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Ardubeeno Business

Plan April 2014

Joe Hounsham, Rob Sparks, Ali Bird, Paddy Selman and Beth Moore

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Contents

Executive Summary 4

Company Overview 6

2.1 Ardubeeno Mission, Vision and values statement 6

2.2 Products Offered 7

2.3 Business Model Summary 7

2.4 Major Business Goals 8

2.5 Unique Attributes 9

2.6 Business Opportunity We Plan To Seize 10

Business Environment 12

3.1 Industry Overview 12

3.2 Barriers to entry 12

3.3 Market Segmentation 14

3.4 Ideal Customer Profile 18

3.5 Competitor Analysis 21

Company Strategy 29

4.1 Business Model 29

4.2 Business Goals 32

4.3 Marketing Strategy 34

4.4. Marketing Objectives 36

4.5 Marketing Tactics 36

4.6 Marketing Plan Implementation 37

4.7 Plans for Growth 38

4.8 Exit Strategy 39

Company Description 42

5.1 Introductory Highlights 42

5.2 Products Offered 42

5.3 Research and development 43

5.4 Operations 43

5.5 Sales and marketing 44

5.6 Distribution and delivery 45

5.7 Managment 46

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5.8 Organisation 47

6.1 Description of Product 49

6.2 Marketing Budget 49

6.3 Business Location 49

6.3.1 Formation Zone 49

6.3.2 The city of Plymouth 50

6.4 Pricing Strategy 51

6.5 Market Segmentation 51

Financial Review 52

7.1 Projected Cashflow 53

7.2 Key Assumptions 53

7.3 Income Statment 54

7.4 Long Term Plan 54

7.5 Master Budget 54

7.6 Finance Sheets 55

Action Plan 62

8.1 Short-term Goals 62

8.2 Immediate Objectives 62

8.3 Next Steps 63

8.4 Possible Questions 63

Appendices 64

9.1 CV’s of key personnel 64

9.2 Organisational chart with positions and responsibilities 73

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Executive Summary

With the huge amount of environmental data available, today’s ubiquitous computing environment where

sensors and computers talk to each other provides the opportunities to harness this data. Our first product

is the Bee box. This device is retro fitted to existing bee hives and contains temperature, humidity, weight,

tilt and sound sensors to measure all environmental factors within a bee hive. This data is then wirelessly

transferred to the Ardubeeno users’ virtual hive on the Ardubeeno website. The website allows bee

keepers to remotely access their hive data, view live hive conditions and review historical hive data. Alerts

can be set up if a bee hive falls over or is damaged, or if certain environmental thresholds are detected. A

key factor in the Ardubeeno business model is the ability for bee keepers to compare their hive conditions

with one another, to see which ones produce a higher yield of honey. Through this power of collaboration

we aim to see a sustainable increase in bee population and honey yield.

A customer base is initially consisting of non-commercial bee keepers in the UK. Through our contacts at a

local produce organisation, we will be releasing the first stage of bee boxes to these hives. Once the

relevant product testing has been completed and teething issues ironed out, we will seek to push this

product out to commercial bee keepers internationally, especially the USA and Australia where similar bee

population declines are occurring. Primary distribution channels include exhibitions, bee keeping

organisation meetings and online via our website. Due to niche nature of our product, a lot of customers

will here about Ardubeeno from fellow bee keepers who have the system install. This word of mouth

marketing will be crucial to the success of Ardubeeno.

Our key objectives for Ardubeeno moving forward are the following: Full product testing and launch of the

beebox, industry wide recognition from beekeepers and a collaboration between us and bee keepers.

Within 5 years Ardubeenos objectives are: An increase of bee colonies In the UK, a subsequent increase in

honey yield, identification of key environmental detriments that lead to bee population declines.

Our product range will be extended to provide similar monitoring solutions to farmers of crops and

livestock. Our innovative qualities and skills in the fast-paced technical environment allow us to keep ahead

of competitors.

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Company Overview

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Company Overview

2.1 Ardubeeno Mission, Vision and values statement

Mission

There is a nationwide crisis forming from the decline in bee population and we need technology to help us

understand why this is occurring. Ardubeenos mission is to use our state of the art technology to help

beekeepers manage their hives and collect data for use by the wider scientific company. We have a strong

desire to make a sizeable impact in halting the decline of bee populations, and using our technology we

envision a sustainable future for bee colonies in the United Kingdom.

Vision

To provide a low-cost monitoring device for all types of beekeeper, which helps stimulate their

passion for beekeeping.

To provide a service to beekeepers world wide and encouraging the sharing of hive data to improve

the future prospects for bee colonies, as well as accessible open-source data for the use by the

wide scientific community.

We don’t want to change the way beekeepers go about their hobby, rather, make their existence

processes and techniques more efficient and more effective.

Values

Collaboration

Ardubeeno is a social enterprise, and therefore one of our key values is collaboration between beekeepers

across the country using us as the mediator. The success of our company depends upon us working

together to solve this issue of bee population decline.

Open-Source

We also encourage our customers to suggest new ways to improve our products further and invite them to

make changes themselves. By allowing our customers to make reasonable changes to our technology or

processes, we hope to develop and innovate in the market place much quicker. This open-source

environment is one we are keen to build on as much as possible to get maximum input and innovation

ideas into the company.

Transparency

With the amount of data collected across the country, it is important that our customers and we as an

organisation operate in complete transparency. It is the accuracy of this data that will help the scientific

community make decisions and assumptions to the problem of bee population decline. Any data that isn’t

shared or adjusted in some way may hinder our company mission to finding a solution to this problem.

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2.2 Products Offered

Our current headlining product is known as the bee box, designed to help any owner of a bee hive to help

maintain optimum conditions for their colonies health and honey yield. The bee box monitors hive

conditions such as; temperatures, humidity, weight, tilt and sound which is then transmitted wirelessly to

the owner via a web portal or mobile application. Bee boxes can be installed in an abundance of hives

whilst simultaneously being managed under a single user-friendly application. The bee box itself is retro

fitted to a slide of a hive and will not interfere with honey production in hives. Alerts can be set up if a bee

hive falls over or is damaged, or if certain environmental thresholds are detected. A key factor in the

Ardubeeno business model is the ability for beekeepers to compare their hive conditions with one another,

to see which ones produce a higher yield of honey. Through this power of collaboration we aim to see a

sustainable increase in bee population and honey yield.

Our current speculation is that the bee box solution in its entirety will be produced for well under £100

making it a cost effective solution in comparison to our competitors. After speaking with local hive owners,

our bee box solution would benefit the beekeeping community drastically with the ability to alert the

owner about critical conditions of their hive.

One of the most useful applications for our device is detection of a scenario known as 'piping of the queen',

this occurs when there is more than one queen in a hive and can be catastrophic the hives welfare. During

piping the queen will release a series of vibratory sounds, which will inform workers that it is time to fight

for dominance over the hive. Our bee box can detect the sounds that the queen produces and alerts the

owner of the threat to their hive, without prior knowledge of this event hives can rapidly drop in population

due to internal conflictions.

2.3 Business Model Summary With the huge amount of environmental data available, today’s ubiquitous computing environment where

sensors and computers talk to each other provides the opportunities to harness this data. Our first product

is the Bee box. This device is retro fitted to existing bee hives and contains temperature, humidity, weight,

tilt and sound sensors to measure all environmental factors within a bee hive. This data is then wirelessly

transferred to the Ardubeeno users’ virtual hive on the Ardubeeno website. The website allows bee

keepers to remotely access their hive data, view live hive conditions and review historical hive data. Alerts

can be set up if a bee hive falls over or is damaged, or if certain environmental thresholds are detected. A

key factor in the Ardubeeno business model is the ability for bee keepers to compare their hive conditions

with one another, to see which ones produce a higher yield of honey. Through this power of collaboration

we aim to see a sustainable increase in bee population and honey yield.

A customer base is initially consisting of non-commercial bee keepers in the UK. Through our contacts at a

local produce organisation, we will be releasing the first stage of bee boxes to these hives. Once the

relevant product testing has been completed and teething issues ironed out, we will seek to push this

product out to commercial bee keepers internationally, especially the USA and Australia where similar bee

population declines are occurring. Primary distribution channels include exhibitions, bee keeping

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organisation meetings and online via our website. Due to niche nature of our product, a lot of customers

will here about Ardubeeno from fellow bee keepers who have the system install. This word of mouth

marketing will be crucial to the success of Ardubeeno.

Our key objectives for Ardubeeno moving forward are the following: Full product testing and launch of the

beebox, industry wide recognition from beekeepers and a collaboration between us and bee keepers.

Within 5 years Ardubeenos objectives are: An increase of bee colonies In the UK, a subsequent increase in

honey yield, identification of key environmental detriments that lead to bee population declines.

Our product range will be extended to provide similar monitoring solutions to farmers of crops and

livestock. Our innovative qualities and skills in the fast-paced technical environment allow us to keep ahead

of competitors.

2.4 Major Business Goals

We have identified the following business goals for us as a company to focus on and work towards

achieving by the specified date. These goals have been split into short term and long term in order for us to

differentiate and focus on one goal at a time.

Short Term

1. Secure funding

This goal is a crucial step towards development of the business further. We need to secure funding in order

to pay for our costs involved on developing our prototype, marketing our business and other costs relating

to the development such as staff costs and premises rent.

2. Successful beta testing phase

Once we have produced circa 30 devices, the beta testing phase will begin within the Southwest through

Tamar Grow Local beekeepers. This test will last 3 months from march to may, by which the outcomes of

the testing phase will allow us to develop the prototype into a more refined and reliable system in

preparation for final testing and product release.

3. Final product release

Release the product for general use within 18 months maximum of initial testing. The final product will

have been extensively tested and refined to give customers maximum confidence in what they are buying.

Provide aftercare support to customers.

Long Term

1. Identify further causation to the bee population decline

From our data that our customers have been collecting over a period of two years, analyse extensively and

produce possible causation and other factors that are influencing the bee population decline.

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2. Work with beekeepers and government to address the issue

Build our collaboration with the beekeepers and government further to understand reasons these factors

contributing to the bee population decline are happening. Continue to build a working group that helps

devise solutions to prevent some of these factors occurring. Links with the government should allow us to

implement large-scale strategies quickly across the country.

3. Expand our monitoring technology into other agricultural areas

Using our proprietary technology, we aim to expand into other agricultural monitoring and management

such as crop farming, livestock, and greenhouse regulation. These areas will essentially use similar sensing

systems to our bee hive monitor; however the environmental conditions will be vastly different. This goal

will be crucial to the development of the business into other markets and vastly increase its chances of

becoming hugely profitable. We aim to achieve this goal within 5 years.

2.5 Unique Attributes

Ardubeeno contain set of innovative characteristics that set us apart from our competitors in the market

and make us appealing to our customers.

• Directors all have technical experience in the foundations that make up our products.

• The company has at an early stage developed collaboration with a local produce distributor whom has an

array of beekeepers interested in our product.

• There are few competitors in the market for devices such as ours, however compared to them it is unique

in nature and provides greater functionality.

• The data can be stored to a national database for other bee keepers to review and share. Collaboration

over this data is a key Ardubeeno philosophy.

• After the device has been installed, it should require little upkeep and most technical maintenance

should be remotely possible.

• The Ardubeeno should be a low cost solution to monitoring multiple hives around the country, if it's a

success it could benefit not only collecting data for scientific research, but also aid the research into the

bee population decline.

• Ardubeeno as a company will intend to help spread the information for the perfect hive conditions, we

believe that our data should be open source and shared allowing others to improve their hives and honey

yield.

• Our Ardubeeno team consists of technically agile people, thus enabling us to react quickly to changes in

the market and come up with solutions quickly than other organisations.

• The Ardubeeno web interface will be built for multiple platforms, including IOS and Android, to make

sure we cover all customer bases

• The installation will be undertaken by us, to ensure full functionality and accurate readings from the

device.

• We will provide tutorials and training to beekeepers to help them understand how to get the most out of

Ardubeeno

• The Ardubeeno can help the UK to continue to produce natural honey and maintain our lush countryside.

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2.6 Business Opportunity We Plan To Seize Through our marketing research, we identified a gap in the market for any kind of technological monitoring

device for beekeepers to manage their beehives better. This is our main opportunity we want to seize first;

as the absence of stiff competition means we feel confident we can target this market quickly and

effectively. The following individual opportunities below are to help achieve the main opportunity above.

As well as additional opportunities that arise as our business develops further.

• If the device is successful in the UK, there is an opportunity to distribute it globally in particular New

Zealand and Australia where a majority of Manuka honey is produced.

• Using the data generated by Ardubeenos, establishing a working group with the government

sustainability departments to help tackle the bee declination further.

• Working with hive manufactures, Ardubeeno could be implemented from manufacture, reducing

installation costs and time for the company

• Through our contacts at a local produce organisation, we are able to receive support on the marketing of

Ardubeeno within their beekeeper community. This opportunity will provide an easy initial market

penetration.

• With the help of Ardubeeno we intend to monitor as many hives as possible to figure out if there is a

positive correlation between environmental conditions and the decline in population.

After the product has been on the market for a few years, we should have a sizable amount of data

generated from hives across the country. This data is what will form the basis of analysis for scientists

worldwide and we are keen to exploit the opportunity of being able to sell this data to organisations.

Potentially this opportunity will allow us to expand much faster through funds received from the data

sales.

One of our company ethos is using technology to help solve agricultural problems, so besides bees we

aim to establish ourselves in other agricultural markets such as supplying monitoring solutions to crop

and livestock farmers.

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Business Environment

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Business Environment

3.1 Industry Overview

According to a new market research report "Precision Farming Market by Technology (GPS/GNSS, GIS,

Remote Sensing & VRT), Components (Automation & Control, Sensors, FMS), Applications (Yield

Monitoring, VRA, Mapping, Soil Monitoring, Scouting) - Global Forecast & Analysis (2013 - 2018)" published

by MarketsandMarkets, the overall Global precision farming market will be worth $3,721.27 million by

2018, at an estimated CAGR of 13.36%.

The ever-increasing global food demands and environmental issues have plagued the countries across the

globe; there are growing concerns to tackle both the issues, simultaneously. In this challenging situation,

precision farming presents a way ahead by offering increasing yields, and at the same time, reducing the

wastage and environmental degradation. Precision farming is a technology based in field management

system that optimizes the overall farming practices and input resources. The major drivers for the global

Precision Farming Market are profitability & enhancement in the yields, government assistance, energy &

cost saving, and the growing agro industry. The restraints for the growth of this market are high initial

investments, and lack of technical know-how. The UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) and penetration by

broadband and mobile technologies are the key opportunities in the Precision Farming Market.

The global Precision Farming Market covers the entire industry on the basis of technology, hardware &

software component, application, and geography. The technology section covers different GPS and variable

rate technologies, along with their current and future estimations. Of all the major technologies, variable

rate technology is expected to register higher adoption rates for mass markets. The application section

covers yield monitoring, variable rate application, field mapping, soil monitoring, crop scouting, and others.

The applications such as variable rate applications and yield monitoring are expected to be the major

revenue generators for the Global precision farming market. The geographical analysis covers Americas,

Europe, APAC and ROW regions.

The major companies involved in the global precision farming industry are Deere & Company (U.S.), Trimble

Navigation Ltd. (U.S.), Raven Industries (U.S.), Precision Planting Inc. (U.S.), and AgJunction Inc. (U.S.),

among others. The U.S. will remain the leading market for the Americas precision farming, throughout the

forecasted period, due to their high adoption rate, financially strong growers, and continuous

development.

3.2 Barriers to entry

Research and development - Our primary barrier to entry is the research and development required to get

the product to a level that we feel ready for the mass consumer. This will involve multiple stages of

development which would involve building and testing different variants of hardware with the later

involving increasing amounts of testers that would be required to be equipped with our hardware for free

or at least at a reduced cost to compensate for the sporadic nature of a technology that is in development.

Customer loyalty - As there is a main competitor in this area already, there may be some who are already

using our competitors solutions who are reluctant to switch to us. This however would only likely be a small

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proportion as consumer loyalty is only typically an issue in the presence of established strong and long

standing brands, where as our competitor is also a very young company, meaning their users will be much

more likely to research and consider us even though we are also a new company.

Advertising - As there is already a similar company to ours, there may be a small advertising barrier to entry

through their small establishment in this area. Resources will have to be allocated to the production and

distribution of advertising to match our competitors and to outreach to new areas and demographics. This

will come in the form of targeted online advertising to UK residents with interests in beekeeping, as well as

personal outreach to beekeeping clubs and societies with the use of physical marketing materials and

demonstrations.

Switching barriers - Consumers already using our competitors solutions may be reluctant to switch due to

an investment already being made, especially as our solution is to be developed and marketed as a one

that is more cost effective.

Economy of scale - Because of the low size of the enthusiast and commercial agricultural monitoring

industry in the UK, there is little barrier to entry caused by the economics of scale, however this may be a

factor in the early stages of the business as we will be iterating the product frequently to an initially small

user base and would be unable to take advantage of any form of mass production.

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3.3 Market Segmentation

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3.4 Ideal Customer Profile

We feel that there is a broad range of demographics that the Ardubeeno product range is appropriate for,

we have condensed these down into three ideal customer profiles to aid us in producing solutions that are

as relevant for our consumers as possible. This will also aid us in creating marketing messages that will

resonate with as many potential clients as possible.

Sam Single Hive

About

Sam is a young modern individual with a fringe interest in beekeeping. He owns or rents a single hive on a

shared allotment, and has only been beekeeping or less than a few years. Beekeeping is not his primary

hobby, and as well as having a busy work and home life means that Simon does not always have the time to

check his hive as regularly as he should. He wants simple information presented in an attractive and easy to

digest fashion, accessible from devices such as his smartphone.

Ambition

Sam has little beekeeping ambition; in this early stage in his beekeeping life he would be happy to produce

any honey at all. Any honey that he would produce would be kept for personal consumption as well as

being given as gifts to friends and family. He hopes that the hive will allow him to teach his children about

nature and the environment.

Demographic

Typically male, Sam is the youngest of our three ideal customer profiles, generally between 25-35. He has a

family with children in which he and his partner both work full time jobs. Their income range would

generally fall with in the upper working/lower middle class boundary.

Other Likes

Sam is a modern individual who enjoys socialising with his friends and family typically at a pub or out with

other families. He is tech savvy and loves to have gadgets to show off to his. He enjoys taking his children

out and teaching them about nature, as they live in a generally built up area in which they are not very

exposed to it.

Concerns

Sam is familiar with a lot of the news surrounding bee populations, and is concerned about it, but would

not be proactive about helping unless it was a very simple thing to do so. He cares about the environment

in general and making sure that his children are aware of it.

Information Channels

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Sam is a fully online individual, rarely looking to traditional information outlets such as newspapers or

standard television, he obtains his news by browsing various news and social media sites on his

smartphone or laptop and him and his family watch television through a Netflix subscription. He may listen

to the radio but only when driving to work.

Purchasing Process

Sam is primarily an online shopper, generally purchasing most of his products and even the bulk of his food

shopping online. When researching a product to purchase, we will look to online user reviews as well as

dedicated review websites to find out which is the best for him.

Eric the Enthusiast

About

Eric is a recently retired gentleman with a love of beekeeping. He has a large handful of hives that are

growing all the time; these are typically in the garden of his country home. He has children that have

moved out and is looking for tools that allow him to better immerse himself in his hobby.

Demographic

Eric is an older man, typically ranging in the 45+ age bracket. He has a family although his children will have

moved away, and he may have some grandchildren. He will have some pets, typically dogs. His income

would fall into the middle to upper middle class boundary.

Ambition

Eric has been beekeeping for a while now and is becoming more focused on producing more honey at a

higher quality as opposed to simply keeping bees. While certainly keeping some honey for himself and his

friends and family, he hopes to have enough to sell at local stores and at village and town fairs. He is a

member of the local and nation beekeeping association and hopes to spread the hobby to his friends and

family as well as supporting projects that go into schools to teach children about beekeeping and the

environment.

Other Likes

Eric likes to enjoy his retirement by spending time with his friends and family, in which he enjoys teaching

his children and grandchildren about his hobbies, these include gardening, watching sports and going for

walks, as well as beekeeping and the environment in general. He enjoys being an active member of the

community, taking part in local fairs and is involved with the local council.

Concerns

Eric is very concerned the problems facing bee colonies domestically and internationally and would be

interested in any effort that could be reasonably made to aid this cause. He also has a deep concern for the

environment in general.

Information channels

While being by no means technophobic, Eric prefers to stick to traditional information channels such as

newspapers and television. Living in the country away from most shops he is no stranger to online shopping

for non grocery products.

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Purchasing Process

While Eric is aware of online resources and will conduct some research in these areas, he is more trusting

of other people's opinions that he knows, such as other beekeepers that have used a product. He is also

much more comfortable with a product if he has had a chance to see it in person and talk to someone who

was involved in making it.

Peter Pro Beekeeper

About

Peter is a professional beekeeper looking for solutions to allow him to streamline his beekeeping operation

and maximise the yield of his honey. Peter may have well over 100+ colonies in dedicated farmland and is

an expert in the fields of beekeeping and honey distribution. Peter is looking to buy in bulk and for the

equipment to require little individual set up to work as he will have to install many.

Demographic

Peter is an older male, typically between 35-45 and employs workers generally in a slightly younger age

bracket. He has a family although they are not actively involved with his beekeeping process.

Ambition

Peter’s ambition is to have as big of a honey growing operation that he can reasonably manage, utilising

industry leading tools to aid him in the optimal management of many hives at once. Peter may have well

over 100+ colonies and needs a reliable system that allows him to aggregate the data of his many systems

while being able to focus on one in particular if needed. He needs comprehensive analysis tools to allow

him to evaluate how the different conditions affect different elements of his hives. He hopes to use these

tools to become done of the leading beekeepers in the country.

Other Likes

As Beekeeping is Peters profession this leaves him up to a vast array of other possible interests, although it

is likely that he will have a strong interest in the environment and projects that help to maintain the nature

in his local area.

Concerns

Peter is deeply concerned with the problems facing bee populations domestically and internationally as this

directly affects his livelihood. He is prepared to but some investment into the area as he will see a direct

result from any advancements into the heath of bee populations as well as any solutions that improve the

efficiency or quality of beekeeping. As a professional he is likely to keep up to date with the latest research

and developments in all areas related to beekeeping.

Information Channels

While Peter is vary aware of the internet and the benefits it provides, especially though purchasing, he is

likely to acquire information about new solutions from trade shows and fellow beekeepers, as he feels that

these are sources that he can trust and personally investigate.

Purchasing Process

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Peter is happy to purchase products online, although any new purchases would first require either a small

batch testing phase or first hand experience for him to feel comfortable. He is a frequent visitor or trade

shows and would question a products credibility if it was not available to viewing at one of these events.

3.5 Competitor Analysis

Arnia

Arnia have developed what they claim to be the world’s first remote bee hive monitoring system that

allows beekeepers to monitor the status of their honey bee colonies from any internet enabled device.

Arnia is unique in combing hive acoustics monitoring with other parameters such as hive environment

conditions, hive weight and local weather conditions to provide a range of bee data.

The Arnia hive monitoring system has been developed through 3 years of research and field testing.

Officially launched in September 2013, their monitors are already installed in hundreds of hives in 5

different countries.

Pricing

The prices for a monitoring package are made up of two elements:

Hardware: This includes one hive monitor for each hive to be monitored and a monitor gateway for the

apiary which collects data from all the monitors and transmits it to the user interface.

Data Subscription: This covers the costs of data transmission from the apiary. This is a flat rate annual

subscription for all hives monitored at the apiary.

About

Newcastle-based Arnia secured the investment from the Finance for Business North East Proof of Concept

Fund – managed by Northstar Ventures – and will use it to carry out further research and development into

how sophisticated monitoring devices can measure bee activity, monitor bee health and help beekeepers

manage swarming.

Arnia’s founder, electronic engineer Dr Huw Evans said: “Crops such as almonds and apples are particularly

dependent on bee pollination – and a population collapse could threaten the production of some of our

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favourite tipples and delicacies. Every year, in places like California, almond farmers depend upon the bees

performing during the very small window of opportunity when pollination can occur.”

“Currently beekeepers, pollinators, farmers and food producers are dependent on someone donning

protective clothing once a week and looking into the hives to try and assess the health of the colony and

judging whether swarming is likely to occur. Not only is this time-consuming but it is also highly disruptive

for the bees.”

“Arnia’s technology is essentially a small device which monitors audio frequency signals produced within

the hive and sophisticated algorithms which identify patterns and changes in bee behavior. From that, we

can uniquely supply an accurate prediction of colony swarming several weeks in advance providing

beekeepers with ample time to effectively manage the swarm.”

“Furthermore, preliminary results indicate that we have the ability to identify the presence of some of the

most common factors that impact on the health of a colony, such as the Varroa destructor mite and the

Nosema apis parasite. The technology will also help us to investigate the potential impact which mobile

phone networks may or may not have on bees.”

Working closely with academic experts at Newcastle and Dundee Universities and the Scottish Beekeepers

Association, the company is now beginning a large-scale field trial of its prototype systems at over 100

beehives throughout Scotland – in a project led by Dr Chris Connolly as part of the government backed

‘Insect Pollinators Initiative’. This project provides Arnia with an ideal opportunity to undertake a

scientifically-controlled study that will provide valuable data and user feedback which will be used to

optimise the final operation of its systems.

Arnia is also working closely with the British Beekeepers’ Association (BBKA). Dr David Aston, Chair of the

BBKA Technical and Environmental Committee said, “We have followed Dr Evans’ work and are interested

not only in the swarm management applications of the technology he is developing, but also its potential

applications into many other areas of the biology and health status of the honey bee, as an aid to

beekeepers and also as a research tool.”

Strengths

• Time in the market has brought them far down the development process, to the point that they are

starting to roll out commercial shipping

• They have strong ties to multiple research organisations as well as the British Beekeepers Association

• They have some penetration in multiple countries

Weaknesses

• When launching the beekeeper expo last year feedback from beekeepers was the unit was overly

complicated for the hobbyist bee-keeper and too expensive

• Their web presence is unclean, clunky and many non subjective faults such as poor resolution images and

broken page elements

• Product is general double the price of our proposed product

Open Source Beehives

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'Open source beehives' is a recently funded Indigogo project from Denver, Colorado. The project hopes to

develop a 3D printable beehive complete with sensing equipment that hopes to make beekeeping more

accessible to more people. They are marketed primarily as a social project with tackling colony collapse

disorder as their primary motivation.

Their Indigogo page reads:

“We're a team of ecologists, beekeepers, makers, engineers, and open source advocates who believe that

citizens, rather than governments or corporations, can solve this problem by taking action together. Our

team is based in Denver, Barcelona, and Brussels.”

“We've designed two downloadable, printable beehives: the Colorado Top Bar, and the Barcelona Warré.

These hives aim to prioritise bee colony health, make beekeeping more accessible, and will ultimately allow

you to log and study the health of your colony.”

“Your contribution will help us develop sensors to enhance our hives, connecting them to the Internet to

log data about what is causing the bees to disappear around the world. This data can be used to study

colony health, build hard evidence against the causes of the problem, and generate policy change and

informed solutions moving forward.”

Strengths

• Open source beehives has currently reached 267% of its funding goal meaning it already has capital and

an install base when the product is released

• The product is designed to be extremely user friendly and the team have a clear sense of modern design

aesthetic

• They have strong ethical values that are clear through their branding

• They have a sting connection with various research institutions, giving them support through funding and

technical feedback

Weaknesses

• Their product is still in a very early stage of development, meaning there is no guarantee that the product

will deliver on what it claims to do

• Their product hopes to capitalise on an emerging field (3D Printing) that has not yet shown that it can be

fully commercially viable

• Adoption of their solution by current beekeepers would involve the replacing of all of their hives which

would come reluctantly at a great expense

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Company Strategy

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Ardubeeno SWOT – Strengths

• - Ardubeeno has the capability to monitor a colony of bees remotely, without having to disturb the

hive and the bees. This reduces the risk of the bees swarming or becoming stressed.

• - The Ardubeeno allows for the wireless monitoring for a variety of environmental conditions within

a bee hive, thus allowing bee farmers to keep a check on their colony plus compare their data with

our farmers around the county.

• - There are few competitors in the market for devices such as ours, however compared to them it is

unique in nature and provides greater functionality.

• - The data can be stored to a national database for other bee keepers to review and share.

Collaboration over this data is a key Ardubeeno philosophy.

• - After the device has been installed, it should require little upkeep and most technical

maintenance should be remotely possible.

• - The Ardubeeno should be a low cost solution to monitoring multiple hives around the country, if

it's a success it could benefit not only collecting data for scientific research, but also aid the

research into the bee population decline.

• - Ardubeeno as a company will intend to help spread the information for the perfect hive

conditions, we believe that our data should be open source and shared allowing others to improve

their hives and honey yield.

• -Our Ardubeeno team consists of technically agile people, thus enabling us to react quickly to

changes in the market and come up with solutions quickly than other organizations.

• -The Ardubeeno web interface will be built for multiple platforms, including IOS and Android, to

make sure we cover all customer bases

• -The installation will be undertaken by us, to ensure full functionality and accurate readings from

the device

• -We will provide tutorials and training to beekeepers to help them understand how to get the most

out of Ardubeeno

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• - The Ardubeeno can help the UK to continue to produce natural honey and maintain our

lush countryside.

Ardubeeno SWOT – Weaknesses

• -Technology used in Ardubeeno is still in its infancy, and certain components are not

specifically designed for this kind of application. Extreme environmental conditions may

damage the unit and/or some of its components.

• -Will not measure parasite infestation initially – a common problem within bee hives

• -The device may be unable to obtain sufficient data to draw conclusions from.

• -The device may fail to collect sufficient data to make it worth wile for beekeepers to adopt

• - The device has not yet been tested within a live hive therefore we can speculate that

multiple errors might occur within beta testing. Errors that might occur are: the colony

might interfere with or even cover the sensors rendering them useless, the device itself

may not withstand the conditions within a hive without thorough shielding, the device

might be out of wireless transmission range therefore cannot send data.

• - The market for this kind of device is very niche; it may not take on with many bee keepers.

• -Beekeepers may be protective of their current methods and be reluctant to adopt new

technology.

• - The total cost of the device including installation and maintenance is still unclear,

therefore we don't have a truly accurate ball park cost for the device.

Ardubeeno SWOT – Opportunities

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• - Our current plans for when the device is ready for live hive installation is to beta test the

device within a few local hives in the south west, after additional research and

modifications the plan is to make it available to other apiaries around the country

• -If Ardubeeno allows us to identify factors of beehive decline, then we can expand and

market new products or services to help address these.

• The Ardubeeno can be modified to allow monitoring of agriculture variables such as soil

temperature and humidity, which will expand its target market and increase demand.

• - Production of UK honey could increase, leading to greater revenue for farmers.

• - Seeing as there is not a mass produced device like ours it could potentially become a

lucrative business, whilst simultaneously benefit how bees are kept across the country.

• - If the device is successful in the UK, there is an opportunity to distribute it globally in

particular New Zealand and Australia where a majority of Manuka honey is produced.

• Using the data generated by Ardubeenos, establishing a working group with the

government sustainability departments to help tackle the bee declination further.

• Working with hive manufactures, Ardubeeno could be implemented from manufacture,

reducing installation costs and time for the company

• Through our contacts at a local produce organisation, we are able to receive support on the

marketing of Ardubeeno within their beekeeper community. This opportunity will provide

an easy initial market penetration.

• With the help of Ardubeeno we intend to monitor as many hives as possible to figure out if

there is a positive correlation between environmental conditions and the decline in

population.

Ardubeeno SWOT – Threats

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• -It is a niche market to break into, with quite a few farmers to convince. Some of these Bee

keepers/ farmers may have processes in place for monitoring their agriculture and hives.

• -There is a possibility that a larger company with more resources would be able to produce

a similar product much quicker.

• Whilst the product may be fully functioning, field maintenance will be required every

month to do a systems check. This may extended travel distances; this would come at a cost

to the company.

• The pricing structure may not suit an average beekeepers budget, which has been

identified as quite low.

• Some hives may be out of wireless Internet reach, therefore becoming un-operational

without installing an additional internet connection manually.

• Without rigorous field testing there could be unforeseen errors with the system

functionality.

• The state of the economy, in particular if there is an economic slowdown, will affect and

likely reduce the demand for Ardubeeno.

• Natural disasters, or extreme weather such as heavy rainfall and flooding, may damage the

device.

• The bee’s health may be affected by the radio frequency waves used by the sensors to

communicate with the main Ardubeeno.

• Outside/external hackers may infiltrate the website and cause destruction which may result

in the loss of bee keeper’s data.

• If a hive is damaged after an Ardubeeno installation then we may be held accountable by

the customer, which could end up in a lawsuit.

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Company Strategy 4.1 Business Model

Target Customer

Ardubeeno has been designed to attract the target customer of beekeepers, initially hobbyist beekeepers

within the Southwest region. This location of choice is due to the location of Ardubeenos head office

location being in the Southwest, and the likely requirement for staff members to travel to apiaries across

the region. Due to our collaboration with Tamar Grow Local, also located in the southwest, it is important

that we are located close to their apiaries to minimise any disruption caused by located too far away.

We have identified a potential target market of 40,000 honey beekeepers within the UK, with a colony

count of around 200,000. Of these 40,000, 16,000 are located within the South West. Of these 40,000

beekeepers we have identified an average target hobbyist beekeeper based on our data collection and

surveying:

• Male, Retired 50 +

• 4- 6 Hives within their apiary

What Customer Problem Solved?

Ardubeeno aims to provide high quality, reliable beehive monitoring solutions to its customers that address

some of the issues facing beekeepers today. Some of these issues include:

• Cost implications of travelling to and from the apiaries to do a hive check

• Theft of hives and having no data to track it’s whereabouts

• Honey yield and measuring how much each hive has produced

• Lack of environmental data surrounding the hives

We aim to distribute our ‘Bee Box’ product that addresses as many of the issues listed above as possible.

Our device has been designed with collaboration from beekeepers themselves, with constant feedback

along the way to ensure we are creating something that will appeal to a wide target market.

A common issue with beekeeping is the need to disturb the hive to do rudimentary checks that, on

occasion, can affect the bee’s health. By using a monitoring solution such as our Bee Box, these checks can

be reduced significantly and the customer can check their hive remotely and thus not incur travel expenses

to the hive and not disturb the bees themselves.

More specific beekeeping processes include the requirement to know when the hive is swarming.

Swarming occurs when the hive has been disturbed and can result in the bees leaving the hive and the

Queen dying. Swarming is a very serious issue for beekeepers and currently they have no prior warning to

this occurring. Our bee box would contain the necessary sensors to detect when swarming is about to

occur, and appropriately alert the user as soon as possible so they can address the issue.

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What Value Will We Deliver?

We hope to bring considerable value to both the local beekeeping community but also to national bee

associations and the UK government. One of the ideologies of Ardubeeno is to encourage the collaboration

and sharing of this open source data generated by the beehives. It is well known that there is a national bee

decline, and we aim to use our technology and this collaboration to help stimulate the bee population and

honey yield once again.

We are very in touch with our customers needs, and we value their contribution to our business and the

designing of our products

How will you reach, acquire, and keep customers?

Our initial strategy for acquiring new customers is through our collaboration with Tamar Grow Local. This

local produce company has deep rooted links and relationships with many beekeepers across the

southwest. The initial reaching out to new customers will be via the following methods.

• Exhibiting at bee keeping AGMs, meetings and exhibitions

• Marketing communication emails

• Personal introductions with beekeepers themselves who supply Tamar Grow Local

• Social media

• Video campaigning

A key to our strategy for acquiring new customers is through this usage of social media marketing, as it is an

area us as a team of young developers are very familiar with. Ardubeeno as a brand has also been designed

to be quite a fun approachable brand to which would be very approachable over social media.

Once potential customers display an interest in our products, we have a team of experts who will discuss

the individual requirements of the customer. Due to the flexible nature of our products, we feel it’s

important to individually tailor each customer’s requirement to ensure we satisfy their needs. By using this

strategy we aim to establish friendly professional relationships with our customer, which shall reflect

positively on our brand to new potential customer

How will you define and differentiate your offering?

Our product is already quite niche, with a limited number of competitors offering similar solutions. Our first

product to launch, the Bee Box, will package many of the top end features of our competitors systems but

at a fraction of the price. These include more advance sensing technologies that come at a premium for our

competitors packages. We have adopted a different pricing strategy to our competitors, and from our

research and collaboration with beekeepers, we emphasise through our business model that we make this

product as user friendly and affordable as possible.

Revenue Streams

Our revenue stream will come in three main channels:

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• The purchase of the unit

The unit will be sold as a central command box placed within the apiary, and individual sensor boxes placed

within each hive. How many units the customer needs to buy depends on the size of the apiary. The initial

purchase of the units will provide the first revenue stream. A base package, priced at £99.95, includes a

central command box and one sensor package for a hive. Further sensor packages come as an extra cost of

£19.95 each to a maximum of 20.

• The data subscription

Once the units are installed, customers will pay a monthly data subscription fee. This is charged as a flat

rate of £80 per customer per year regardless of how many hives they have. This charge contributes to

maintaining the servers and data hosting, as well as further web developments and GSM usage from the

device.

What's your cost structure?

Our cost structure is divided up and defined below:

• Fixed Costs

Our initial fixed costs will come from the purchasing of prototype building equipment. Due to the nature of

this product it is likely that many prototypes will fail and new investment needed to purchase new

components and build further prototypes. An office premises and IT materials are fixed costs that will need

to be taken into account at start up.

• Variable Costs

The cost of components will also feature here; as it is likely we shall be able to negotiate lower costs from

our suppliers as we buy in more. Travel expenses will also feature, as we spend time travelling to and from

customer’s apiaries for installation and early maintenance.

• Marginal cost

What's your profit margin?

We aim to price our device very aggressively in the market against our competition. Our current profit

margin aim stands at 38% for the basic package, which increases to 50% for the 3 and 6 hive packages. The

majority of the production costs comes from the central command box, and as our target customer has 4-6

hives, a larger profit margin is made on the larger kits. This is calculated in the following way:

• Basic package:

o £99.95 RRP

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o £50 Cost of production

o £12 Expenses ( Packaging, Marketing)

(99.95 -62) = 38 (38/99.95) = .038 x 100 = 38%

• 3 Hive Package:

o £99.95 RRP - Command box + one sensor kit

o £40 – X2 sensor kits at £20 each.

o Package price = £ 139.95

o £70 - Cost of production

o £20 - Expenses ( Packaging, Marketing)

(139.95 -70) = 70 (70/139.95) = .500 x 100 = 50%

• 6 Hive Package:

o £99.95 RRP - Command box + one sensor kit

o £100 – X5 sensor kits at £20 each.

o Package price = £ 199.95

o £100 - Cost of production

o £40 - Expenses ( Packaging, Marketing)

(199.95 -110) = 100 (100/199.95) = .500 x 100 = 50%

The 50% profit margin will increase as we negotiate cheaper components with our suppliers, and as our

company grows we can use our economies of scale to bulk buy in larger quantities to drive the price down

further. Whilst the competition in the market is relatively low, we will seek to keep prices constant. Only if

there are market forces such as new competitors or being undercut buy competitors will we reduce the

RRP and take a hit in our profit margins.

4.2 Business Goals

We have identified the following business goals for us as a company to focus on and work towards

achieving by the specified date. These goals have been split into short term and long term in order for us to

differentiate and focus on one goal at a time.

Short Term

1. Secure funding

This goal is a crucial step towards development of the business further. We need to secure funding in order

to pay for our costs involved on developing our prototype, marketing our business and other costs relating

to the development such as staff costs and premises rent.

2. Development of prototype

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Develop the first prototype that will be used in the initial alpha testing phase. Using our secured funding,

we shall research other electrical components for use within the device that will work more reliably than

some of the components we have tested already. The prototype will help identify any manufacturing issues

we may encounter, as well as any issues once the device is fitted to the beehive.

3. Successful beta testing phase

Once we have produced circa 30 devices, the beta testing phase will begin within the Southwest through

Tamar Grow Local beekeepers. This test will last 3 months from march to may, by which the outcomes of

the testing phase will allow us to develop the prototype into a more refined and reliable system in

preparation for final testing and product release.

4. Establish our brand within the beekeeping market

Once the first round of testing is complete, we aim to have some early recognition in the market. The next

step is to build upon this and through our marketing strategy firmly establish us as serious key players

within the beekeeping market.

5. Final product release

Release the product for general use within 18 months maximum of initial testing. The final product will

have been extensively tested and refined to give customers maximum confidence in what they are buying.

Provide aftercare support to customers.

Long Term

1. Identify further causation to the bee population decline

From our data that our customers have been collecting over a period of two years, analyse extensively and

produce possible causation and other factors that are influencing the bee population decline.

2. Work with beekeepers and government to address the issue

Build our collaboration with the beekeepers and government further to understand reasons these factors

contributing to the bee population decline are happening. Continue to build a working group that helps

devise solutions to prevent some of these factors occurring. Links with the government should allow us to

implement large-scale strategies quickly across the country.

3. Target commercial beekeepers

The commercial sector in the UK is quite small, however it will still be important to market our device to

them in order for us to prepare to take the product overseas where there are larger commercial markets.

We aim to achieve this within 3 years of launch.

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4. Expand our entire product range overseas to USA and Australia

Once we are firmly established in the UK, we aim to market our product overseas to the USA and Australia.

These countries are home to a large beekeeping market, including a commercial sector that is far greater in

size than the UK commercial sector.

5. Expand our monitoring technology into other agricultural areas

Using our proprietary technology, we aim to expand into other agricultural monitoring and management

such as crop farming, livestock, and greenhouse regulation. These areas will essentially use similar sensing

systems to our bee hive monitor; however the environmental conditions will be vastly different. This goal

will be crucial to the development of the business into other markets and vastly increase its chances of

becoming hugely profitable. We aim to achieve this goal within 5 years.

4.3 Marketing Strategy

We have split our target customer base into different segments, and tailored an individual strategy for each

segment. It is important for us to understand each of our customer segments wants, what we can offer

them, and the competition, to appropriately tailor our marketing strategy to them.

New Customers

This segment will be the most crucial to our business and initial sales. A large proportion of our marketing

budget will go into winning these customers and convincing them to purchase our monitoring solutions.

The way in which we shall target these is through initial advertising in beekeeping magazines and journals

such as Bee craft and Beekeepers news. Due to abundance of competition for technical products in the

beekeeping market, the price of advertising in these literatures is quite low. Our research has also found

that our target demographic tends to read more of these magazines and journals than websites and social

media.

Other methods for attracting new customers include advertising at the national honey show held in London

annually. This event would allow us to set some demo equipment up and give guided demonstrations of

the technology. This technique would also allow us to prepare a sales pitch in order to persuade these new

customers further.

Wants

New customers are likely to not have any current monitoring solution for their beehives. From our

research, 78% have expressed an interest in investing into technology to improve or help manage their

beekeeping process. This is a relatively large proportion of beekeepers that are serious about purchasing a

product such as ours. 55% expressed caution over these technologies however, so it will be important for

us to reassure the beekeepers that our product is safe for hives and won’t harm their colonies.

What We Can Offer

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To address their initial concerns, we can offer new customers trial periods of the device. If after 30 days

they are not satisfied with how the product is functioning, then we shall refund them free of charge. We

hope to alleviate some of the uncertainty by offering such a service.

Competition

Arnia, who is our closest competitor in the market, offer quite a complex range of products for monitoring

a beehive. Their monitoring packages come in four variants and hive scales are a separate entity. Following

beekeeper feedback we aim to simplify our offering, by marketing one monitoring package with all the

environmental sensors that the hobbyist beekeeper requires. Once we have grown and expanded our

target market to commercial beekeepers will we offer more advanced monitoring solutions with a greater

choice of sensor packages. Their solution is much more expensive than what ours will be. Therefore the

cautious beekeepers are less inclined to purchase their products due to the financial obligation to

something that they are undecided on.

Existing Customers

Wants

Customers that have already become a customer of the business will still need a marketing strategy

tailored to them. Their wants are likely to include efficient, informative customer service. If the device

malfunctions or fails completely, they’ll want fast replacements or repairs of the device, with minimal

damage to their bee colonies.

What We Can Offer

Provide knowledgeable after sales care. This includes a team of expert beekeepers who help advise

customers on how to get the best out of their monitoring devices. Provide support to customers setting up

their devices and if necessary, travel to customer sites to assist the process.

Competition

Our competition for our existing customers will likely come from either our competitors or external

influences outside our control, such as environmental factors or financial. Our closest competitor Arnia may

cut their prices, or offer a different solution to ours that causes customers to move away from our products

and switch to Arnias. This will need to be closely monitored in order to make sure Arnia don’t get the jump

on us in our primary market. The remaining two factors come from the environment itself; we may

experience extreme weather that means beekeepers feel no use for our products, or they become

unusable. *

As one of our business ethoses is working closely with our customers to address the bee population

decline, a strong professional relationship will need to be established. We hope this relationship and trust

between us and our customers will give them assurance and confidence in buying further products and

services from us. We are aware that a product such as ours will market very well through word of mouth,

certain techniques will have to be undertaken in order to achieve this relationship that include the

following:

Loyalty scheme - For repeat customers, structured as a discount of every new sensor kit and complete

monitoring package

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Referral rewards - New custom through existing customers will result in the existing customer receiving a

voucher to spend within the company.

Along with the techniques above, existing customers will provide us with useful information on how they

perceive our products, which will help us market them more effectively. We shall conduct annual

marketing surveys for our existing customers. The purpose of this survey is to analyse how well we as a

company have performed, specifically:

• How efficient our customer service has been

• How reliable our devices have been

• Would they recommend us to a friend

• Ways in which we could improve all of the above.

All of this feedback collected from our existing customers will help improve areas of our business that will

make us more attractive to potential new customers.

4.4. Marketing Objectives

Below are our main marketing objectives for our business, these objectives have been based on our

strengths and weaknesses and the business environment we are operating in. These marketing objectives

are to be achieved using the marketing strategy above. We have creating our objectives using the SMART

technique in order to ensure they are suitable.

S – To attract 100 new marketing leads every month for the first 3 months

M – Measuring this objective will be via our marketing team who will manage these leads as they come

in.

A – To achieve this objective resources such as marketing staff and money will be allocated to advertise our

product via the distribution channels listed above.

R – This target is well within a company such as ours that is still in its infancy. We don’t want to appear

pushy to the beekeeper market so by starting with a small number should prove effective.

T – The time frame for this target is within month of launch of the product.

S – To build a large beekeeper following for our business within a year

M – Measuring this objective will be via our online marketing methods such as our social media channels.

We shall also measure this objective through the number of customers on our database

A – To achieve this objective, the marketing strategy above will need to be implemented successfully.

R – This objective will be realistic as long as we grow as a company and build a relationship with the

beekeepers.

T – The time frame for this target is within a year of product launch.

4.5 Marketing Tactics

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For the above strategy and objects to become a reality, the following marketing tactics will need to be

employed. These tactics are listed below:

• Product- We know our customers value the health and wealth fare of their bee colonies above all

else, so we have designed our monitoring device to be as safe for the bees and unobtrusive as

possible. Some of our target customers are very hands-on, so our products will also be offered in a

kit form which will be cheaper for us to produce, and cheaper for the customer to purchase.

• Pricing- Our customers also don’t like to spend lots of money on something that is new to market

and they have never tried before, therefore we shall be undercutting our competitors pricing and

offering a total package that suits most bee keepers’ budget.

• Place – Our main distribution channel will be via our online store where customers can read up

more about our products, see customer reviews and instructions on how to get the best out of the

device. Other channels include selling at bee keeping meets around the country such as the

beekeepers expo in London, and through our collaboration with Tamar Grow Local, who have a

clientele of over 100 beekeepers whom we could offer our products to.

• Promotion- Our advertising will cover most media within the beekeeping sector, such as

magazines journals and beekeeping forums and websites. Dedicated sales staff will be placed at

the expos we visit to give demonstrations and answer any technical questions potential customers

may have. Marketing emails and advertisement through Tamar Grow Local connections will also

feature.

• People- Our staff will be trained in beekeeping, as well as a thorough understanding of the

technology we utilise in our products. Having highly trained staff will make them company seem

reputable to bee keepers.

• Physical Evidence – Every aspect of our business including paperwork and packaging, will inherit

the green, eco friendly style that reinforces our nature and eco-friendly ethos.

4.6 Marketing Plan Implementation

Year 1:

Advertise at the beekeeping expo held in January, by this time our alpha and beta test phases will

have been completed. We shall therefore be in a more informative position regarding our product

and best practices.

Distribute information packs to beekeepers across the country detailing our product, what benefits

it can bring them and other information to attract their early interest. This information pack will be

released just before we release the monitoring packs onto the market.

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Year 2:

As we move to distributing countrywide, we will travel more to shows and expos across the nation

to advertise and sell our monitoring solutions. Beekeeping societies with a large number of

members will be a primary target.

Our online presence will also be well established as we optimise our website for SEO and Pay-per-

click advertising that will help generate traffic to our website.

4.7 Plans for Growth

Once our business if off the ground, we aim to achieve fast sustainable growth both in the UK and then

abroad. The growth plan below describes individual strategies and objectives for how we will achieve this

growth.

Expansion UK wide

Our initial base within the Southwest is due to our staff and logistics constraints regarding travelling to and

from customer sites. Once we are established in the southwest, our first plan for growth is to expand to UK

wide excluding Scotland and Northern Ireland initially. This is due to logistics in transporting engineers in

the event of a major fault. Our expansion will involve dividing our area into segments to which staff

members of the company will be assigned. This will help staff members become familiar with the location

of the apiaries and the customers themselves and this delegation will allow more effective management to

our customer base as we expand. These multiple locations will allow us to target more beekeepers across

the country, and collect more important hive data for UK wide analysis.

New Target Markets

Initially we are targeting the hobbyist beekeeper, but as we expand UK wide we shall look to penetrating

the commercial beekeeper market. Whilst the UK commercial sector is very small, producing less than 15%

of the countries honey, it is important to establish us within this market to prepare us for expanding into

larger commercial markets overseas. Slight pricing changes and modifications to the monitoring device will

be needed to tailor it more to the commercial customers needs. Other services will become available, such

as a dedicated team that manages large plantations or farms that feature our monitoring devices.

New Products

Using our proprietary technology, we aim to expand into other agricultural monitoring and management

such as crop farming, livestock, and greenhouse regulation. These areas will essentially use similar sensing

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systems to our beehive monitor, however the environmental conditions will be vastly different. This goal

will be crucial to the development of the business into other markets and vastly increase its chances of

becoming hugely profitable.

Expansion Overseas

Once we are firmly established in the UK, we aim to market our product overseas to the USA and Australia.

These countries are home to a large beekeeping market, including a commercial sector that is far greater in

size than the UK commercial sector. Having already targeted and established our business in the

commercial sector in the UK, lessons learned from this process will need to be applied to our overseas

expansion.

Decreasing costs:

As the company grows in size following our expansion over seas and a wider target market, we should be

able to utilise economies of scale to drive down production costs of our devices. Negotiating with supplies

in the Far East will be one strategy for achieving this plan, as well as manufacturing some of the

components in house. These decreased costs will lead to a wider profit margin to which we can invest back

into developing the business further.

4.8 Exit Strategy

Our exit strategy for Ardubeeno consists of a few options depending on the exit circumstances.

Short Term

Public Flotation

This strategy would allow the company to raise more capital through the selling of shares, and allow the

balance of control to be shifted from the directors to the main shareholders. Whilst this strategy would

assist the company financially, it may also hinder us in the same way if we are still at a size whereby the

rules and regulations monitored by the SEC are very expensive. Following going public our company

objectives may be more aligned to short term rather than long term as we have to respond to market

forces. Furthermore going public will mean the company is under added pressure to satisfy the investors

through sound financial performance, and provide accurate financial reporting periodically throughout the

year which made be difficult for a new public company such as ours.

This strategy is perhaps one of the most risky, so it will be essential to discuss the pros and cons during the

underwriting process with an investment bank to determine whether it is in the best interest of the

company.

Acquisition

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Acquisition by another company or competitor would provide a relatively easy strategy, as it would allow

the company to remain stable and continue business as normal, at least in the short term. Being acquired

would also remove responsibility of company debts from the directors, However this strategy would also

remove all control from the directors, which may destabilise the business or concern the customers if the

changes are vastly different to how we were running the business before. On the other hand this change in

control and management may be what’s needed in order to get the business back on track.

Long Term

Merge with a competitor

• Reduced costs as our merger company uses it’s size to exercise greater purchasing power of

components and materials needed to manufacture. Office space can be shared and

• Market Penetration – following the merger we can target customers who remain loyal to Arnia, as

well as new markets that Arnia have penetrated that we didn’t have the resource to, for example

other countries across the globe.

This exit strategy would provide financial stability to our business, and would guarantee our business stays

in the market place for a while longer whilst inheriting the benefits listed above.

Letting it run dry

This strategy would involve increasing the director’s personal salary and paying ourselves bonuses in the

years before we leave the market. We will have to ensure any outstanding debt is paid, from then we can

liquidate any assets such as office space and manufacturing tools and shut down the business. This strategy

does however come with negative tax liabilities, and a strategy such as an acquisition could bring greater

capital gains. Either way, we can also seek appropriate tax advice if this situation arises.

Liquidation

This strategy is our least favourite one. It will involve selling all our assets are market value and using the

revenue generated to pay off any remaining debt. Only if the business is in dire straights will be resort to

this option, as we will likely reap the least revenue at the end. This option would also signify the end of the

company.

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Company Description

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Company Description

5.1 Introductory Highlights

Ardubeeno is a revolutionary agricultural data monitoring company based in the south west of England.

Our team consists of a dynamic collection of skilled individuals, whose mission is to not only aid the

agricultural industry but help keep the British countryside in peak condition. We plan to start off in the

domestic market with our cost effective monitoring solutions, such as a bee hive monitoring kit for apiary

owners and bee enthusiasts. As you may know the current state of the bee population is declining, in a

crisis dubbed colony collapse disorder. The bee box is a wireless environmental data monitor, which reports

conditions such as heat, humidity, tilt and weight to help bee keepers manage their hive. The bee box's

data can be accessed via tablet, smart phone or computer and will send alerts to the owner if certain

thresholds are being met. The data collected from our hive monitors can be shared with other hive owners

to help with honey yield and bee health, but more importantly the data will be sent to the wider scientific

community for research. If successful we hope to aid in the collection in bee population data, which in turn

can help solve colony collapse disorder. If our bee box is received well we plan to expand onto additional

areas of agriculture with the use of technology to solve problems in a creative and effective manner.

One third of all western agriculture relies on bee fertilization; the health of the bee population is of upmost

importance to our future agricultural health. Scientists have speculated as to what is causing the decline in

bee population but without significant data no conclusions can be made, our bee box will help solve this

issue by providing environmental data on each hive it is installed in.

Our key objectives for Ardubeeno moving forward are the following: Full product testing and launch of the

bee box, industry wide recognition from beekeepers and a collaboration between us and bee keepers.

Within 5 years Ardubeeno's objectives are: An increase of bee colonies In the UK, a subsequent increase in

honey yield, identification of key environmental detriments that lead to bee population declines.

5.2 Products Offered Our current headlining product is known as the bee box, designed to help any owner of a bee hive to help

maintain optimum conditions for their colonies health and honey yield. The bee box monitors hive

conditions such as; temperatures, humidity, weight, tilt and sound which is then transmitted wirelessly to

the owner via a web portal or mobile application. Bee boxes can be installed in an abundance of hives

whilst simultaneously being managed under a single user-friendly application. The bee box itself is retro

fitted to a slide of a hive and will not interfere with honey production in hives. Alerts can be set up if a bee

hive falls over or is damaged, or if certain environmental thresholds are detected. A key factor in the

Ardubeeno business model is the ability for beekeepers to compare their hive conditions with one another,

to see which ones produce a higher yield of honey. Through this power of collaboration we aim to see a

sustainable increase in bee population and honey yield.

Our current speculation is that the bee box solution in its entirety will be produced for well under £100

making it a cost effective solution in comparison to our competitors. After speaking with local hive owners,

our bee box solution would benefit the beekeeping community drastically with the ability to alert the

owner about critical conditions of their hive.

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One of the most useful applications for our device is detection of a scenario known as 'piping of the queen',

this occurs when there is more than one queen in a hive and can be catastrophic the hives welfare. During

piping the queen will release a series of vibratory sounds which will inform workers that it is time to fight

for dominance over the hive. Our bee box can detect the sounds that the queen produces and alert the

owner of the threat to their hive, without prior knowledge of this event hives can rapidly drop in population

due to internal conflictions.

5.3 Research and development

The current health of the bee population across the world is in decline, action needs to be taken in order

for the bees to have a sustainable future, with over a third of all western based food sources pollinated via

bees it directly affects our way of life. There are various factors that can contribute towards the decline in

bee population such as pesticides, viruses, parasites and environmental conditions. Our bee box will aid in

the research being done on the bee population, by creating data that can be used for wider scientific

research. We will be working closely with beekeepers to find out how our bee box can help improve their

experience in keeping bees.

In the UK there are over forty thousand registered beekeepers, of which roughly thirty nine thousand are

domestic keepers. The UK has the highest ratio of domestic to commercial apiary owners in the world,

which makes our target audience ideally suited for our product. Domestic beekeeping is still fairly archaic,

but after a talking with local enthusiasts it seems they want that to change. If we could implement an

affordable and beneficial tool for all beekeepers to use we could take the market by storm.

We met with a local community interest company known as Tamar Grow Local, they maintain a community

filled with beekeepers and were extremely enthusiastic about our product. Tamar Grow Local's beekeeping

community has over fifty members, of which each have roughly one to three hives which would be a

perfect audience for the testing phase of our product. Before we release our bee box to the general public

we have devised a few testing stages to ensure our product is robust. Our initial plan is to install our devices

in the hives of willing participants from Tamar Grow Local's community, to receive feedback on how useful

our product is, but also to stress test the hardware. Once our alpha phase of testing is complete will

distribute our bee boxes to additional hives around the south west, to broaden our scope and generate

awareness of our product. After our testing phases are complete we will be selling our devices from our

website for distribution around the UK.

Our main competitors in the beekeeping solution market is a company called Arnia, they deliver a similar

solution to ours but with twice the price and with little access to the data that is collected. Their

beekeeping solution sells for around two hundred pounds with annual subscription fees, our bee box will

half the price of theirs with the same reliable service to the user and allow for sharing of data to other

apiary owners.

5.4 Operations

At this current state in time Ardubeeno is not ready for deployment, we still have months of field testing

ahead of us let alone the fact we do not have an office. To start testing we will require an office to setup

our equipment and have access to technical hardware such as a three dimensional printer and a

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PCB(printed circuit board) processing workshop, and so setting up in either the University of Plymouth

formation zone or an office close to the campus would be ideal. Once we have acquired a suitable space we

plan to begin hardware stress testing which will come in a few stages. Before we are ready to even

distribute our bee boxes to beekeepers for field testing, our bee box needs to be finely tuned. At this

current stage our bee box runs on an electronic board known as an Arduino, for our prototype it fit

perfectly, but to create a cost effective and downsized device we need to develop our own board for our

components to run from. To create the desired device we require consultation from a few electrical

engineers, to correctly produce a board that will satisfy our requirements. Once a secondary prototype has

been produced that can doesn't require the use of an Arduino we will be ready for field testing.

To start off our distribution we are aiming to initially install our bee boxes to roughly ten local beekeepers.

The stages of our roll out plan are as follows; the alpha phase is where we will focus on installing ten of our

devices in hives in the local area, followed by our beta phase which is expanding to around fifty devices,

then finally once we have worked out the hardware kinks we can deploy them to the domestic market.

During our alpha phase we will install ten devices from April till August and monitor them to ensure no

errors occur. During the beta phase, our initially installed devices will be kept on for a few months for

endurance testing, but also an additional forty devices will be distributed to other local hives. Each step in

branching out we will ensure customer satisfaction by maintaining a high level of support for the bee hive

owners. Once our testing phases our complete we can start to branch out to the domestic market.

Once the teething issues of our testing phases have been correctly adhered to we can then initialize our

web store to start receiving orders for our devices and begin distribution. The website will consist of our

mission statements, how to use the device and a store where users can purchase our bee boxes. The

specific details of our website can be ironed out during our testing phases, but to briefly summarize it, it

will contain a content management system to display any news or information on the state of our devices,

a portal for which users can monitor their devices and a web store that will probably run using PayPal to

accept payments. Our device will come in two formats; a pre-built device that will be installed by one of our

technicians at a slightly higher price for installation fees and a kit for bee enthusiasts that can be sent so

they can install the device themselves. Regardless of the device being used, our website will allow users to

access a knowledge base for any queries regarding installation and upkeep.

5.5 Sales and marketing

Our business focuses on improving the health of the bee population and the countryside they inhabit, and

so our chosen colour scheme is a selection of pastel tones that reflects the beauty of nature. Our colour

scheme of mainly white with accents of lime green, mustard yellow and ruby red display a refreshing clean

cut brand. As seen below our company logo with a clear sans-serif font echoes in readability and our

technical approach to business.

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At the forefront of our company will be our website, it will handle; the majority of sales for our bee boxes,

the portal for which users can access their hive data and serve as a base for online marketing. With our

branding and website we have gone for a very natural theme to make sure we are as approachable as

possible.

Ardubeeno's customer audience is beekeepers in the UK, which sets our demographic in the thirty plus age

range. Our focus is to target our advertising and brand to appeal to those who are avid enthusiasts of bee

keeping. We will be tailoring our services and brand aesthetics to hopefully engage well with bee hobbyists,

things such as clean typography and block colours will help our brand achieve an effective impact.

As we start to build Ardubeeno our focus will be mainly on those who live in the south west. Through a

local social enterprise known as Tamar Grow Local, we can begin to directly contact bee hive enthusiasts

and their communities in order to setup a solid ground base of potential customers.

5.6 Distribution and delivery

After completing the test phases of our bee box we will be ready to launch our website and begin

distributing to a wider market. Our bee box can be ordered from our site and will come in two formats to

begin with; a kit for bee enthusiasts to build then install themselves, or a pre-built kit that can be installed

by one of our member's of staff. During the first year we will be available to install into hives within a

seventy mile radius of Plymouth, which will give us the potential to access over two hundred hives. For the

kit version of the bee box, we will produce a branded packaging for the device, a how-to guide and then

securely ship the package in the post through royal mail to anywhere in the UK.

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In order for our staff to comfortably install devices around the UK, we will have to branch out to multiple

office locations. Our current estimate is that we can install the device to a location within seventy miles of

one of our offices with an additional fee for labour and fuel.

Customer service

At Ardubeeno we are dedicated to our customer's and the bees they oversee, which is why we will do

everything within reason to ensure that they are getting the quality of service they need. If we keep our

customers content with our products then in turn we can gather more data about bee hives within the UK,

which will eventually lead us to aid the prevention of colony collapse in bees.

Our website will be the source for the majority of information that we can provide to our customers, with a

knowledge base for information on general upkeep and technical issues that may arise with our bee boxes.

We will also have various forms for customers to get into contact with us if a problem should occur, our

website will be equipped with a web form and a telephone number for our customers to contact us if needs

be. Every customer will pay a yearly subscription fee so that we can maintain a high level of customer

service throughout the course of their usage of Ardubeeno.

Our technicians can help solve any query about our products over the phone, or if needs be a site visit if our

hardware is not functioning to satisfactory standards. In the event of a hardware malfunction we will be

able to send a member of staff to the location to solve the issue at hand, by either fixing the issue or

replacing the hardware or components for a minimal fee. By the end of our testing phases we will be

confident that we can deliver a product that is reliable throughout the beekeeping season, but if any issue

should come apparent we will be able to solve it quickly and professionally.

5.7 Managment

Ardubeeno is run by a dynamic team of technical enthusiasts who have collaborated to form a business

with real integrity. Our founding members Joe Hounsham and Robert Sparks will be taking a more

managerial oversight when it comes to company administration, whilst simultaneously looking after their

key roles in the team.

Our current team members and their respective roles are as follows:

Robert Sparks - Hardware Director

Production and updates of all physical products and ensure high quality maintenance throughout the life

cycle of our products.

Joe Hounsham - Technical Director

Architects technical structure of web services and assists in any new updates of our hardware.

Paddy Selman - Web & Brand Director

Handles the front end of our web services and oversees all branded material to see it's complimentary to

our company vision.

Alastair Bird - Operations & Research Director

Manages client liaison and the logistics of the services we provide whilst also researching new markets for

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our company.

Beth Moore - Creative Director

Designs our appealing visual materials used throughout our products and ensure it stays synonymous

throughout all of our services.

5.8 Organisation

Ardubeeno is a social enterprise; we will be branching out to beekeepers across the UK to collect data on

their hives, for use in the scientific investigation on bee colony collapse. Our vision is to be the leading

agricultural monitoring company in the UK within the next five years. We are dedicated to the health of

Britain's countryside and agricultural industry, we hope to achieve our vision by staying true to helping the

welfare of bees over generating exuberant profits. If we can get bee farmers to collaborate with their data,

we can effectively communicate the reason for bee decline whilst simultaneously increasing honey yield.

Our innovative qualities and skills in the fast-paced technical environment allow us to keep ahead of

competitors.

Our future aims don't just include bees our product range will be extended to provide similar monitoring

solutions to farmers of crops and livestock. Potential ventures for our company may include: livestock

monitoring, crop health monitors and any additional ubiquitous computing devices.

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Marketing Plan

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6.1 Description of Product

Our current headlining product is known as the bee box, designed to help any owner of a bee hive to help maintain optimum conditions for their colonies health and honey yield. The bee box monitors hive conditions such as; temperatures, humidity, weight, tilt and sound which is then transmitted wirelessly to the owner via a web portal or mobile application. Bee boxes can be installed in an abundance of hives whilst simultaneously being managed under a single user-friendly application. The bee box itself is retro fitted to a slide of a hive and will not interfere with honey production in hives. Alerts can be set up if a bee hive falls over or is damaged, or if certain environmental thresholds are detected. A key factor in the Ardubeeno business model is the ability for beekeepers to compare their hive conditions with one another, to see which ones produce a higher yield of honey. Through this power of collaboration we aim to see a sustainable increase in bee population and honey yield.

Our current speculation is that the bee box solution in its entirety will be produced for well under £100 making it a cost effective solution in comparison to our competitors. After speaking with local hive owners, our bee box solution would benefit the beekeeping community drastically with the ability to alert the owner about critical conditions of their hive.

6.2 Marketing Budget

In year one, the marketing budget of our products will intentionally be low, due to a combination of a long

term testing period where the product will not be commercially available, followed by the autumn and

winter periods, which are not fruitful months in terms of honey production, thus beekeepers will have less

desire to make a purchase on our products. Following this low marketing period, the intention is to both

publish online and print advertisements to begin to establish a presence amongst customers local to our

headquarters. This approach will mainly be facilitated by already establish outlets for beekeeping

information, such as the BeeCraft and The British Beekeepers Association journals, magazines and

websites. Utilising these outlets would allow us to reach potential customers, who would be more inclined

to make a purchase of our products if advertised in a trusted source of beekeeping information. Using both

printed and online methods of advertisement publication also allows us to target traditional and modern

beekeepers alike, with traditional beekeepers more inclined to prefer printed media, compared to modern

keepers preferring online media.

In order to be cost-efficient in our early stages of company establishment, with regards to marketing,

adverts in magazines and journals shall only displayed in certain months, to help reduce outgoings. This

approach fits in with our strategy to start out as a local start-up, and eventually branch out into a more

nationwide, and eventually international, market. However, to keep our company and products well

marketed, we intend to base a great deal of our marketing strategies online, advertising on beekeeping

forums and websites for cheap visibility amongst competitors.

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6.3 Business Location

Once we have completed our five month alpha and beta testing processes, we intend on gaining an office

space to serve as our headquarters. We aim to locate our HQ in the coastal city of Plymouth, specifically in

the Formation Zone within our current university, Plymouth University. There are a selection of advantages,

and disadvantages to working in Plymouth, and the Formation Zone, which have influenced our decision to

locate in Plymouth, and these have been outlined below.

6.3.1 The Formation Zone

The Formation Zone offers packages for new business, offering both office space, and support from the

university to help optimise our productivity, and help us successfully launch as a start-up company. The

Formation Zone offers these tools at an inexpensive monthly price, charging £180 per month for the first

year, and £240 per month thereafter. We intend to take full advantage of this low price to help concentrate

funds on more critical areas of our company outgoings, whist also consolidating our funding towards

support into one package from the Formation Zone.

Formation Zone (Plymouth University)

Advantages Disadvantages

Cheap monthly costs compared with other local office spaces

Workspace is limited to what is available in the Formation Zone

Support abundantly available from Plymouth University

Some resources and equipment are shared between businesses in the Formation Zone. If resources are not available due to this, disruptions may occur

Allows us a business address for general mailing purposes

Formation Zone only provides a company mailing address, for all legal matters relating to Ardubeeno, another address will have to be used.

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Allows a workspace for all of our team to use for business purposes

Upkeep of shared rooms is reliant on the university and other people using the Formation Zone. If upkeep isn’t performed decently, this could leave a bad impression on potential clients

Allows a meeting location for clients and contacts

Ease of access to lecturers when in need of advice

Possibility to obtain new clients and contacts through the network of businesses connected to Plymouth University

Work within close proximity of like-minded creative people, with the possibility of collaboration

Able to learn and develop from successful businesses formed in the Formation Zone

6.3.2 The City of Plymouth

As of April 2014, Plymouth boasts a population estimated at 260,000 people, giving Plymouth the title of a

medium sized city. Located on the southern coast of Devon, Plymouth is a very heritage rich City, and being

a coastal city, is traditionally a maritime trade city. Not being renowned for its technology based trade;

Plymouth City is becoming synonymous with innovation due mainly to the City’s close relationship with the

University. The city holds a ferry port and a large train station, as well as connection to nearby motorways,

to ensure that the city itself has a great travel route available to most locations in the south-west and

across the channel. All founders of Ardubeeno studied in Plymouth, so starting business in a location which

is familiar to us will allow us to ease some of the growing pains of developing our business, as we already

know the surrounding areas in depth.

The City of Plymouth

Advantages Disadvantages

Plymouth is a beautiful coastal city, ensuring we keep a great working

Large surrounding countryside may induce high mileage costs when

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environment attempting to reach customers

Located with the province of Devon, which hosts vast countryside, widening our potential to sell our agricultural products

Very long distance from the London, and other large cities outside of the south-west. This may stunt our ability to form meetings, and establish commerce outside of the south-west

Devon is located between Somerset and Cornwall, key counties where we intend to market our products

Plymouth is not renowned for technology based trade, which may counter our image as a technology company

Relatively near the key south-west trade city of Bristol, with good transport links to the city

Large percentage of Plymouth’s population are students, who are less inclined to need our product, possibly cutting sales

Near agricultural co-operatives, such as Tamar Grow Local, potential enablers of research, support and commerce

Medium sized city gives us a greater chance to meet clients an contacts, compared to smaller locations

All members of the Ardubeeno team are familiar with Plymouth and surrounding areas

Holds a ferry port for easy travel to European nations, easing the logistics of international growth

Home to Plymouth University, an excellent source of inspiration

6.4 Pricing strategy See 1.2 Business Model – What’s your profit margin for the pricing strategy for the Bee Box.

6.5 Market segmentation

See 3.2 Business Environment for a breakdown of our market segmentation

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Financial Review

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7.1 Projected Cash Flow

See 7.6 Finance Sheets for detailed projected cash flow statements.

7.2 Key Assumptions

In order to efficiently create our cash flow statements, and other projections, we had to make a selection of

assumptions, which were as follows:

▪ Assuming each customer purchased a kit to facilitate six beehives.

▪ Assuming all kits produced are sold.

▪ Assuming there are no significant problems with our product discovered during our testing phases.

▪ Assuming maintenance for each kit sold will be equated to a maximum of £5.00 per kit.

▪ Assuming the beekeeping community welcomes our product into their beehives.

▪ Assuming we can secure a bank loan of £50,000.

▪ Assuming we can repay this loan over 15 years, with 5% interest.

▪ Assuming our application to the Formation Zone within Plymouth University is a success.

▪ Assuming we can secure a subsidy of £25,000 in our second year of business.

▪ Assuming the cost of materials to produce our products remain the same over three years.

▪ Assuming our suppliers remains in business over the first three years of business.

▪ Assuming supplies needed in all aspects of our business arrive in an on-time fashion.

▪ Assuming the cost of business insurance remains the same over three years.

▪ Assuming the cost of consumables remains the same over three years.

▪ Assuming two members of staff are both hired in January and December of 2015.

▪ Assuming staff hired work part-time, 18 hours a week, and for £6.50 per hour over the course of

their working life.

▪ Assuming we repurchase the newest versions of software in April of every year.

▪ Assuming legal fees remain the same over the three years projected.

▪ Assuming Plymouth University will support our attempts at starting up our business.

▪ Assuming customers will be less inclined to purchase our kits during autumn and winter.

▪ Assuming our printing requirements will remain moderate.

▪ Assuming the company founders can sustain themselves through part-time jobs during the testing

phases of our product.

▪ Assuming the founders are happy to receive a wage through the first three years (post testing

phase), and keep net profits within the company.

▪ Assuming the founders are able to sustain themselves on the wages provided throughout the three

years projection.

▪ Assuming the founders of the company all remain in the company over the first three years.

▪ Assuming all designs for our company and products are created in house, negating the majority of

the associated cost.

▪ Assuming our company keeps comprehensive accounts of our spending, to lessen the cost of an

accountant.

▪ Assuming we do not sell data collected from our products until we have a large database of it.

▪ Assuming we will have a data bank large enough for market by the beginning of year four.

▪ Assuming no changes in legislation towards employee pay rates, national insurance, tax rates and

pension plans.

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▪ Assuming current competitors do not expand their operations, and new competitions do not start

up and rival us.

▪ Assuming research acquired to aid the production of our products is accurate.

▪ Assuming fuel prices remain the same throughout the three years of business.

7.3 Income Statement See 7.6 Finance Sheets for a projected income statement of March 2017.

7.4 Long-Term Plan See 1.3 Business Goals and 1.5 Plans for Growth respectably for our company’s future goals, and plans for

expansion.

7.5 Master Budget See 7.6 Finance Sheets for the yearly 2014-15, 2015-16, and 2016-17 master budgets.

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7.6 Finance Sheets

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Action Plan

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Action Plan

8.1 Short-term Goals

Our short term goal is to be the lead provider for bee monitoring hardware in the domestic market. Starting

in the south west, we will supply Tamar Grow Local in Callington, Cornwall, and any other local beekeepers

that they are associated with in a trial run of about 10 - 30 Ardubeeno products for a few months. This will

provide us with initial hive yield data for our database to encourage additional beekeepers in the future to

collaborate and purchase the product. This will also let us know if the data collecting aspect is being utilised

and if people are interested in it, so we can justify how much to focus on it in the future and to determine if

our monitoring equipment is everything our users are expecting it to be.

We can also judge if our sensors can withstand being in a hive environment for long periods of time and

whether the product needs further bee-proofing. This time period will be used to refine the product to the

quality we are promising to our potential buyers. We intend for the product to be in perfect working

condition by the end of the trial period and ready to sell properly.

We will travel to every relevant beekeeping and agriculture convention and exhibition with our own booth

or stand to talk about our product, hand out promotional items and generate interest and visibility for our

brand.

We need to secure office space in the university’s formation zone to fit the five of us, our computers and

other equipment, with the possibility of acquiring more space should we wish to hire one or two more

employees. We will rent server space elsewhere and do not need to account for space for them. We aim to

stay here and operate from within Plymouth for our first three years of trade.

8.2 Immediate Objectives

There are a lot of hobbyist beekeepers scattered across the country, who choose not to interact with larger

beekeeping associations often because they have a lot of expensive monitoring technology in undisclosed

locations to avoid the equipment getting stolen. We are going to advertise and find these people to

convince them to work together with local communities to improve our data collection. Our product is also

suited for hobbyists and not just larger apiaries and they may prefer a small all-in-one monitoring device for

just a couple of hives to avoid having the field of expensive equipment that they want to keep hidden from

potential thieves.

We will advertise in farming and agriculture magazines, newsletters, websites, relevant email lists, podcasts

and web adverts to try and find our audience rather than generic media outlets. We will ask agriculture

magazines to review our product and generate a buzz about it with their audience; even before we have

fully released it to be sure we will have sufficient demand when the time comes.

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We have a lot of promotional item designs that are ready to submit to printing websites. We will order

large batches of badges, stickers, USB sticks, notepads, business cards and other items which will be more

than enough for our first two years. We will travel to conventions and other meetings to promote our

products and hand out these items so potential customers and investors keep our brand in mind.

The conventions we will target are the British Beekeepers Association Spring Convention in April, the North

of England Beekeepers’ Convention in March and the Bee Improvement and Bee Breeders’ Association

Conference in September.

8.3 Next Steps

Once our market in Cornwall and Devon is established, we will branch out to further counties. By then we

should have substantial data to show off how our product is helping hive research, this should encourage

beekeepers to contribute to the cause and purchase our product.

We will be looking for support from the scientific community who may be interested in our bee research

and data collection. With the overall decline in bee population we think bee conservation studies would be

interested in our database after our trial period, and we will look to see if our product could potentially be

funded by grants and private investment to aid with research. We will also utilise crowd funding websites

like Kickstarter to generate funds and fans and get people excited for the product.

We will be looking to hire more people but not until at least after our first year, and if revenue is where we

expect it to be. We would look to move out of the formation zone after our third year of business, and find

an affordable office space where we can expand.

We aim for our product to be the first option for monitoring bee hives affordably in the UK. We have

designed Ardubeeno with our climate in mind, and would have to revisit the design before considering

expanding into other countries. Italy and the USA are popular countries for beekeeping with much larger

apiaries than the UK, and we may need to redesign the size and the sort of sensors used before we can

distribute further afield. This is a move we are definitely considering but this is a long-term goal that we

would look at after our first five years of UK-based business and possibly after acquiring funding and

requests from potential buyers.

8.4 Possible Questions

Would you be able to mass produce these to be sold in specialised shops?

We are researching cheaper alternatives to an Arduino based kit but for now and the next couple of years

we are focusing on distributing our current model within local counties. They are only going to be

purchasable from our website and putting them in specialised shops is not something we are going to look

at in the first few business years.

Has the product been proven to work?

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While it has not been in a real hive yet, the product has been given thorough testing and the sensors all

effectively monitor the parts of the hive that are most needed by beekeepers. We will have more proof

after the alpha testing trial period where the products will be placed in beehives and left alone to work for

three months.

Merchandise

Badges cost between 3p and 30p depending on how many you order, 500 for £85 at 17p each would do

Paper stickers would be 1000 for £70 with four designs, which is a lot but you can get 250 for £36

Business cards would be £47.99 for 200 but the custom shape would be more, possibly double

USB sticks are often priced on a case by case basis but it would cost under £2 each for a simple shape and

possibly around £5 for a custom shape

£162.50 for 250 one colour print notepads

£70 for 500 pencils

Appendices

9.1 CV’s of key personnel

Patrick Selman

Curriculum Vitae

Personal Details

Name: Patrick Selman

Address (Term): 35 Sutherland Road, Plymouth, Devon PL4 6BN

Address (Home): 159 Old Street, Clevedon, North Somerset BS21 6BH

Date of birth: 19/05/1992

Telephone number: 07954426996

Email address: patrickselman@gmail.com

Website: www.patrickselman.co.uk

Personal Profile

I am a confident outgoing person and a good communicator. I am a good public speaker and am often

chosen to give presentations and present work on my course. Using my communication skills I am able to

convey my ideas for technical and creative projects. I am enthusiastic in the work I undertake and take

great pride and enjoyment in the entire development and creative process. I enjoy learning new skills and

tackling projects from all areas such as web development, installation art, video games, social media and

music among others. I work very well under pressure and I am a great team member. I enjoy collaboration

with other artists and programmers whilst appreciating and utilizing the talents of people around me.

Above all I maintain consistency and take pride in my work and any accomplishments I make.

Work History

September 2008-May 2010 – Cleaner for Prime Clean at Clevedon Comprehensive School

Two hours a day Monday-Friday

Daily responsibilities including vacuuming, emptying bins and cleaning surfaces.

Trained in using large equipment such as buffers and large carpet cleaners.

Would regularly come in during holidays for full extra days

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Work Experience (as part of school curriculum)

2007-1 week – St. Mary’s Primary School (Weston)

I worked with children in Key Stage One, helping in the classroom by reading to the children, supporting the

teacher during lesson time and taking part in school activities.

Other Notable Experience

Invited installation at Animated Exeter

17th February 2012

Top projects in an art installation module where to be invited to Animated Exeter 2012 to create and

exhibit their installations

Ours was one of two projects to make the festival (Out of 20 groups)

Gave real world experience in setting up and performing an art installation at a well-known credible festival

Education and Training

Plymouth University

2010-Present

BSc (Hons) Digital Art and Technology Year 1 (First year grade 2:1)

Clevedon Community School

2003-2010

A level qualifications

Maths C

Physics C

Information Technology B

GCSE level qualifications

Maths A English Literature B

Science A/A English Language C

ICT A German C

CiDA (additional ICT) A/A Music B

Art B

Music Qualifications

Digital Keyboard Grade 7 Merit (Trinity Guildhall)

Other Skills

Web development (HTML/HTML5, CSS, JavaScript, and PHP)

Flash (Action script 3)

Java

Smartphone development (Android)

Programming for devices (Processing)

Confident in most Adobe Suite programs

Keen digital painter and illustrator

Hobbies and Interests

Keen musician playing piano, keyboard, guitar, bass to a high level in various bands and concerts

Frequent visitor to art galleries and exhibitions and recently attended Trans Medial in Berlin

Represented school in rugby and table tennis

Played Inline hockey and tennis outside of school in leagues and competitions

Video game enthusiast including video game journalism and development process. Recently attended

Insomnia43 (largest LAN event in the UK)

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Part of the amateur dramatics company Nailsea Musicals performing in multiple stage show in various

principle parts

Set up and ran the juggling and circus skills society at Plymouth University for two years.

Reference

Dr Simon Lock

Lecturer in Digital Arts and Technology

School of Art & Media (Faculty of Arts)

Plymouth University

simon.lock@plymouth.ac.uk

+44 (0)1752 585270

Beth Moore

Address: 18 Greenway Lane, Chippenham, Wiltshire, SN15 1AD Mobile: 07450932592 Email: trainsavingdog@gmail.com

Qualifications

2010 - present: BSc (Hons) Digital Art & Technology University of Plymouth 2003 - 2010: Hardenhuish School, Chippenham, Wiltshire, SN14 6RJ GCE Advanced Level: Computing (C), Economics (C), Mathematics (B) GCE Advanced Subsidiary: Physics (C) 10 GCSEs from A* - C grade Contact: Mr. M Fennell, Sixth Form Learning Manager, 01249 650693

Career History

April 2012 - April 2013: Graphics artist at Remode Studios, Plymouth (business has since closed) Contact: Ella Romanos, http://uk.linkedin.com/in/ellaromanos July - September 2011: Volunteering at British Heart Foundation, Chippenham Contact: Cheryl Hallett / Kerry Law, 01249 448037 British Heart Foundation, 4 High Street, Chippenham, Wiltshire, SN15 3EP September 2010: Volunteering at Cancer Research UK, Monmouth Contact: Hayley Moore, 07591612267

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Cancer Research UK, 20 Agincourt Square, Monmouth, Monmouthshire, NP25 3DY July 2009: Work experience with the ICT Support for Hardenhuish School, Chippenham Contact: 01249 767385 Hardenhuish School, Hardenhuish Lane, Chippenham, Wiltshire, SN14 6RJ

Skills Profile

3D modelling - mostly Blender with experience in Maya, creating low poly models Pixel art - supplied pixel art assets for a Remode Studios game for Habbo Hotel Vector art Unity 3D, C# and 3D animation ActionScript 3.0 – built small Flash games for university projects, scoring 64% for first

assignment. HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript, PHP – scored 85% for JavaScript test and 92% for PHP test. Java and other object oriented programming – scored 72% in test. Experience with Processing and Android.

Achievements

Achieved second place at ExPlay 2011 game jam Participated in the Global Game Jam 2012 - http://globalgamejam.org/2012/one-fish/ Participated in ExPlay 2013 game jam Participated in the Global Game Jam 2013 Involved in the production of an art installation in a group assignment to advertise

Animated Exeter, which was one of the winning groups chosen to go to Exeter and actually set it up on the night.

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Achievements:

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Joseph Hounsham A mature, confident and committed individual with excellent communication skills. I thrive on being given new responsibilities and challenges; I am adaptable to different circumstances and work well under pressure. I have proved myself in the different environments I’ve worked in and consistently achieved results. I am computer literate in Microsoft products, as well as a range of other web based interfaces and design programs such as Google AdWords and Adobe Suite. I am a perfectionist, and therefore ensure that all of my work undertaken is of the highest standard.

PROFESSIONAL EMPLOYMENT AND WORK

Key Responsibilities:

• Summer internship Involved in developing a new project management tool. • Capturing project manager’s requirements, meeting with developers, liaising with the rest of the team and

rigorously testing the tool before its rollout across the business unit. • I also took on responsibility in other areas such as workshops, giving presentations to senior members of the

business and producing user guides to some of BAE systems' services.

• Achieving a high grading on my final review, despite being challenged throughout the internship in all schemes of work.

• Successfully rolled out a tool that was met with great enthusiasm from co-workers in the business. • Effective time management with having to work in Preston frequently.

Key Responsibilities:

• Optimising the company’s website for SEO, improving search rankings and developing web strategy. • Producing marketing videos for their products

Achievements:

• Completed the clients requests to a high standard • Successfully improving their site and subsequent search rankings in Google • Overall traffic increase to their websit

This was a short term internship during a break from University. I worked with another employee to create a 65 page portfolio of the drinking habits and behaviors of the Australian market. This involved analysing statistics of a market research questionnaire and presenting them in a way that can be easily interpreted. The purpose of this document was to assist the SAB Australian brand and marketing team in marketing strategy and development.

BAE Systems plc July 2013-Sept 2013 Enterprise IT Services

Putnams ltd Sept 2012- April 2013

Part Time Webmaster

SAB Miller PLC April 2012

Marketing - Group Segmentation

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The portrait had to be completed before the segmentation director flew out to Australia to present the portrait to the team. Therefore we had to work to an extremely tight deadline whilst still ensuring a high standard of production was met.

Key Responsibilities:

• Paid search account manager which involved day-to-day optimisation of our Google advertising account. • Keeping up to date with SEO, affiliate and other web marketing affairs through contacts at Google and R.O

Eye. • Meetings and conference calls with our competitors and senior management, developing a strong

professional relationship. • Undertaking multiple responsibilities such as developing our marketing base through eBay shops and Google

remarketing methods.

Achievements:

• Consistently achieved sales over and above our targets for my area. • Undertook multiple responsibilities after a series of redundancies were made, including product buying,

warehouse work and web design and development. This allowed me to develop a logistical business mind not only to my sector but to other areas of the business too, and proved that I was flexible and able to apply my skills elsewhere whilst still achieving my targets.

• Learned and understood the different aspects of my role very quickly despite no training beforehand. • Although I was primarily working alone, I was able to work as a team on different projects with other

departments and achieve successful results.

Company Position Held Dates

Mankind Direct Warehouse Assistant Nov’08- Jul’10

Lifestyle Fitness Recreational Assistant Jan’09- June’10 The White Hart Waiter Oct’08 – May’09

(2011- 2014) Currently studying Interactive Digital Art & Technology at Plymouth University, predicted 1st (2010 – 2011) Year out working and travelling. (2008 – 2010) Woking College A-Level Qualifications: Economics, Biology and Psychology. (2003 – 2008) Gordons’s School GCSE Qualifications: 7As 2Bs and 3Cs. Extra Curriculum achievements:

Mankind Direct LTD July 2010- May 2011

Internet Marketer & PPC Assistant

Academic History

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• Drum sergeant for a pipe and drum band. This gave me an early taste of managing people and ensuring our performance was second-to-none. Played at prestigious venues such as the High Sherriff of Surreys’ Garden Party and Wentworth Golf Club and helped lead the band to national music competitions.

• Achieved Duke of Edinburgh Bronze, Silver and Gold. Organised a 5 day self-sufficient mountain biking expedition round the Tuscan mountains and planned and presented a post trip presentation to the Surrey D of E assessors.

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9.2 Organisational chart with positions and responsibilities

Name Position Responsibilities

Robert Sparks Hardware Director - Production and Updates of Physical Products

- Research and Development

- Ensure high quality of our maintenance packages

- Accountancy/Book keeping

Joe Hounsham Technical Director - Architecture and technical structure of web services

- Assist in Research and Development

- Lead on software updates

Alistair Bird Operations and Technology Director

- Client liaison

- Logistics of purchasing and contracting

- Market and product research

Patrick Selman Web and Brand Director

- Front end user design of web and mobile services

- Oversee all branded material to ensure coherence

- Research and development of client side web technology

- Trade shows and company outreach

Beth Moore Art Director - Design of appealing visual materials for all products and services

- Development of marketing material

- Potential client research