Plova Chewing Gum LLC TimelineBy Vikram Patel

Vikram Patel - Co-FounderResponsibility in the Company:

● Researched & Developed a dental chewing gum that kills bacteria, prevents plaque, whitens teeth

● Performed a significant role in market research and data analysis

● Ran company operations (Inventory, Packaging, Distribution, etc.)

● Conducted business negotiations as a Salesperson

● Built and enhanced financial models for the company

● Travelled and represented company in tradeshows and connections events

Timeline of Important Events

Stumberg Semifinal Prize Competition

Entrepreneurship Class: Ideation

August 2014

May-July2015

March-April 2016

April 2015

Nov. 2015

Summer Market Research

Under Armour Cupid’s Cup Competition

Stumberg Final Prize Competition

October 20, 2014 freegoogleslidestemplates.com 3

Entrepreneurship Class: Brainstorm/Ideation

THE PROBLEM

• Idea founded in class• Market Problem

• Maintaining oral hygiene while on-the-go• No current oral care product used effectively between brushing

cycles

• Together, team brainstormed and found chewing gum as the selective medium that would be capable of solving the problem

• Primary Research occurred from August 2014 to April 2015 in order to formulate the idea, and pitch it in the Stumberg Prize Semifinal Prize Competition for $5000

• Primary Research that was Involved• Researching Competition and understanding their brand, who manufactures for them, the markets

they are in, market share, their target customer, price, presence of social media• Researching beginning of Product Development - Gum base, Sugar Additive, “Secret Sauce” =

Differentiation Factor, Flavor, Shape and Total Dimensions• Creating a Business Model/Lean Canvas that began to strategically figure out how company will

bring product to market• Topics addressed in Business Model/Lean Canvas: Problem, Customer Segments, Unique

Value Proposition, Solution, Channels, Revenue Streams, Cost Structure, Key Metrics/Performance Indicators, Unfair Advantage

Entrepreneurship Class: Brainstorm/Ideation

Stumberg Semifinal Prize Competition

● Among 17 startup teams, our company had the privilege of becoming one of the 5 finalists for the Stumberg Final Prize Competition ($25,000).

● After pitching and winning a place for the finals, the 5 teams were given $5000 in seed money to begin the transition from an idea into a business.

● Plova’s main focus with the $5000 for the summer was to use it for continued R&D and Market Research.

Summer Market Research

• For Research & Development:• Contacted manufacturer in Maryland and began going through several prototyping

phases• Attracted Investor that helped finance part of product development (later became

part of Board of Advisors), along with Team personal investments• After every iteration, gave test samples out to target market for feedback• 7th iteration became final validated product (chewing tablet form)

• For Market Research:• Brainstormed a list of Possible Outlets for product• Chose the hotel industry as our first market to test for validation• Went to popular places in San Antonio like the Riverwalk, La Cantera, North Star Mall

and gathered survey data from random people• Aggregated Data and found that customers of hotels would appreciate a pack of

chewing gum with oral benefits during stay

• Established that• Economic Buyer would be the hotels that we would directly sell to• End User would be the guests at the hotels

• Part of capturing Target Market attention = Person on the Go (18-45)

• Executed a call log and set up informational meetings with Hotel Gm’s to • Determine how product could meet standards of hotel• Understand how product could be implemented strategically• Create relationships with hotel market (would later help in sales

meetings)• Attended Cafe Commerce (Million Cups) consistently = A place to

receive feedback from practice pitches and insight from other entrepreneurs in San Antonio for one’s business

Summer Market Research

Stumberg Final Prize Competition

● In November of 2015, company competed in Trinity’s business plan competition and won the grand prize of $25,000, beating several MBA and undergraduate teams from the Business School.

● Upon completion of Trinity’s pitch competition, Plova agreed to another partnership deal out of Denver, Colorado. The gentleman agreed to take active advisory management roles in helping with day to day activities to ensure Plova’s success in the marketplace.

● Plova’s main focus with the $25,000 was to use it for establishment of holding and selling inventory from first production run, filing for LLC, website/design development, packaging development, patent protection, and working capital

Construction of Business Operations● Along with normal Team Collaboration, individualized roles

in Company to hold individual responsibility○ Cole Evans - Marketing○ Vikram Patel - Business Transactions○ Thayer Selleck - Management

● Team Responsibility○ Working together on day-to-day operations

including■ Website design/development with designer■ Development of product packaging

■ Sales Meetings individually assigned

■ Attend TradeShows to market product■ Contacting external partners to maintain

efficiency within business- manufacturing, packaging, etc

● Determining pricing and what channels will be used to reach customer

● Individual Responsibility○ Continued management of bank account○ Systematically ensuring integrity of business

transactions, creating purchase orders/invoices/packing slips via Quickbooks

○ Reconciliation reports and anything tax-related○ Create rough financial models for Board of Advisors

to look at and improve

Under Armour Cupid’s Cup Competition

● Over 350 teams applied to the Cupid’s Cup competition hosted by CEO of Under Armour, Kevin Plank. Only 12 teams were accepted for the semifinal competition. Plova was a team selected from the semifinal competition, and with our pitch, we were able to make our way to the finalists competition, where it would be aired on CNBC.

● After presenting our pitch to the judges (Kevin Plank, Arianna Huffington, Dan Gilbert, and Wes Moore) six weeks later, Plova received 3rd place, winning $5000 for the business.

● Plova intended to use the $5000 for paying off liabilities and finishing website design for ease of online sales.

● Plova intended to use connections made to assist in entering other markets for creation of revenue streams (military, dentist offices, outdoors, airlines, etc.)

Articles/News about Plova● Website: www.plovagum.com

● http://plovagum.com/news/

● http://denver.cbslocal.com/2016/03/31/cole-t-evans-plova-chewing-gum-kent-denver/

● http://www.sanantoniomag.com/March-2016/Gum-and-Ammo/

● http://www.bizjournals.com/sanantonio/print-edition/2016/02/26/trinity-students-gum-a-hit-with-under-armor-ceo.html?b=1456348839%5E19219442

● http://www.bizjournals.com/baltimore/news/2016/02/19/under-armour-ceo-kevin-plank-talks.html