SUBMISSION FORM – START-UP VISA SCHEME You should complete this form to submit interest in the UCL Start-Up Visa Scheme. In order to be eligible for the Start-up Visa Scheme, you must: - Be enrolled at UCL or have graduated from UCL (within 12 months of graduation date). - Have held an eligible visa during your last period of leave to remain in the UK. If you are still in the UK, this leave to remain must be valid; - Hold a valid passport; - Have an innovative, viable and scalable idea (this will be assessed); - Attend Start-Up visa information session and have at least 2 meetings with the UCL Business Acceleration Advisers - Proposed business will be based in London; - be a leading entrepreneur - for individual applicants you'll need to have over 51% of shares in the future company, or if applying as a part of a team (maximum 2 members) have 50% of shares each in the future company - Include the documents listed below with your submission: ✓ Copy of passport; ✓ Copy of visa; ✓ Student registration number and date of completion of your qualification or Copy of a University qualification. ✓ Copy of the Business Feasibility Plan You should only complete this form if you meet ALL of the above criteria. Please send completed form and submission documents to [email protected]and in the subject line of the email please input – Start-Up Application. Failure to provide all information and documents listed will result in delay and processing of your submission. A review and assessment of your Business Feasibility Plan will be undertaken and you will be advised of the result within 3 weeks. Name on passport: Click here to enter text. Student ID Number: Click here to enter text. UCL Email: Click here to enter text.
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SUBMISSION FORM – START-UP VISA SCHEME
You should complete this form to submit interest in the UCL Start-Up Visa Scheme.
In order to be eligible for the Start-up Visa Scheme, you must:
- Be enrolled at UCL or have graduated from UCL (within 12 months of graduation date).
- Have held an eligible visa during your last period of leave to remain in the UK. If you are still in the UK, this leave to remain must be valid;
- Hold a valid passport;
- Have an innovative, viable and scalable idea (this will be assessed);
- Attend Start-Up visa information session and have at least 2 meetings with the UCL Business Acceleration Advisers
- Proposed business will be based in London;
- be a leading entrepreneur - for individual applicants you'll need to have over 51% of shares in the future company, or if applying as a part of a team (maximum 2 members) have 50% of shares each in the future company
- Include the documents listed below with your submission:✓ Copy of passport;✓ Copy of visa;✓ Student registration number and date of completion of your qualification or Copy of
a University qualification.✓ Copy of the Business Feasibility Plan
You should only complete this form if you meet ALL of the above criteria. Please send completed form and submission documents to [email protected] and in the subject line of the email please input – Start-Up Application. Failure to provide all information and documents listed will result in delay and processing of your submission. A review and assessment of your Business Feasibility Plan will be undertaken and you will be advised of the result within 3 weeks.
Name on passport: Click here to enter text.
Student ID Number: Click here to enter text.
UCL Email: Click here to enter text.
Other contact Email: Click here to enter text.
Contact Telephone: Click here to enter text.
UK Address: Click here to enter text.
Are you a Government sponsored student: Click here to enter text.
100 word description of your business: Click here to enter text.
Declaration
I declare that, to the best of my knowledge, the information given in this application is correct. I understand that deliberate omissions and incorrect statements could lead to my submission/application being rejected or to my removal from the Start-Up Visa Scheme (SUGEV):
If you are sending this form to the University by email then you should note that, in the absence of this signature, the emailing of this application constitutes your personal certification that the details are correct. By submitting this application, you agree to the Terms and Conditions of the Graduate Entrepreneur Scheme as detailed in this document. UCL cannot guarantee that your visa application will be successful.
Terms & Conditions of the Start-Up Visa Scheme1. For Start-Up Visa applications there are only four dates per calendar year to be able to make
a presentation. These dates will be made available on the UCL Innovation and Enterprise website.
2. If your Start-Up Visa Scheme application is approved by the University, you will be issued with an endorsement letter from the University. You will need this endorsement to make a visa application with Home Office.
3. You should seek advice on completing your visa application (email [email protected] to book your appointment)
4. The University does not charge for the Start-Up Visa. However, you are responsible for meeting the costs of your visa application, which are paid directly to the Home Office.
5. You will be required to participate in regular mentoring and progress meetings at the discretion of the University as specified in the Appendix 1.
6. You will be required to be based at the Hatchery and sign a copy of the Hatchery agreement.7. The University’s allocation of endorsements will be issued on the basis of being able to meet
the critical criteria; a viable business idea, and the ability and maturity to set up and run the business. After the University’s allocation, has been exhausted, no new allocations can be given until new allocations have been issued by the Home Office.
8. The University’s decision is final.9. UCL will act as your endorsing body for the duration of your visa. You must adhere to all
reasonable requests made by the University in relation to your visa and your business plan.10. You must provide the University with a copy of your visa and passport as soon as you receive
your visa, which will be held on file. If you visa is refused, you must provide us with a copy of the refusal letter.
11. While on the Start-Up Visa Scheme, the University is obliged to maintain contact with you. You must maintain contact with the University and respond within required timeframes.
12. If the University is unable to maintain contact with you, we are required to inform the Home Office and terminate the endorsement of your visa.
13. You must keep the University informed of any changes in your contact details.14. You must inform the University if you permanently leave the UK. The University will report
this to the Home Office and your visa will be cancelled.15. You must inform the University if you are granted any other type of visa. If your Start-Up
Visa is no longer required, it will be cancelled.16. At the end of the endorsement of your Start-Up Visa, you must make arrangements to apply
for a new visa (under an eligible category) or leave the UK before your visa expires.17. These terms and conditions are subject to change without notice or consultation with the
participants.
Appendix 1 :Please read carefully. When endorsed, you will be required and expected to abide by the following obligations. Failure to do so can result in the University informing the Home Office and terminating the endorsement of your visa:
Register your business with Companies House. Open a business bank account. You must be living in London. Ensure that all business transactions are made through the business bank account. Make at least one business transaction in year one via the business bank account. If you take on any part-time employment, you must not work more than 20 hours per week
in this employment. Arrange and attend regular monthly meetings with your assigned Business Acceleration
Advisor (BAA). Complete any tasks which are set by your BAA to further develop your business. Provide progress update reports every three-months and/or upon request. Maintain contact with the University and ensure all correspondence are responded to in a
timely manner. At the 6-month and 12-month stages, submit a formal Business Progress Report and 10-
minute presentation to a panel. Be in attendance at UCL BaseKX for a minimum number of days per week agreed with your
BAA. In addition to meetings with your BAA, you will be asked to attend monthly peer to peer
support sessions. The dates of these sessions will be provided once your sponsorship is approved.
Attend any events, talks, activities or workshops requested of you by the University. Be considerate and respectful of your fellow Start-Up visa and Hatchery Businesses, visitors
to Base KX and staff. Inform the University and the UK Border Agency if participant(s) are no longer participating
in the scheme. Must inform UCL Innovation and Enterprise when travelling outside of the UK. At the end of the Start-Up, attend an exit interview and provide a final status report.
BUSINESS FEASIBILITY PLAN GUIDANCE – USE THE TEMPLATE AFTER GUIDANCE – MAX. 10 PAGES
You will need to submit a Business Feasibility Plan (BFP) for review and assessment to decide if you can make an application for the Start-Up Visa. We request a BFP because we consider that the demands and requirements of developing a full Business Plan (BP) at the early or nascent stage of a business venture is too onerous.
Why a Business Feasibility Plan (BFP) and not a standard Business Plan (BP)?
BPs have their place and use, but as an early stage business venture you should be testing and adapting your business concept as you learn and validate your key assumptions and critical success factors (CSFs). A fully developed BP requires a lot of time and intensive research to produce a comprehensive document that addresses every aspect of your business. The audience are typically Bank managers or venture capitalist investors who will review all the details to decide if a loan or significant investment is offered to you and your business. At this early stage, a full BP has limited value for you, because you need to prove that your business idea will actually work through execution and traction.
A BFP is essentially a condensed BP but focuses on the testing and validation of your assumptions and CSFs you have undertaken. It demonstrates to the audience that you have investigated the assumptions and CSFs that you consider would make your business work, actually getting out and speaking to real potential users/customers and testing.
The following advice and guidance will explain how to produce and structure the BFP. There is no requirement for minimum number of pages but a MAXIMUM of 10 pages. The objective of the BFP submission is to demonstrate that you can produce a clear, concise and OBJECTIVE assessment of your business venture.
The BFP needs to be submitted to the [email protected] e-mail address at least two weeks before the date of the Hatchery Application panel presentation. You will be advised of the Hatchery Application panel presentation date once we have assessed and approved your application to progress. Failure to submit an acceptable BFP on time, will result in you not being able to move to the next stage of a panel presentation.
BUSINESS FEASIBILITY PLAN STRUCTURE
1. Executive SummaryA clear, concise, compelling, condensed version of whole plan (one page). Always written last. The purpose of the exec summary is to switch on the lightbulb in the reader’s brain and to pique their interest. You want them thinking “Ah, got it. That’s cool. Tell me more.” Some readers will form a judgement of your business idea purely based on the Exec Summary. Some might only get as far as the Exec Summary! Make sure it is a great advertisement and clearly communicates everything you consider is important for your business! Provide the backstory to how and why you came up with this business venture if it is interesting.
2. ProblemWhat you should be aiming for in this section is to convince the audience/reader that:
(1) You are addressing a real problem.(2) That enough people have this problem (quantify it!). (3) and most importantly they care enough to want to address the problem (i.e that they will pay for your solution). To create a sustainable business, you must have enough users/customers willing to pay you to overcome the problem.
Therefore, provide a clear definition of the problem you are aiming to solve and who exactly has this problem? If it is not by definition a true problem but an unmet need, explain why your user/customer needs this now?
Ultimately, what you are trying to prove is that there are enough people (who don’t know you or have any connection to you) have this problem (so this is not just your personal opinion!) and actually care enough. To do this, you need to provide evidence to support your opinion and assumptions. Evidence can be:
Primary research talking with users/customer (not friends or known acquaintances) but you must not ask them if they will buy or use your product. This is a leading question and no commitment is involved. It has limited value and can lead to false positives for your venture. Please read the Mom Test by Rob Fitzpatrick for more information on how best to talk to potential users/customers.
Check online forums, are there many people talking/reporting of the same problem you are addressing?
Are there reliable sources such as research papers/research studies that have investigated the problem?
Have any credible news/tv/media journalists also investigated or reported on the extent of the problem? However, don’t use vague general news headline descriptions of the problem that have minor associations to what you plan to address as validation.
Are people already seeking a solution and prepaid to pay for an inferior solution? Sales data from these inferior solutions can back up your argument.
Interesting resources to read:https://www.inc.com/james-paine/entrepreneurs-here-is-how-you-can-find-problems-to-solve.htmlhttps://www.entrepreneur.com/article/236522https://www.forbes.com/sites/sujanpatel/2015/11/11/how-to-start-a-company-by-solving-problems/#4d6d28e61386http://keytakeaways.io/books/mom-test/http://startupmaze.com/the-mom-test-key-points/
3. Solution - Product/Service DescriptionThis section should detail and explain clearly how your solution works. You should provide an explanation of your key value and fundamental value proposition or USP. The interrogation and assessment of your solution will want to know:
How does your solution work? - Provide a use case to explain how the solution works and fits into your users/customers normal daily life and routine?
Competition - How and why you are different from your direct and indirect competitors.
Why your solution is better than the most used current/existing solution by your target customer. Fact! Sometimes your biggest competitor is ‘do nothing’ scenario, whereby your users/customers choose to find their own solution to the problem because they just don’t care enough to pay for a solution.
How does it satisfy a clear market need (supported by evidence). Do you have any ‘proprietary technology’ (e.g. patentable IP, copyright, design
rights)?
The aim of covering both the problem and solution sections, is that they both should align to demonstrate problem/solution fit. Problem/solution fit is described as ‘You have a problem worth solving and your solution rings a bell with customer. You know you have a fit when people want to write a cheque or get on your queue for a product that does not exist.’
Interesting resources to read:https://medium.com/@epicantus/problem-solution-fit-canvas-aa3dd59cb4fehttp://solutioncanvas.com/https://blog.leanstack.com/the-updated-problem-interview-script-and-a-new-canvas-1e43ff267a5dhttps://www.100productmanagers.com/articles/the-subtext-youre-missing-re-problem-solution-fit
4. Market Opportunity & Other ResearchYou need to identify and understand the market and industry you will operate in. This may also be geographic and region specific. In addition, you need to calculate the market opportunity for your business, doing this requires research and an element of creativity. The current best practice advice is that you need to demonstrate that there is a big enough market opportunity. This is to ensure that you can capture a realistic share of the market opportunity once you have found product/market fit, because you cannot take all of the market opportunity. Interrogation of your market opportunity and competition assessment, will look at:
Detail the correct market and industry you will operate in. Markets and industries are different, so you have to identify both. Show us that you understand both market and industries well. E.g Do existing and current research sources indicate market/industry growth or decline projections? - You need to show direct or relevant similarities to demonstrate this. E.g if you are developing a vegan food discovery mobile app. Show that food app downloads by vegans are increasing year on year and not just mobile phone usage or download growth.
Are there potential changing users/customer behaviour or habits (supported by evidence)?
What is the competitive landscape like (supported by evidence)?
Why do you believe there is an opportunity for a new player (supported by evidence)?
Potential market size. What is the Total Addressable Market (TAM)? If you don’t know what a TAM is, you need to go and do some research and learn.
Realistic market size. What is the Serviceable Obtainable Market (SOM)? If you don’t know what a SOM is, you need to go and do some research and learn.
Interesting resources to read:http://vc-list.com/determining-market-opportunity/http://www.venturechoice.com/articles/market_validation.htmhttps://www.marsdd.com/mars-library/how-to-estimate-market-size-business-and-marketing-planning-for-startups/https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/270853#https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Total_addressable_markethttps://www.forentrepreneurs.com/calculating-tam/https://simplicable.com/new/serviceable-obtainable-markethttps://www.thebusinessplanshop.com/blog/en/entry/tam_sam_som
5. Go-to-Market StrategyHaving a great product or service is nothing unless you have people using or better still, paying for your solution. This is probably the most challenging aspects of developing a business venture, to ensure it is sustainable. The key to success here is to find a repeatable channel to your users or customers with low customer acquisition costs. So how will you get people aware of the value of your product/solution? Making sure it costs you less to acquire them then it is to engage with them?
Provide a clear and specific description of the channels to your target audience to convert them to users or customers. Please do not just state social media advertising or followers! Using social media does not ensure you will get engaged/active users or customers. Unless you have managed to convert thousands of people into customers from this personally, we will view this negatively for your go-to market strategy!
What is your beachhead strategy (the market niche you will initially target)? If you are not targeting a market niche, we recommend that you research why startups start with a beachhead strategy. If you believe that you can access the mass market as a nascent startup with limited resources and finances, you are not demonstrating an understanding of the challenges you face building a business.
Have you established any strategic partnerships for the business? Are you networked to influential people who can help you (be specific in how they will help you, just stating they are is not acceptable).
Interesting resources to read:https://www.thebalance.com/what-is-customer-acquisition-38496https://medium.com/swlh/8-proven-customer-acquisition-strategies-for-startups-ec14f99fdef1https://www.chargebee.com/blog/3-explosive-ways-users-startup-budget/https://brainhub.eu/blog/customer-acquisition-strategy-startups-start/
6. Business & Financial ModelYou need to clearly explain your business model i.e how will you make money? Specifically include and cover the following for the BFP:
Details on your pricing model and rationale for your price points. What are your profit margins and why? If you are a product based business, how do you maintain quality control or manage
logistics costs? If you are a double sided marketplace – which side do you focus on first and why? If you have inventory, how much do you have ready and how much to store it?
The financial model is very important for SUGEV applicants. The home office guidelines specify that one of the key assessment criteria for SUGEV is that your venture makes a positive impact for the UK economy. The financial model, will demonstrate to us, how you will be a sustainable business. We understand financial projections are estimates but they are not just made up values that have no connection to real world prices/pricing. We expect to see a well-researched financial projections that show:
A 3 year period Monthly cash flow projections. List all assumptions and justification made in projections. Explain any correlation between inter-connected activities i.e. sales go up, but
marketing costs stay unchanged, why is this? Detail how you cover you/your teams living expenses. Identify your break-even point. How do you manage/cover for any losses?
Interesting resources to read:https://www.huffingtonpost.com/nina-tomaro/9-proven-business-models-_b_7949932.htmlhttps://www.entrepreneur.com/article/233451https://visible.vc/blog/financial-modeling-for-startups/https://www.financewalk.com/startup-financial-model-xls-template-excel/https://business.tutsplus.com/tutorials/from-idea-to-break-even-how-to-create-a-financial-model-for-your-business--cms-23049
7. Assumptions, Validation & TractionThis is the most important section of the document. Every new business venture idea will have assumptions made by the founders. Keeping an objective and honest assessment/viewpoint of your venture will help you. This is why we want you to identify all your key assumptions and critical success factors (CSF) of your business venture. Once you have identified your key assumptions and CSFs, how have you tested or validated them to be true or not?
Successful entrepreneurs are also people who get things done i.e hustle and make things happen. Here is your chance to impress us by telling us how much traction you have achieved to date. Examples include:
Building an MVP. Pre-orders. E-mail list of people interested in your solution. Beta test with results and feedback Testimonials Signed letters of intent
Interesting resources to read:https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/234878https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/241122https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/233408https://www.productplan.com/lean-market-validation-10-ways-rapidly-test-startup-idea/http://smarterstartup.org/https://simpleweb.co.uk/how-these-entrepreneurs-validated-their-startup-ideas/
8. Challenges and Business FeasibilityAs with understanding your assumptions and validating them, successful entrepreneurs understand their strengths and weaknesses to identify the key challenges they will face in their entrepreneurial endeavours and journey. We want you to list and detail the key challenges you consider specific for your business venture. What are the biggest concerns for your business venture? You should have also considered and developed measures to mitigate the concerns and challenges. Therefore, also provide details of how you will overcome these challenges?
In addition, we want you to list and explain the reasons why you consider your business venture will work. Do you have any unfair advantages that will help you succeed? Do you have deep industry expertise or have connections to people who have? Is this the right time because of certain factors in legislation, consumer behaviour, technology adoption or environmental factors? Have your team members have a long history of friendship or working together? What are the factors that demonstrate that you will make this business a success? Convince us but in order to do so, you need to back up any statement or claim of why your business venture will work with evidence, otherwise it is just your opinion. Example: Saying you are well connected in the industry is not enough, list the influential people you know personally, how long you have known/worked with them, describe their experience/credentials and how they can bring value to your business venture.
9. Team Most investors will tell you that it is not the idea they invest for an early stage business but the team. A team is always preferred over a solo-founder as there are more people to cover skills and workload. Please provide the following in your BFP:
Brief bios and specific role of all team members and equity split. What skills do you bring to the business and why are these relevant?
What skills gap do you have in the team that are needed for your venture to work and how will you bring them into the team?
Do you have advisors or advisory board that includes experts to help you? If you are a solo founder, how will you be able to manage all the work and difficulties
that come with being a solo founder?
10. Scalability of the business idea Explain how the business can grow and scale up. You must provide evidence of structured planning of potential for job creation and growth into national markets.
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Business Feasibility Plan Of(ADD NAME OF BUSINESS)
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1.0 Executive SummaryPlease see Section 1: Executive Summary on page 1 of the Business Feasibility Plan Guidance Document on how to complete.
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2.0 ProblemPlease see Section 2: Problem on page 2 of the Business Feasibility Plan Guidance Document on how to complete.
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3.0 SolutionPlease see Section 3: Solution – Product/Service description on pages 2-3 of the Business Feasibility Plan Guidance Document on how to complete.
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4.0 Market Opportunity & Other ResearchPlease see Section 4: Market Opportunity and Other Research on pages 3-4 of the Business Feasibility Plan Guidance Document on how to complete.
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5.0 Go-to-Market StrategyPlease see Section 5: Go-to-market Strategy on page 4 of the Business Feasibility Plan Guidance Document on how to complete.
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6.0 Business & Financial ModelPlease see Section 6: Business & Financial Model on pages 4-5 of the Business Feasibility Plan Guidance Document on how to complete.
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7.0 Assumptions, Validation & TractionThe most important section! Please see Section 7: Assumptions, Validation & Traction on pages 5-6 of the Business Feasibility Plan Guidance Document on how to complete.
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8.0 Challenges & Business Feasibility Please see Section 8: Challenges & Business Feasibility on page 6 of the Business Feasibility Plan Guidance Document on how to complete.
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9.0 TeamPlease see Section 9: Team on page 6 of the Business Feasibility Plan Guidance Document on how to complete.
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10.0 Scalability of the business idea
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