Entrepreneurship Development: Smootzie Truck Lean Start-Up Plan Report

This report presents a detailed analysis of a lean start-up business plan, focusing on the Smootzie Truck venture. The introduction establishes the context of the lean start-up methodology and its application to the food truck business. The main body covers crucial aspects such as business objectives, value creation through the customer value proposition canvas, and the minimum viable product (MVP) approach. It further examines value capture using the lean business model canvas, providing insights into key metrics, cost structure, and revenue streams. A detailed development plan, including the role of the CFO and financial planning, is also included. The report concludes with a critical evaluation of the plan and a summary of key findings, referencing relevant literature and appendices for support. The plan emphasizes the importance of innovation, customer feedback, and continuous learning in the entrepreneurial process.

Lean Start-Up Business Plan
Components

Table of contents
INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................................... 3
MAIN BODY........................................................................................................................... 3
Business Objectives...............................................................................................................3
Value Creation: Customer Value Proposition Canvas (Diagram) Minimum Viable Product....3
Customer value proposition canvas........................................................................................4
Value Capture: ‘Lean’ Business Model Canvas......................................................................5
Value capture......................................................................................................................... 5
Lean business model canvas.................................................................................................5
Detailed Development Plan....................................................................................................6
The CFO Financial Plan.........................................................................................................6
Critical evaluation of the plan.................................................................................................8
Summary................................................................................................................................ 9
CONCLUSION....................................................................................................................... 9
REFRENCES....................................................................................................................... 10

INTRODUCTION
The lean start up method is used by the already existing company Smootzie truck to
initiate a new product in the market or to initiate new company in the market by the already
existing company. This method helps the company to come up with the products that are in
need for the customers in the market or they have already shown desires to want the
particular products. This means there do customers’ exist for the product the company is
going to launch. The company under this start up starts to develop a product and hopes that
the product will have high demand after it emerges in the market. The lean start-up has the
following characteristics that include: focused, aligned, humble, collaborative, tenacious,
engaged, methodological, proactive, documented, resilient, progressive and grateful.
MAIN BODY
Business Objectives
Business objectives of the lean start-up in Smootzie truck can be explained by the five
principles that are:
 The start-up believes that the entrepreneurs are everywhere, and anyone with the
start-up is an entrepreneur. The start-up is a risky journey where the goal of the
business is to produce new products and services in the very uncertain and changing
situations. This makes the lean start-up to be applicable on any size of the business
and even on the large enterprises of any sector and in any industry of desire.
 The entrepreneurship is the management that makes the start-up to work on new
type of management that can help the company to work in the extreme uncertain
conditions. For example, if a company needs the innovation for its development then
the company needs a position of entrepreneur.
 The start-up is not always about producing goods and making money but to learn
continuously through the testing of empirical hypothesis and scientific approaches.
 The start-up follows the cycle known as the build-measure-learn. This can be
explained as the business build a small working version of the desired product,
understand the customer’s reaction by evaluation and then decide whether the
company should continue with the chosen course of direction or change it (Ghezzi
and Cavallo, 2020).
 The start-up accounts for the innovation in the business, this referred to as the dull
detail, commonly. The start-up accounts for the innovation for the improvement in the
performance of the business. The start-up success and failure can be evaluated by
the innovation accounting system of criteria that act as the indicator for the business.
Value Creation: Customer Value Proposition Canvas (Diagram) Minimum Viable
Product
The creation of the values is the aim of the business; the creation of values for
customer helps the business by selling products and services, whereas creating value for
the shareholders in the business help by increasing the stock price ensures the availability of
funds for the future investments in the operations (Bortolini and et.al, 2018).

Customer value proposition canvas
The value proposition is the tool used to ensure that the products made by the
business are aligned to the values and needs of the customer. The tool was initially
developed to ensure that there is a fit between the market and the product. This tool gives a
detailed look over the relationship between the customer segments and the value
proposition of the Osterwalder’s broader Business Model Canvas. The Value proposition tool
is used when the business requires redefining of the product and the services, it can also be
used where the new product or the service is redesigned from the start.
The value proposition canvas is made up of: value proposition of company and customer
profile.
Customer profile
 Gains- The things that will make the customers happy, the benefits expected by the
customers and the needs that will increase the idea of adopting the value proposition
like budget control, ecofriendly and time saving.
 Pains- the negative experiences, risks and emotions of the customers regarding the
completion of the job to be done like the availability of trucks in various locations and
the ecofriendly packaging.
 Customer jobs- The problems the customers are trying to solve, the emotional,
functional and social tasks they are trying to perform like planning healthy meals,
taking feedbacks from the customers and own receipt possibility. (Inomata and et.al,
2020).
Value map
 Gain creators- The ways in which the customers can gain more values form the
products and services. For the Smootzie truck, creating fresh and organic food,
confidence in the added ingredients chosen by the customers and the right balance
price/quality are the creators.

 Pain relievers- The complete description of how the pain of the customer is alleviated
by the products and the services. The skipped meals, access to fresh meals and time
saving can be the pain relievers for the Smootzie truck.
 Products and services- The products and services that creates the value for the
customers, create gain and relieve pain. In Smootzie truck, this can be done by
making healthy smoothies from the natural ingredients, carbohydrate intake is
maintained low, no sugar added. The smoothies are prepared in front of the
customers and the smoothies are made portable by the truck delivery.
After listing the gain creators, pain relievers of the product and services the fit between
the customer profile and the value proposition can be created. To validate the important
needs of the customer the feedback is taken from the customers on the value proposition.
The company can go further by plotting the aspects of the value proposition in respect to
the value for the customers in matrix, along with the competitive advantage of the Smootzie
truck for offering the products and the services.
Minimum viable products
Minimum value product (MVP) is a technique used by the company. In this technique the
new products produced by the company are introduced in the market having the basic
features that can attract the customers. The feedback from the initial users of the product is
taken before introducing the final product into the market. The MVP used by the Smootzie
truck is that they provide the simple production process in front of the customers (Dennehy
and et.al, 2019).
Value Capture: ‘Lean’ Business Model Canvas
Value capture
The Smootzie truck captures some amount of the revenue it makes as profit in the
business. This is necessary for the business to capture the value as this will help the comp
business any in the future for generating resources for the operation. Value capture can be
defined as the process of retaining the value by some percentage that is provided in each
transaction.
The approaches of the value capture are:
Maximization- the company need to capture as much value as possible in the business.
Minimization- the company need to capture very little amount of value from the business
for the time being it remains sufficient (Chesbrough, Lettl and Ritter, 2018).
Lean business model canvas
Lean canvas is the business model created by the Ash Maurya for the spirit of the
lean start-up that is concise, fast and effective start-up. The business model deals with many
aspects of the business that include entrepreneur-focused and actionable business plans,
problems, key metrics, solutions and competitive advantages. The structure of the business
model is similar to the business model canvas but there are some exchanged sections in it.

The lean canvas business model focuses on the ways in which the timeline affects the
revenue stream of the business, this helps in target-specific business. The elements of the
model are: Problem
It provides with a problem box where the customers can discuss their
problems related to the business. It is done because business can fail even after
applying the lot of financial resources, effort and time in a product that will come out
to be the wrong product. This makes it important for the company to understand the
problem. Understanding the needs can help the business come up with the products
that meet the existing needs of the customer (Felin and et.al, 2019).
 Solution
After the recognition of the problem the company can find the solution to
them. A solution box is provided by the model along with MVP concept included in it.
The solution needs are written concisely and specifically in the small box provided
like the delivery in various locations using the truck delivery system, planned orders,
subscription and the mobile application or the orders (IOS and android available).
 Key metrics
Metrics are used by the companies in the start-up business for focusing on
the types and range of products and services the company can provide. Choosing
the right metric for the company is essential as the business can put the measures
and the business’ state can be reflected.
 Unfair advantage
This can be termed as the competitive advantage. The model helps in
recognizing the company whether it is having an unfair advantage over others or not
(Sire and et.al, 2019). Unique value proposition
The company have to provide the targeted customers with a marketable
promise to solve the problems that can be captured by imagination of the customers. Cost structure
In this, the things that need to be paid for bringing the product to the customer
are written like the 350000 £ investment of the company, fixed costs that include the
loan rates, interest rates and insurances, variable costs that include the wages, fuel,
raw ingredients and packaging and taxes, price/sold unit (average), one year of
volumes sold that are 65000 units and targeted profit margin of 35%. Revenue stream
Ways in which the products of the company will money for the company is
described in this section like the subscriptions, online orders and sales theoriugh
truck mobility (Duarte, do Rosário Cabrita and Cruz-Machado, 2019).

Detailed Development Plan
The CFO Financial Plan
The CFO Financial Plan can help in the development of the lean start-up business
by:  Report analysis
The CFO of the company can determine the efficiency of the company by reviewing
the data. The CFO can guide the company when it is getting the investors, the data
can be analysed to make the operational improvements in the company. The CFO of
the company is able to provide the deep financial information for the company like
the cost-benefit analysis as well as the profitability analysis. The CFO can choose
the right metric for the company (Ramori and et.al, 2021). Fulfil audit requirements
The company can hire an outsourced CFO for the audit of start-up required by the
investor from the third party. They make unbiased reports of the company as they do
not have any emotional connection with the staff members. Create custom reports
The outsourcing CFO can prepare monthly reports for the company like the profit and
loss statements, custom reports, balance sheets and the cash flow statements. The
report indicates the key performance indicators and shows it in easy to understand
manner. The CFO helps to measure and achieve the goals of the company. Forge new relationships
The CFO can act as the financial spokesperson of the company. The CFO can build
relationships with the customers and the investors for the company establish the
reporting requirements and the core financial process of the company to create path
for the growth in the start-up. Tax planning and compliance adherence
The CFO helps in maintaining the latest compliance with the tax rules and
regulations for the company. The compliance with the government policies can be
ensured during the transaction and the funding process of the company, it can also
guide during the tax planning (Nielsen and Kristensen, 2020). Build a scalable infrastructure
The CFO can build an evolving environment for the company that will support the
business as it grows. The CFO services can help the company with the scalable
financial system for the payment process as well as the payroll to cost analysis. Generate data-driven insights

The company need to make the informed decisions in that the CFO can oversee the
data collection like the customer behaviour and accounting for the generation of the
data-drive insights. Helps in identifying the business activities that can bring
changes. The outsourced CFO can manage the quality of the operational and the
financial data that is drawn from different sources. The data analysis-based strategy
can be defined by maintaining the quality of data for the company’s go-to market
plans. Manage the fund raising process
The CFO provides benefits that have good relations with the investors for raising
funds for the company. The CFO creates pithing financial projection for the investors
and convinces investors for the reliability of the projection provided. The CFO can
help in establishing new connection when expanding the business to new
geographies. Financial planning
The start-up business when decides to merge with another company or go public that
time the CFO implement strategies to the business so that it can deal with the
financial periods as well as sudden growth for the smooth transition. The financial
planning functions that can be done with the help of CFO are: setting goals for
company, ways in which the company can obtain the funding for start-up, market
research and analysis can be conducted, and set the financial and management
systems for the company. Risk assessment
Before the implementation of the technology solutions the potential risks, operational
and financial issues are considered with the senior management of the company.
The procurement or operational risks can be avoided by the help of the outsourced
CFO who can assess, organise and manage processes. The risks include the
misplaced inventory, late payments or the misuse of corporate assets (Darškuvienė,
Nasteckienė and Samys, 2021). Trusted reporting
The everyday decision making process in the start-up requires the business reports,
an outsourced CFO can help by analysing and interpretation of the financial data to
identify the next step to be taken and the methods to implement them. The start-up
can be successful when the data provided by the CFO is accurate, thorough and is
proving meaningful insights. The CFO can provide the monthly management reports
to the company for managing the budgets. The CFO helps in attracting the investors
with accurate financial report to help the business in the early-stage. Strong forecasting
The CFO by analysing the patterns of the customer payment and information of cash
flow can develop financial forecast for the start-up. The services provided by the

outsourced CFO ensures that the business have enough resources so that they can
meet the goals along with utilizing the opportunities. Minimize overhead costs
The CFO ensures that the limited cash flow resources are effectively deployed as
well as they are in alignment with the company’s strategic objectives. The
expenditure on the technologies and the workforces can be managed by the CFO
and also monitors the factors affecting the success (Ramori and et.al, 2021).
Critical evaluation of the plan
The development plan can be used by the business to increase growth and manage in the
uncertain situations. The CFO financial plans help the company in many ways to succeed in
the market. The company can change the direction of the business when they find that the
current one is not working for the company, the pivot helps the company to improve their
revenues for the survival in the market. The pivot can make all the difference in the
company. The right time to pivot the company is when it not showing the signs of
development such as when:
 After putting a lot of money and resources in the business and there is no progress
seen.
 When there are too many competitors in the market making their move.
 Only one feature or service of the company is showing any kind of traction.
 The responses from the customers towards the product or services are not the same
as expected
 The owner’s perspective towards the business has changed.
For pivoting the company can focus on the specific features instead of the entire solution,
picking up the goal that align with the company’s needs, by understanding target customers
and their problems, analysing what the competitors are doing and making strategies before
making any move (Alkhoraif, Rashid and McLaughlin, 2019).
Summary
A profitable, competition beating, value creating ‘lean’, investable
entrepreneurial as an opportunity
The investment in the lean entrepreneurial is an opportunity as it begins with extensive
creation of the business plans that is used as the rigid structure for the company for few
years. The start-up includes financial projections. The products are created in secret only the
employees and the investors have an idea about the product. The business plan used to get
funding from the VC firms and the angel investors. The Smootzie truck is profitable because
of the raw ingredients sourced from the trusted sources, due the portability and the
convenience of delivery, choice of customers in the ingredients mix, MVP considered
through a simple production process in front of the customers and change the habit of
skipped meals and unhealthy food consumption (Chicktay and Barnard, 2018).
Reasons to invest in and/or provide loan finance to the Lean Start-Up
The lean start-up helps in reducing the risk by helping new ventures to launch their products
that are needed by the existing customers and providing them at very cheap and quick rates
as compared to the traditional methods, this makes the start-ups less risky for making
investment in them. The business is tested and proven before putting the final product in the
market and this makes it suitable for the investment (Clement, 2019).

If your start-up never existed, the world would be worse off because there is no
new development in the business industries and the world would have never been
developed fresh juices/smoothies from the fruits and fresh spicy soup and various location
are avoided due to unavailability of the trucks.
CONCLUSION
The report concludes of the lean start-up methods and how it benefits the business of the
company. The business objectives of the lean start-up are provided. Value creation is made
understood by the customer value proposition canvas and minimum viable product (MVP).
The importance of the value capture id described and the lean business model canvas is
also described than include problem, solution, key metrics, unfair advantage, unique value
proposition and cost structure. The CFO financial plan is discussed for the development plan
of the start-up business. The plan is critically evaluated and summary is provided at the end
that includes the opportunity with the lean entrepreneurial investment and reasons that make
the lean start-up less risky for investing in it.

REFRENCES
Books and journals
Alkhoraif, Rashid and McLaughlin, 2019. Lean implementation in small and medium
enterprises: Literature review. Operations Research Perspectives. 6. p.100089.
Bortolini and et.al, 2018. Lean Startup: a comprehensive historical review. Management
Decision.
Chesbrough, Lettl and Ritter, 2018. Value creation and value capture in open
innovation. Journal of Product Innovation Management. 35(6). pp.930-938.
Chicktay and Barnard, 2018. Venture capital process: opportunity selection, monitoring,
capital rationing, and deal flow. Monitoring, Capital Rationing, and Deal Flow (September 1,
2018).
Clement, 2019. Excelsior-Henderson motorcycles: Could lean start-up methodology have
averted a $100-million Mistake?. The International Journal of Entrepreneurship and
Innovation. 20(2). pp.144-156.
Darškuvienė, Nasteckienė and Samys, 2021. Enterprise Risk Management in Lithuania.
In Enterprise Risk Management in Europe. Emerald Publishing Limited.
Dennehy and et.al,, 2019. A Lean Start-up approach for developing minimum viable
products in an established company. Journal of Decision Systems. 28(3). pp.224-232.
Duarte, do Rosário Cabrita and Cruz-Machado, 2019, August. Business model, lean and
green management and industry 4.0: A conceptual relationship. In International Conference
on Management Science and Engineering Management (pp. 359-372). Springer, Cham.
Felin and et.al, 2019. Lean startup and the business model: Experimentation
revisited. Forthcoming in Long Range Planning (Open Access).
Ghezzi and Cavallo, 2020. Agile business model innovation in digital entrepreneurship: Lean
startup approaches. Journal of business research. 110. pp.519-537.
Inomata and et.al,, 2020. Proposal of Customer Value Consistency Canvas, Using an
Ontology of Value Proposition with Service Dominant Logic. Review of Integrative Business
and Economics Research. 9(4). pp.47-63.
Nielsen and Kristensen, 2020. Impact of lean operations on the roles of finance functions
and their application of lean. European Business Review.

Ramori and et.al, 2021. Lean business models in healthcare: a systematic review. Total
Quality Management & Business Excellence. 32(5-6). pp.558-573.
Ramori and et.al,, 2021. Lean business models in healthcare: a systematic review. Total
Quality Management & Business Excellence. 32(5-6). pp.558-573.
Sire and et.al, 2019, October. How can TRIZ tools tremendously stimulate the Lean canvas
analysis to foster start-up business model and value proposition?. In International TRIZ
Future Conference (pp. 93-105). Springer, Cham.