BUSI 338 Week 2 New Venture Project Phase 1 Presentation Example

Phase 1: Legal Footing, Ethics and Planning for Hill City Mobile Bike Works

Slide 1: Phase 1: Legal Footing, Ethics and Planning

• A van-based repair service for Lynchburg riders
• Factor covered: legal setup, ethics and organization
• New Venture Project, Phase 1

Speaker notes: This first phase covers the decisions that come before the first repair: what legal form the business takes, which licenses and tax registrations it needs, how it handles the ethical pressures common in repair work, and how its owner will plan and organize the first year. Each decision is compared with what storefront shops in the city do and tested against what riders told me in a short survey.

Slide 2: Choosing a Legal Form

• Sole proprietorship: simple, but no liability shield
• Limited liability company: modest cost, protects personal assets
• Decision: single-member LLC

Speaker notes: Byrd and Megginson (2018) compare the forms of ownership on cost, control and liability. A sole proprietorship would be cheapest, but a mobile business works on customers' property and drives a loaded van every day, so the owner's personal assets would be exposed to any claim. A single-member LLC, filed with the Virginia State Corporation Commission, keeps the owner in full control while separating business debts from personal ones. The filing fee is small next to that protection.

Slide 3: Licenses and Registrations

• City of Lynchburg business license through the Commissioner of the Revenue
• Virginia sales tax registration for parts sold
• Federal employer identification number before hiring
• Commercial auto and general liability insurance

Speaker notes: Because the van is based in Lynchburg, the business license comes from the city's Commissioner of the Revenue. Parts sold to customers are taxable, so the business must register with the Virginia Department of Taxation and collect sales tax, while labor is shown separately on every invoice. An employer identification number from the IRS will be needed once the part-time mechanic is hired. Insurance is not a license, but no apartment manager or employer will host a repair day without proof of it.

Slide 4: How the Van Compares With Storefront Shops

• Lynchburg area: four storefront bike shops, no mobile service
• Storefronts: rent, retail inventory, set hours
• Van: lower overhead, comes to the rider, limited space for parts

Speaker notes: A drive-by and online review of the area found four storefront shops that sell and repair bicycles and no full-time mobile service. The storefronts carry rent and a showroom of new bikes, which ties up cash, but they can stock far more parts than a van. The mobile model trades shelf space for convenience and lower overhead. That difference shapes later phases: the van must stock parts carefully, and it must earn trust without a showroom to walk into.

Slide 5: What Riders Told Me

• Survey of 20 riders at two bike racks and a group ride
• 14 of 20 had delayed a repair for a month or more
• 11 of 20 worried about being overcharged for repairs
• 16 of 20 would pay a small premium for a home visit

Speaker notes: To test the idea, I asked twenty riders five short questions at two workplace bike racks and a Saturday group ride. The sample is small and not random, so the results are a signal rather than proof. Still, the pattern was clear. Most riders had let a repair wait, and more than half said they worry about being charged for work they did not need. That worry about pricing is the ethical issue the next two slides address.

Slide 6: Ethical Pressures in Repair Work

• Customers cannot easily judge what a repair needs
• Temptation: recommend parts the bike does not need
• Small owners report pressure on pricing and honesty

Speaker notes: Repair is a classic case of unequal information: the mechanic knows what the bike needs, and the rider usually does not. Byrd and Megginson (2018) stress that a small firm's reputation rests on the owner's ethics because customers deal with the owner directly. In a national study of small business professionals, Vitell et al. (2000) found that respondents' ethical conflicts arose most often with customers and with employees, the two groups this venture deals with every day. A repair business sells trust before it sells a tune-up.

Slide 7: Our Ethics Code

• Written quote before any work begins
• Old parts returned to the rider on request
• No commission on parts for the mechanic
• Scripture: "A just weight is his delight" (Proverbs 11:1)

Speaker notes: The code answers the survey's worry directly. Every job begins with a written quote, and no extra work happens without the rider's approval. Replaced parts are handed back if the rider wants to see them. The part-time mechanic will be paid by the hour, not by the parts sold, so no one has a reason to upsell. Proverbs sets honest weights against rigged scales and says God delights in the first (English Standard Version Bible, 2001/2016, Proverbs 11:1). In this business, the written quote is the weight on the scale.

Slide 8: Planning Before Launch

• Planning tied to faster progress and lower failure
• Effect weaker for new firms, so keep the plan short and revise it
• Plan revised at each project phase

Speaker notes: Planning is worth the time, but the research suggests what kind of planning. Brinckmann et al. (2010) combined dozens of small-firm studies and reported a positive link between planning and performance, though the effect was weaker for new firms than for established ones, which face less uncertainty. For a new venture, that argues for a short, working plan that is revised as information arrives rather than a long document written once. This project's phases will be the revisions.

Slide 9: Organizing the Work

• Owner: repairs, scheduling, partner relations
• Part-time mechanic: tune-ups on repair days
• Outsourced: bookkeeping, website hosting

Speaker notes: Byrd and Megginson (2018) describe organizing as deciding who does which tasks and who answers to whom. In a two-person firm, the organization chart is short, but it still matters. The owner handles repairs, booking and relationships with employers and campuses. A part-time mechanic covers the busiest repair days. Bookkeeping and website hosting are bought as services so the owner's hours go to work only the owner can do.

Slide 10: First-Year Calendar

• Months 1 and 2: LLC filing, licenses, insurance, van fit-out
• Month 3: soft launch with two workplace partners
• Months 4 to 6: spring peak, hire part-time mechanic
• Month 12: review plan against actual results

Speaker notes: The calendar puts the legal steps first because nothing else can start without them. The soft launch with two partners lets the owner test timing and pricing before the spring rush, when demand for repairs peaks. The mechanic is hired for the peak rather than before it. Twelve months in, actual results will be set beside the plan and the plan rewritten, as the planning research recommends.

Slide 11: References

Speaker notes: Four sources support this phase: the course text, two peer-reviewed articles, one on planning and one on small business ethics, and Scripture. Full entries appear below.

References

Brinckmann, J., Grichnik, D., & Kapsa, D. (2010). Should entrepreneurs plan or just storm the castle? A meta-analysis on contextual factors impacting the business planning-performance relationship in small firms. Journal of Business Venturing, 25(1), 24-40. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusvent.2008.10.007

Byrd, M. J., & Megginson, L. C. (2018). Small business management: An entrepreneur's guidebook (8th ed.). McGraw-Hill Education.

English Standard Version Bible. (2016). Crossway. (Original work published 2001)

Vitell, S. J., Dickerson, E. B., & Festervand, T. A. (2000). Ethical problems, conflicts and beliefs of small business professionals. Journal of Business Ethics, 28(1), 15-24. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1006217129077