Team:GreatBay SZ/Entrepreneurship
Index
Entrepreneurship
Overview
In a society with highly developed information technology, fraud incidents occur increasingly often. The art industry is one of the hardest-hit areas of fraud cases. Most of the existing technologies cannot solve the problem. To deal with this, GreatBay_SZ designed a spore system: ARTAG (Artificially Revolutionized Tracking Art Gadget). ARTAG uses artificial spores with customized DNA barcode to mark any object, and the spores can be detected efficiently and accurately with CRISPR Cas12a technique. In this case, Artag can be used in a number of areas, and in this business plan, we will elaborate on the details.
Industry analysis
Existing anti-counterfeiting methods:
Pros and Cons of Existing Anti-counterfeiting Methods
ARTAG Pros and Cons
The superiority of biological spore detection system
1. Micro: spores are almost invisible to the naked eye and will not affect the appearance
2. Unlimited quantity: Barcode sequence can be edited manually without length limitation or information content limitation;
3. Strong self-protection ability: Spores have strong self-protection ability and can be well preserved even in harsh environment;
4. Environmental protection: artificial spores do not have genetic development ability, even if scattered into the environment will not cause impact;;
5. Specificity: Each barcode sequence is unique and specific to a single specific product;
6. Rapidity: there is no need to wait for a long approval time, you can buy directly.
The advantage of combining with inkpad
Stamp is the decoration of Traditional Chinese painting, but also the representative of the creator. Meng said such an important stamp as a security measure for traditional Chinese paintings leaves much to be desired. Take his own stamp, which, though unique, could easily be copied by a determined counterfeiter. Not only that, he asked about how our spores would fit in and came up with an inkjet idea, which led us to change our hardware from a watering can to inkjet. The latter is not only more portable, but also more psychologically acceptable for the artist to use, as the spores will concentrate on the stamp rather than the whole painting.
Detailed Plans
Key partners:
Museums, luxury goods manufacturers, cosmetics manufacturers and archeologists, as well as any company or individual with a discernible need, are our potential partners. In the experimental stage after development, we plan to cooperate with large museums and emerging luxury retailers, invite them to try out our products and test the feasibility. After that, we will look for bioengineering companies to cooperate and develop more types of spore coding and mass production of pipelined spore and detection systems. In terms of sales, we will look for companies responsible for packaging products to cooperate, so that our products can be further promoted and used.
In addition to the need for counterfeit detection, customers can take advantage of the characteristics of spore storage information, customize words they want to say, to give as a novel gift. This category of goods is not large enough to require huge production lines. In terms of sales, we need to carry out a lot of advertising, learn publicity methods similar to Dior and other luxury companies, package our spores, establish brand image and create "gimmicks".
Key action strategies:
First of all, we will do market research. We will advertise our products through public accounts and tweets, online short video communication, and online questionnaires. We will also carry out offline publicity, such as attending the opening ceremony of museums, launching conferences of emerging luxury brands, and introducing the anti-counterfeiting function of Artag to CTAAC, China's behavioral anti-counterfeiting industry association. We will ask them about the problems in current anti-counterfeiting technology, to improve and adapt Artag based on their experience. We will also discuss the program with security experts across the country to get more advice and make improvements accordingly.
After the product is successfully developed, we will invite a large number of potential users who have learned about our products in the early stage to try our products for free, and apply Artag to the anti-counterfeiting detection of various products, so that the industry can know the simplicity and speed of our products. After the complete system of the product is developed, we expect to meet all relevant industry standards, and further iterations will be carried out thereafter to allow more people to use our product for false detection.
Next, we plan to contact more industry experts and factories to obtain technical support. Meanwhile, we will seek financial support from companies, organizations or investors, and develop a complete mass spore production line based on this. After that, we will further sign contracts with relevant enterprises, such as national Museums and luxury brands. While protecting the interests of both parties, we will use our products and help users identify false tracking.
Key resources:
In terms of academic manpower, we consider experts in synthetic biology and anti-counterfeiting technologies. They will play a critical role in our later spore coding and production optimization at the technical level and hardware product updates. People in marketing, sales and administration are also needed. They will help us to better plan the marketing of our products. Especially a team of experts specializing in the field of biological business, they will give strong support.
We also plan to keep in touch with Lanjing Laboratory during the biotechnology development phase, to obtain technical and site support. After the production demand gradually expands, we will set up a company independently and look for a site. We can contact the government to obtain their support, such as granting land in the development zone to support the establishment of a factory.
In terms of consumable equipment, we will carefully consider both laboratory research and development and industrial production, and try to find experts specializing in printing ink consumables, communicate with them and make appropriate upgrades to the products accordingly. Since the preparation method and proportion of printing clay are relatively simple, we can use our own materials after consulting opinions, which can reduce the cost.
Finally, economic resources, such as investors and bank loans, are also key to the continued development of our products. By communicating with the government merchant's Bureau, we can try to attract the support of government policies (such as tax reduction and acceleration of bank lending, etc.).
Customer Relations
We will continue to post materials and presentations online to introduce our products to our customers. Contact information will also be left for further communication and clarification. In addition, a number of interviews will be set up with managers of suppliers, brands and companies that have repeatedly expressed their willingness to work together. In this way we can get more professional advice and gradually build reliable relationships.
Due to the impact of COVID-19 this year, we have chosen online interviews and video presentations as the main format of the event. But if necessary, we will visit companies in a secure manner to ensure the most direct and effective communication of information. By developing a clear business plan, we will demonstrate our sincerity as partners.
In the field of souvenirs, the price should be higher, and after establishing a good brand image, we will step into the high-end route. We are going to attract upper-class consumers through reputation and advertisement to expand the range of consumers.
We contact our partners and customers in various approaches, including online messaging such as emails or wechat, and face-to-face interviews such as the visit of artist and gallery. This ensures that our communication is clear and effective to the benefits of both parties.
Customer base:
Archaeologist
On the basis of the complex and high cost of the existing authentication technology, the demand of such groups is small, and their needs are often ignored. This means that they will be keen on this low-cost and efficient new anti-counterfeiting method.
Valuables Transport Company / Museum
Such companies need a simple, fast and accurate identification system to assist them. In addition, our spore system can meet the needs of a long transportation distance or a long storage time in museums (it can be preserved for a long time and has strong adhesion).
Individual Collector
Such clients tend to collect valuable items, so it is extremely necessary for them to ensure that the collection is authentic. Our spore anti-counterfeiting system can help them protect the rights and interests of consumers and provide strong evidence when identifying authenticity.
Individual Customer
It can be customized for customers with customization needs, and it is expected to make products like Dior diamond ring, in which words you want to say to your lover or important friend are written. Although it is not useful for anti-counterfeiting, as an innovative gift, it can greatly attract the interest of curiosity seekers.
Bank / Government
Government official documents and bank checks must use anti-counterfeiting clay. The current printing clay is ultraviolet anti-counterfeiting clay, so they can be persuaded to use our more secure Artag.
Luxury Brands
Such companies often produce very expensive goods, leading to a large market for counterfeits and a high profit margin for counterfeits. Our simple and fast spore detection system helps both parties to trace the source simultaneously, thus ensuring that the counterfeit market is unprofitable
Source of revenue & Cost structure
We expect to invest 100 thousand in 2021, of which 50 thousand will be start-up capital to purchase machinaries, etc. In the second year, the cost will be reduced to 50 thousand. It is estimated that the product will start to be profitable at this time and the revenue is expected to increase by 900% due to the increased efficiency and productivity of the workers. In the third year, brand recognition increased, attracting a large number of customers to purchase the product , leading a revenue rose by 300%. At the same time, production time and productivity increases lead to an increase in output, reaching break even. Starting in 2024, the transition from manual to mechanized production reduces the cost by 100%. And the automatic scale-production has attracted companies to work with us or buy patents and licenses, which is expected to account for 20% of the total revenue.
