Dashing Edson New Venture Concept Proposal Date: May 2, 2013 Crystal Phan Heather Reade Rosaura Alvarez

Garrett Prather Ana Farrington Business Concept and Strategy The 21st century has been the age of innovation and technology. With technology booming and lifestyle racing, time is of the essence. Dashing is the leading outfit generator and closet organizer that provides a method for creative yet simple wardrobe stylist to the young adult generation. Unlike applications such as 123dressme and other competitors our product is more than just an app, it connects to your events; it is a lifestyle. In a fast-paced society, time is wasted on getting ready and creating a unique style for any and all occasions. Studys indicate an average of 8 hours of sleep is required for a healthy lifestyle; however, our primary research survey, of 30 college females between the ages of 18-25, shows only an average of six hours attained. With that being said of those 30, 68% spend more than one hour every morning on getting ready for their day. Not only does it waste time, waste effort, but it is also quite annoying dashing out of the house looking ill-prepared when time is limited. We hope to save time and effort for women who consider fashion as a priority. Dashing is a user friendly smartphone application that generates tailored outfits for any and every occasion that are linked to personal calendared events. It removes the time and effort previously required. Creating a fashionable lifestyle Dashing has made finding the perfect outfit simple. In comparison, it is like the Pandora for clothing. We adapted the concept of like and dislike to a new level. Users will upload photos to the app and the trigger point upload system will organize and categorize each item by style and event. An hour prior to a scheduled event the user will receive a pop-up notification letting them know of a possible outfit. They can like it, dislike it, or manually change it. Once decided, the application will link the outfit to the calendar and will not generate the same item for a designated time frame. In essence, the user has all the control. The more looks uploaded, the more events calendared, then the more variation in outfits. Similar applications, such as 123dressme, have been in the fashion application market and have seen success. Not only have they stamped the market through their application but their website is another key component of their marketing. It is the success of companies like theirs that allow us to grow, innovation, and branch into aim to a larger market. With over 75% of college women surveyed, we found that simplicity draws their attention. 123dressme intrigues the market, yet they do not make life simple. In our early stages of development we too had intrigued people but the complexity of our application did not attract many followers; therefore,

we pivoted. Creating easier methods of importation and adaptability, we focused on solving two main issues: time and effort that is why people said they would buy our product. With simplicity comes complexity. The complexity comes in the design and programming of the actual application. Before we can roll out a successful and simple app there needs to be lots of planning, this is where the building of the application comes in. The 9 week process of design and approval is one of the most important aspects. Finding an experience programmer to put our application together, then having it debugged for approval with Apple Store, is the next step. Once it can be accessed and purchased through the apple store, the value will take over. Customers will find that Dashing is convenient, saves time and effort, and provides creative and fashionable outfits at the tips of their fingers. Marketing Strategy Our primary customers will be females ranging from the ages of 18-25 and we found that this was our target market from the initial primary research we did. From the research we noticed many males were less interested in the app than most females and decided that males were not our target. Because females tend to care more about what they look like and how they dress, they often take more time in the mornings than males to get ready. This is why our app will benefit any female who stresses about what they are going to wear either in the morning or to a special event. Our app provides a solution to those who need help finding the perfect outfit in little time and providing a fun, unique lifestyle. This solution removes the time and effort previously required.
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From our primary research we were able to approximate our total market size and determine that females were definitely our target market. We found that majority of females spend countless hours getting ready each morning. In our survey 48% of the people surveyed said they spent up to an hour each morning getting ready. We hope to capture a great portion of the target market within that 48%. Before we pivoted, 61% said they would use our app and after the pivot the number grew to 77%. Our ideal customer is a female ranging from the ages of 1825 years old usually fashion conscious, Smartphone savvy, and living a busy life. Currently, our main competitor is 123 Dress me, they also have an app and it is basically exactly like our original idea before we pivoted. They create outfits for you on the go and they also have the user take pictures of the clothing manually. Their app also allows the user to share outfits with friends for feedback and it is available for sell at the app store. Our potential competitors do not currently exist but they have the ability to do so especially if we do not patent our product. Because Dashing is not just an app but a lifestyle, the current competition lacks to provide this lifestyle that Dashing is trying so hard to achieve and establish for its future users. If companies such as 123 Dress me decided to embrace the idea of providing a user friendly lifestyle rather than just an app, we could potentially run into some

issues with the competition. As of right now, Dashing is the only app providing such a unique yet fun and trendy perspective on fashion and lifestyles. As mentioned before, Dashing is not just an app but it is a lifestyle. Not like other apps where you may use it once or twice a week or month, but Dashing is available and ready to use everyday to make your life move smoothly and efficiently. Dashing separates itself from the competition by linking personal events to coordinated outfits, and removing the time and effort previously required to do this. By connecting your real life events, Dashing becomes more of a lifestyle and style coach then just a regular old app. The app will also have technology so it can pinpoint the different parts of the users body that way the user will have a good idea what the image or clothing item will look like on her. We plan to inform our potential customers of our new innovative product by first designing the app and launching it at the app store. We did some research and found that advertising from Facebook is extremely costly, but in time if we can bootstrap enough money initially to cover our start-up costs, we then hope to establish a brand and a decent following, then we will next reach out to potential investors for more funding to continue the advertising and marketing necessary for our app. Also from our primary research we showed our MVP to many potential customers and they were able to get a good idea of what the app would look like and many people said they would use it. Management Team As part of our founding team we have ve group members. Crystal Phan, a sophomore studying Management Entrepreneurship, is the originator of our app, Dashing (originally named Outt.Fusion). Crystal originated the idea from her personal experiences and therefore she serves as the leader of our team. Rosaura Alvarez, an additional member of the team, is a junior majoring in Computer Information Systems and Management (Entrepreneurship). Rosauras knowledge of IT and programming is of a great asset to the team because it has allowed us to look at the feasibility of the app. Another team member is Heather Reade a junior majoring in Management - Entrepreneurship. Her expertise comes from her current management skills at her job as well as her ability to analyze potential problems we may come across. Next, is Garrett Prather, a junior as well and Management - Entrepreneurship major. Garrets nancial skills as well as serving as a devils advocate brings a reality check to the group and makes sure that the development of the app has the nancial backing. Last but not least, we have Ana Farrington, a graduating senior majoring in Management Entrepreneurship. Ana is very fashion savvy and she maintains the apps original intent, which is to help our users eliminate the waste of time when getting ready while at the same time staying trendy and fashionable. Our team as a whole is very solid but we are now trying to nd an additional member that is experienced in app programming and development. We have realized that having someone that can actually develop the app is essential because hiring someone to do it is nancially unrealistic for us. ! Each of our team members decided to take part in this project because they believed in it form the beginning and saw it as a solution to a current problem. That in and of itself says a lot

about our team; however, we can also say that each one of us has contributed to the growth of the idea and we have vested our time and efforts in it. As previously mentioned, every team member brings something different to the table and although we are strong as it is, we need an additional member to reinforce the team. An application developer would strengthen our team and would make our idea a reality, even if we are only able to create a minimum viable product, we would be able to market and sell it to investors so that in the future we can higher someone with more expertise and create a much more sophisticated and rened app. We are lucky to have a CIS major in our team because she has a network of programmers and app developers that we could recruit and hopefully bring on board. By keeping our team strong and motivated about our idea we know we can make it a success. ! As far as mentorship goes, we also feel fortunate that one of our team members works for an entrepreneur who has been our guide in this venture. The name of our mentor is Austin O'Donnell - Vice President of College Works Painting in Arizona. College Works is a nationwide painting company that has been in business for over 20 years. As a novice entrepreneur in High School, Mr. ODonnell created his own Landscaping business that withstood for 3 years. He an ASU alumni that graduated with a Business Management/Entrepreneurship degree. Within the company, Mr. ODonnell went from being an intern, then district manager, then general manager, and finally to vice president of a multi-million dollar company. His expertise as an entrepreneur has been an immense resource for us because he has brought a lot of realness to our project. Mr. ODonnell has guided us in the sense that he has made us see what things are realistic to expect from our venture and what are not. Although, at times he has come off as harsh we know it is because he cares and actually wants to help us out on our venture. We are grateful for Mr. ODonnell but we also realize that we should get in touch with someone who has launched an app in the fashion industry. We want to have a mentor that is more relevant with the industry so our next goal is to connect with someone in the industry. ! All of our team members are Entrepreneurship majors, which has been of an asset to the group. Typically having too many leaders within a group can be a hindrance but for us it has of an asset. Whenever a milestone needs to be achieved everyone is always ready jump on board and get tasks done. In addition, because all of our team members are Entrepreneurship majors they have taken classes in courses such as International Management, International Business, Entrepreneurship etc. and that has allowed us to have a stronger foundation as a team. Budget Our first milestone in starting our venture is hiring a programmer to write our applications code. As a team, we have accumulated $12,000 in bootstrapped funding to hire an experienced programmer that has the necessary mobile application programming. We have estimated this cost through researching the costs associated with hiring an experienced programmer. We look to use the full $12,000 of bootstrapped funds on programming because our team feels strongly that our application foundation is the quality of our coding. Our next milestone is having a fully functioning application, with a string infrastructure and no bugs, so

that we can begin selling our product on Apples AppStore. This is a significant milestone because Apples AppStore is the only channel we have to sell our product. Our next milestone is advertising through Facebook Ads to connect with potential customers. This is where our revenues will be generated. Here is a brief list of our projected budget for the first year: Startup Cost Bootstrapping $12,000 (Programming, July 1st) Variable Costs Facebook ads: $25/day = $9,125 ($761.50/month) AppStore fee: $99/year (yearly fee) Our total cost for year 1 will be $21,224. This cost is associated with the cost discussed in the previous section. Our most important cost is the money allocated towards advertising. With $9,125 towards advertising we plan to generate 5,276.5 customers. Our advertising budget is most important because it gives us the avenue to connect with potential customers. To date, the only financial support for our application has come from teammates and family in which we bootstrapped $12,000 to hire a programmer.

Sustainability and Impact Beyond the Edson year, in order to sustain Dashing we will continue to gain new customers which is the main source of revenue. Once we have a solid following and are a household name for apps people download, we will be looking toward creating retail partnerships. With these partnerships we will not only gain revenue from their paid advertisements, but also offer tailored deals to our customers that mesh well with the clothing that they have uploaded in Dashing. The addition of tailored deals will bring customers into the retailers that partner with Dashing, and add a beneficial feature for our customers. As smartphone technology changes, our app will be able to adapt and grow along with it. Rumors of holographic images in the future provide us with sight into how our app can change, by offering a holographic self to the user that is clothed in the outfit that Dashing generates for them. Changes, updates, and partnerships will sustain our app beyond the first year with the Edson award. The value Dashing provides is a time saving service that creates tailor made outfits one hour prior to occasions. A one-time $2.99 download fee is all customers have to pay. When inquiring how much potential customers were willing to pay in primary research around the ASU campus, the most common answer was $2.99, but we received prices as high as $10 for the service that our app offers. Dashing aims to change the way that people get dressed. Instead of rifling through messy, unorganized, closets and dressers, our customers will have an outfit notification one hour prior to any event logged within their Icalendar. The goal is to have our

users grow so accustomed to being dressed by our app, they they no longer have to think about using it and think of it more as a way of day-to-day life. The stakeholders will get financial returns upon the turning of profit, and have a strong entrepreneurial venture underneath their belts. This is the first venture of five business students at ASU and has provided many hard learned lessons about what it takes to do a startup. By going through a startup, we will have more credibility in the entrepreneurial world, and will be more likely to do well in later ventures. Along with revenue and experience, it will create a programming job that will take ongoing testing and debugging over the life of the app. The challenge that our app aims to alleviate is the stress of finding the perfect outfit for every occasion in a busy life, and the time it takes to do so. Although this may seem like a petty challenge, the way one dresses often reflects ones self. When someone feels good in what they are wearing they have added confidence, and often charisma. Having this little boost every time someone walks out the door, because of Dashing, will create positivity in everyday life. By saving time and taking the stress of what to wear today away will give our users more time to sleep in, or to spend on other things such as homework, projects, or even quality time with family or friends; instead of spending an hour trying on ten different outfits and still being unhappy with their results.