Our value proposition

Given the non-profit nature of our venture, our primary source of uniqueness and distinctiveness is built on the core idea of intangible value. Our idea is a concept of competence-enhancing innovation, our information is customized to the needs of the synthetic biology entrepreneurs and our goal is to build a collaborative space to connect scientists to all stakeholders in the synthetic biology business development process via the introduction of a virtual directory.

Our Business Model: Pursuing the Hybridized Model

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Target Market

Our aim is to initially provide this service offering to the iGEM community within the Americas. The iGEM community is a prime example of an inclusive network that has not only expanded in terms of number of participants, but also in terms of its diversity. Teams are not only bringing forth ideas, but prototypes that have the opportunity to be commercialized. The regionals are being held in cities where the integration of synthetic biology technology and entrepreneurship are highly valued. Our portal is a method to retain the connections that were built within iGEM events, but also help to facilitate those that were missed.

Our target market milestone map is proposed below. Essentially the plan indicates that a pilot phase with the 2012 iGEM Entrepreneurship participants will allow us to gage the interest level and also identify opportunities for enhancements. Thereafter, the portal will be launched to the iGEM community within the Americas, and soon to the rest of the international cohort.

ROI

In every business plan, it is imperative that as financial backing is being sought, the investors understand that there is a structure in place for them to receive a return on their investment. For every dollar the investors put in, it is critical they understand to what end their money is going and the manner in which they can expect to get it back.

For some investors, the aspect of time comes into place. The question of ‘when’ their returns will be actualised will need to be addressed. This means that a metric to measure the performance of their investment needs to be created. This metric will be required to determine the relative success of their investment. In most cases, the metric is measured as follows:

ROI= (Gain from Investment-Cost from Investment)/Cost of Investment

The above equation is a simple and highly versatile measure of an investor’s returns as a positive value indicates a gain for the investor whereas a negative value indicates a loss from the investment. Furthermore, the magnitude of the positive (or negative) value can be used to compare different company performances since the ROI value can be expressed as a percentage. However, it is important that the calculation methodologies are similar.

In the case of our website portal, BizBricks, it is important to list out all the gains and costs that will be derived from investment into the portal. The portal will provide several intangible benefits as well as potential avenues for revenue generation which shall be factored into the gains.

*These aspects of the portal are not concrete and have not been incorporated into the prototype of the portal. They simply represent potential avenues for growth and opportunities to leverage the success of the portal itself. As it stands, BizBricks remains a non-profit venture.

Opportunities for Return on Investment when contributing to the funding of the portal

Due to the fact that the portal will be launched as a non-profit project, and that all financial contributions will be directly placed to help the BizBricks portal grow, monetary returns ought not be in the primary interests for investors.

The portal is an initiative to bridge the gap between Synthetic Biology in the lab and in entrepreneurship; this gap leaves a business vacuum that an educational tool is required to fill. As with most public goods, the market will fail to provide this service whereby there is no direct monetary return on investment.

However, given the eventual social good that may possibly be generated with more entrepreneurs from a rapidly emerging scientific field such as more successful start-ups and subsequent job creation, this is an opportunity for an investor to play a part in correcting a form of market failure.

For non-profit projects such as these, there are two general types of returns investors can receive from funding the portal:

1. Return on Community
The return which causes an influential change onto the community to be more engaged in the portal. By investing in the Bizbricks portal, examples of the return on community include:

CSR Fulfilment

This focuses on corporate investors who would be interested in backing the BizBricks portal with their company name/brand. By investing in an open portal, companies will have the opportunity to actively participate in the growth of a young field with plenty of opportunity in both the corporate and educational world. Corporate financial backing is a win-win situation for the company as their name radiates positively in their involvement in a non-profit venture and they also get a first hand opportunity to interact with community members in an emerging field with potential for exponential growth. This would definitely assist in aggregating and attracting potential future stakeholders in the field of bioentrepreneurship.

An example of the potential benefits of a good corporate image being reflected on the bottom line is Whole Foods. They would be an example of a company whose CSR has definitely helped them to be known to the public; they have donated $10 million in low-interest loans to help fund local and microentrepreneurs. This helped Whole Foods to be ranked in Corporate Responsibility Officer’s “Top 100 Best Corporate Citizens” in 2007, as well as an array of other environment-friendly awards which helped move their brand name forward through its good reputation.

Stronger networking within the synthetic biology industry

Greater collaboration within the synbio industry can be induced with this portal. Often in an industry that has been greatly tainted by intellectual property battles and heavy patenting, entrepreneurs may be hesitant to move into the industry for fear of getting caught up in litigation.

Networking within this community in such a niche field may ultimately lead to greater levels of trust within the industry and lower levels of suspicion which ultimately fuels protectionist measures such as heavy patenting.

2. Return on Cause/Social Mission
This refers to the manner in which the actual portal itself will be able to grow and result in a greater positive social change.

As mentioned earlier, there exists a market failure whereby the Synthetic Biology industry does not have enough access to entrepreneurial literature and accounts relevant to their field. On the flip side, the potential for creation of employment opportunities via more successful start ups will remain untapped in the current conditions. Consider the success of Genentech, considered among the premier biotechnology firms employing 13,000 in 2011# and one of the best places to work according to several rankings over the years.

The trickle down effect of a synthetic biology startup with access to the information on best practices and accounts from industry leaders in the local community cannot be understated.

From another perspective, it is likely that synthetic biology may have answers for social issues that affect the livelihoods of a community. Consider an innovation that allows for quicker sanitization of water or a more efficient sewage system in lower income communities. The lack of information on how to successfully commercialise this innovation leads creates a lag from innovation to potential consumer. The gap that exists between this innovation and successful commercialization slows down the speed at which synthetic biology can see its products creating a positive change in the affected community. The community continues to struggle with poor sanitation and/or a struggling sewage system while a product that could possibly improve their livelihoods lies stuck at the entrepreneurship bottleneck.

Potential For Revenue Generation

In the table above, we outlined possible avenues in which the BizBricks portal could potentially generate revenue. We will briefly expound on these opportunities since we shall include them as part of the ROI model.

1. Premium educational content

Based on the growth and popularity of the educational portal, it is possible to charge users for content. However, it is important to note that this will have to occur once the portal has crossed a certain user base threshold and level of activity. At this point, once the portal has greatly advanced and evolved to have several users who will have been greatly satisfied by the free content, only then can premium content be created.

Several business models have been based around the offering of free content first and ultimately charging users for more detailed and expanded content. One such example is AVG, offering anti-virus and anti-malware products. Currently it has over 106 million users of which 15 million are premium subscribers# who opted for an enhanced product having been subscribed to the free service. This represents just under 15% of users who opted to enhance their experience and pay for premium content. This model can be replicated onto the BizBricks portal as an avenue for revenue generation.

2. Network opportunity fee

As an emerging field such as Synthetic Biology, there are few structured settings in place whereby entrepreneurs can meet and share their experiences. Due to the fact that this field is emerging, extensive authoritative peer-reviewed literature is also hard to come by hence entrepreneurs seeking information on current trends and practices in the field would find opportunities to network with existing entrepreneurs a huge resource.

For existing entrepreneurs there is an opportunity to learn from the experiences of others in the same industry and exchange ideas on how to deal with industry challenges such as regulations and intellectual property.

Given this opportunity for networking, having gathered a large and diverse user base, it would be possible to introduce a networking service amongst users. The level of intimacy of interaction of users could be leveraged for a fee i.e. paid subscribers will have greater access to certain information and individuals as well as present themselves for networking. This business model would be similar to that of LinkedIn.

Other Possible Rewards

The potential return on investment as outlined above gives the monetary and non-monetary returns that are measurable. However, there is another avenue whereby the investor may gain in a manner that could far outweigh the above benefits. This lies in the possibility of opportunity.

It is difficult to compute and measure the value of an opportunity. It is also difficult to include it as a concrete benefit in the return on investment chart. However, the fact that investors will continuously meet and be introduced to new innovations in the synthetic biology industry via the portal means they will have very early exposure to potential money-making ideas/innovations.

Hence, exposure to opportunity is a very feasible opportunity for large returns on investment for an investor into the BizBricks portal. The fact that synthetic biology is still such a young field means that the early exposure to the current happenings in the industry could have large payoffs in the long run for an early investor.