

. If you were the venture capitalist, would you invest $10 milli on in this

company at this stage?

WEB WIRED BUSINESS PLAN

C

HANGE EXECUTION ASSURANCE FOR OUTSOURCED

MANUFACTURING

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

C

OMPANY

Web Wired was founded in July 1999 to meet the demand by global

corporations for software integrating business and prod uction processes

across outsourced partnerships and supply chains.

Web Wired’s web-based ap plications automate processes controlling the

ripple effects of product revisions or infrastructure changes as they impact a

company’s staff, suppliers, customers, and agencies.

Web Wired technology is proven in large-scale applications within global-

100 companies including Lucent Technologies and BP. As part of their

outsourced manufacturing initiative, Lucent Technologies is implementing

Web Wired technology to coordinate multi-process, multi-site, and out-

sourced supplier manufacturing activity. Approximately 980 Lucent sup-

pliers, including giant s like Intel, Motorola, JDS Uniphase, and Solectron,

will interact with Lucent using Web Wired technol ogy. These suppliers

represent substantial follow-on sales opportunities for Web Wired.

At BP, Web Wired has implemented an application coordinating changes

to BP’s global information technology infrastructure. The application

140 Determining the Amount Needed—The Business Plan

delivers IT change-control covering 160 countries. As with Lucent Tech-

nologies suppliers, W eb Wired is pursuing sales opportunities with suppliers

to BP, such as Williams Corpor ation and MCI/WorldCom.

Headquartered near Seattle, Web Wired has 24 employees and 22 con-

tractors. Since incorporation in July 1999, the Com pany has raised two

rounds of private equity financing totaling nearly $5 million. The latest

round of financing, Series B Preferred, closed in May 2000, raising

$3 million.

TECHNOLOGY,PRODUCTS, AND BENEFITS

Web Wired develops distributed (‘‘peer-to-peer’’) software technology

that connects independent users, processes, or business systems to form

tightly integrated, action-focused communities. Web-based, the technology

deploys instantly, enabling end-users to get started without having to face

long, exhaustive implementation cycles.

Web Wired provides simple authoring tools to allow customers to quickly

define and share processes or user-interfaces, while robust integration

middleware allows a two-way connection to legacy systems. Web Wired

technology is therefore particularly suited to complex processes involving

coordination of multiple business partners located anywhere in the world.

Web Wired applications currently include: Quality Control Management,

Supplier Coordination, Customer Issue Management, and Infrastructure

Change Management. Web Wired will leverage its technology to offer

additional applications, either created on-the-fly on the customer’s site, or

by implementing pre-defined best-practice templates developed by consult-

ing partners.

MARKET,GROWTH, AND COMPETITIVE OVERVIEW

AMR Research estimates that by 2001, U.S. manufacturers alone will

spend $1.7 billion on supply-chain collaboration tools, with spending

growth initially exceeding 600% annually. Web Wired has entered this

market with products initially targeting outsourc ed manufacturing coordin-

ation. Overall, the market for e-collaboration applications is expected to

grow to about $50 billion by 2001 (source: IDC Corp).

Today, Web Wired’s principal competition comes from in-house, legacy,

and ‘‘shoe-horned’’ solutions, as well as manual e-mail, fax, and phone-based

systems. These solutions rarely extend outside company boundaries and lack

automation, scalability, and extensibility. In addition, products introduced

Determining the Amount Needed—The Business Plan 141