Information Systems Department

Business Plan Project (INFS 3390-90L)

NoFake

July 5, 2017

Brandon Lau, Alejandro Nava, and Angel Sandoval

University of Texas – Rio Grande Valley

Information Systems Department

brandon.lau01@utrgv.edu, alejandro.nava01@utrgv.edu, angel.sandoval01@utrgv.edu

1. Business Model of the Firm……………………………………….……………………………………………………

1.1        Basic Information About the Business………………………………………………………………………

1.2        Business Model………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

1.3        Feasibility Analysis……………………………………………………………………………………………………..

2. Competitive Strategy………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

        2.1 State of the Competition……………………………………………………………………………………….

        2. 2 Value Creation………………………………………………………………………………………………………

3. IT Assets……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

        3.1 Information Technology Use………………………………………………………………………………….

        3.2 Process Innovation Through IT………………………………………………………………………………

        3.3 IT Infrastructure……………………………………………………………………………………………………

                3.3.1 Hardware……………………………………………………………………………………………….

                3.3.2 Software and Applications…………………………………………………………….………

                3.3.3 Telecommunications and Networking……………………………………………………

                3.3.4 Database Management Systems………………………………………………………………

                3.3.5 Security of IT Assets……………………………………………………………………………….

        3.4 IT Administration………………………………………………………………………………………………….

4. Operational Analysis…………………………………………………………………………………………….………………

        4.1 Operations………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

        4.2 Organization……………………………………………………………………………………………………………

        4.3 Financial Plans…………………………………………………………………………………………………………

                4.3.1 Funding Plans……………………………………………………………………………………………

        4.4 Limitations……………………………………………………………………………….………………………………

1. Business Model of the Firm

1.1 Basic Information About the Business

        NoFake is a smartphone app that specializes in authenticating sneakers for resale so that people do not get ripped off or cheated in the secondary market. From the newest Yeezys to original Jordan's, our app ensures that consumers are not purchasing fakes. In today's resale market, there are a plethora of stores and websites to choose from such as Ebay, Stock X, GOAT, Craigslist, and even Facebook. All these options make consumers vulnerable at every corner. The NoFake app will ensure that any shoes added to a collection are legitimate and will actually add value.

1.2 Business Model

        The NoFake app works by analyzing user-submitted photos of shoes before a potential sale and delivers a final verdict of authentic or phony. Our business servers have thousands of  high resolution photos of collectible shoes. Each shoe has unique identifiers much like a fingerprint that determine whether or not it is a real pair. The app will have an easy to use interface that guides the user through the photo taking process. In less than a minute, the pictures that the user sent are compared against our authentic photos.

NoFake would be  formed as a corporation in order to protect the owner's personal assets from any sort of liability issues. Also, it would allow for easier financing when applying for loans from banks. The company would be located in Austin, TX because of its rapid growth as a technology hub. The city also has a lot of talented programmers, information systems experts, and consultants to help grow the business. The users of the app are not going to be the customers since the app will be free. The paying customers would be advertising businesses that get a small banner or loading screen while the users have the app open. The advertises would pay a monthly subscription that would adjust as more users join the app. These customers/advertises value the amount of people that they are able to reach, so we will have a focus on making users happy. As of right now, there is no simple way to tell if shoes are real or a fake. A consumer has to do their own research and have faith in the buyer. As a result of this, NoFake will definitely solve an unmet need. It will make authenticating much easier for the everyday resale consumer.

1.3 Feasibility Analysis

        In the modern age, all it takes is that one perfect app to put a business on the map. Seeing as NoFake solves a widely unmet need among a very large group, there is high potential for this app to spread rapidly. The hardest part of running an app-based company is the programming. This portion will be taken care of by trained app developers who will continue to perfect NoFake as customer reviews arrive. With the three NoFake founding members, we have collective experiences that make starting this business a very lucrative opportunity. We have extensive personal experience in collecting shoes and dealing with the process of verifying shoes' authenticity. Another strength is our entrepreneurial knowledge of the available resources for small businesses and startups. Our soon to be complete business degrees in accounting, finance, and management will also help immensely.

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Contributions

Contributions to this chapter were made by:

        1. Brandon Lau wrote the majority of sections 1.1-1.3

2. Competitive Strategy

2.1 State of the Competition

        The main competitor to NoFake is kicksworth.com which is an online public forum-based sneaker checker. People post pictures of shoes to the website, and then people post their comments and questions. Eventually, the anonymous users normally reach a conclusion about the legitimacy of the pair in question. This is an unreliable website that may take several days or weeks before someone responds to a post. Also, the website is very scattered with a bunch of random posts; there is no category or filter options like there would be in our app. Based on Porter's five force analysis, NoFake is poised to be a great opportunity for owners and investors alike. The threat of new entrants is not high as long as our proprietary software that analyzes photos of shoes is patented before other companies do the same. The chance that a substitute would replace No Fake is low because we would ensure that our patent prevents others from creating the same app concept. Our customers, the advertisers, would have a large amount of bargaining power at first because of our low user base. That bargaining power would dissipate as users increase which will give NoFake leverage to demand higher prices. As an app-based company, our business would not have traditional suppliers besides the network infrastructure services needed to run the app. These providers do not have much bargaining power because of the growth in cheap computing power and data storage. Lastly, there will not be much industry rivalry since it is a relatively new idea.

2.2 Value Creation

NoFake is different from the current competition because we provide a simple interface with categories and filters to make authenticating easy. Users would not have to do mountains of their own research and scour the internet for pictures. The economic logic that explains how our customers will receive value is simple. The goal of advertisers is to reach as many, relevant people as possible. NoFake will have small ads like most free apps that do not take away from the user experience but still exposes advertisers to the users. By giving the advertisers the ability to reach their own potential customers, NoFake provides value to them. Also, our user base is so broad but with a specific interest that advertisers such as Nike and Adidas will realize how much value they can gain from partnering with us. To ensure that process innovations, software, and interface layouts are not copied, NoFake will file all the proper patents in a timely manner to protect our app. We will also work the the Google Play Store and Apple App Store to deter copycats and fakes, the very type of business we are trying to destroy.

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