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Flits Music GmbH, 6/2015
FLITS
– Business Plan –
Table of Content
1. Executive Summary
1.1.
1.2.
1.3.
1.4.
1.5.
1.6.
Activity
Mission
Vision
Value Innovation
Corporate Culture
Business Model
2. Business Environment
2.1.
2.2.
Market Size
Competitive Landscape
3. Customer
4. Marketing Plan
5. Financial Projections
6. Risk management matrix
7. Organization and Structure
8. UI / UX Design and Development
References
Bibliography
Appendix
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1. Executive summary
Flits is a multi sided cloud platform that allows concertgoers and music enthusiast to
find nearby trending music events. It is one-stop music event discovery solution for
anybody who aspires to know what music events are happening in the desired location
– be it anywhere around you or in the city you plan to visit over the next weekend.
The core value of Flits is providing real-time multimedia (text, photo, audio, video)
insights form ongoing live1 music events.
The mobile service consists of two substantial components: (1) The large (yet to certain
extent curated) database of small and medium size music events with detailed
information about the performing artists, location of the venue, ticket price etc.; and (2)
social network of concertgoers and live music enthusiasts.
On the B2C side, Flits simplifies the process (hassle) of searching for music events. Our
team has found out that as of now, any concertgoer who is looking for a trending life
music event have to open up to 8 different websites and applications (from generic
Google search to databases like Yelp or Trip Advisor) in order to get the factual picture
of what is on around them. Flits solves this pain by providing instant information about
the concert situation in music venues by delivering user generated updates to the
mobile app.
The B2B side of Flits is a powerful promotional tool for music venues and festivals. It
allows the managers to cost-effectively promote their events in real-time, attract
consumers to discounts and time-limited offers, inform the concertgoers about the
1
By “live music events” we mean any music show that is publicly available including DJ sets, Discos etc.
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latest news from the shows, and ultimately boost the events’ exposure, turnout and
ticket sales.
The business model of Flits stands on 4 piers. We plan to capitalize on: (1) Ticket sales
through our platform; (2) geo-localized advertising in the live feed of the application; (3)
promotional packages for festivals; (4) subscriptions packages for music venues.
We will generate traction by partnering with ticketing companies, local music event
databases, music festivals, and music schools. For every new market entry, we plan to
hire local marketing agency or exceptional freelancer, to carry out the campaign of the
launch. The reason for doing so is that we believe that the knowledge of the
environment is necessary.
1.1 Activity
Flits is a one-stop platform, that solves the needs of concertgoers, venues, and
musicians.
Unlike most of the competitors (Vamos, Bandsintown, Exceed, Fever) the B2C side of
Flits focuses on: (1) Providing real-time information about the situation in the venue at
the time of the event, which enable the users to base their event decision not only on
the genre of music and location of the venue, but also on the prevailing atmosphere at
the show; (2) giving the users the option to socialize and interconnect with other users
from the respective Facebook network, to share lists of favorite venues, and see friends’
attendance at the events; (3) publishing the exhaustive information about the event,
including artists’ bio, links to their social media channels, excerpts of the recorded music
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(SoundCloud, Spotify) and life performances (YouTube), location of the venue, price of
the tickets and many more.
To scale the business quickly internationally, we will aim to outsource the back-end data
flow (info about events, venues, artists in our database). We will partner with local
databases (e.g. online city culture magazines) in order to receive access to their APIs.
However, two other scenarios may arise: (1) if such provider won’t be available in the
location, we will inject the data in the database manually; (2) if the provider refuses to
open the API for Flits, we will deploy data scrapping – a legal technique that uses
algorithms to scrape data from any publicly available website.
1.2 Mission
Flits navigates concertgoers to the music of their choice by providing real-time user
generated insights into the music events happening in any city.
The music industry is without saying increasingly driven by digital technologies. All
suppliers along the value chain have to adapt to the transformation and embrace digital
technology as to succeed at the marketplace. We strongly believe that our product
gives a powerful tool to our three main stakeholders: concertgoers, musicians, and
venues.
Firstly and most importantly, our product solves the pain of concertgoers searching for
music events. Concertgoers and music events enthusiasts are the mass end users of our
mobile service. Flits gives a response to the question: ‘Where should I go tonight to
enjoy my favorite music?’ without the necessity of spending half an hour searching on
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Google or reaching friends for last minute advice. In addition to thorough programming
information provided by the management of the venues, Flits collects and transmit realtime feedback of the events and venues generated by the users.
Secondly, Flits is a powerful marketing tool for venues and their managers. The mobile
application is an efficient promotion format for direct targeting of the right audience
due to the fact, that most concertgoers look for and enter events just a few hours
before or even during their duration. To be in charge of editing the promotional info
and provide last minute promotional offers give the venues opportunity to maximize
turnout and thus increase revenues from ticket and alcohol sales.
Finally, Flits addresses the need of musicians seeking for efficient promotion of their
non-music venue events. Interestingly enough, significant fraction of music events
publicly available takes place in other places than official professional music venues.
These events usually accounts for performances with smaller audiences in local arts
spaces (galleries, museums, theaters etc.), dining places (restaurants, cafes etc.) and
open-air shows (busking). Yet, those performances noteworthy in volume and delivered
by professional musicians often lacks any kind of promotion what so ever.
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Table 1: Pains & Gains
Flits navigates concertgoers to the music of their choice by providing real-time user
generated insights into the music events happening in the city.
Concertgoers (B2C)
Venues (B2B)
Pain: No-single stop mobile
Pain: Cost-inefficient marketing Pain: Promotion for non-music
application for music events in
with problematic targeting
any city
Musicians (B2C)
venues and other nonstandard location for music
Solution: Precisely targeted
performances
Solution: Hassle-free search
geo-localized promotion, last
for trending music events
minute marketing for “walk-
Solution: Facebook fan page
based on location & genre
ins”, special offer and
sign up in the application
(and other criteria such user
discounts management to
allows create events that
generated venue ratings,
boost turnout and ticket sales
appears on the lists and map
videos, photos), mobile
views of all events
application
1.3 Vision
Flits operates with a highly scalable business model. It is in the service’s nature to grow
internationally and expand to any culturally rich urban area. The fact that the service
uses open API of third parties (Facebook and other social media profile credentials are
required for sign up in order to open the full functionality of the application) also
enables its viral growth. In other words, users of the application are able to connect and
invite friends from their own networks.
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Within the first year, our aim is to prove the feasibility of the concept, test, and
implement basic functions of the application in Valencia, Prague, and Boston. In order to
fulfill this goal, our team is going to apply for accelerator programs and fundraise seed
capital.
The pre-launch in Valencia (May) will be followed by 3 month long (August to
October) market entry in Prague. By then, with the base counting almost 8.000 users,
we will expand to Boston and initiate serious fundraising efforts to scale the business
internationally. By the end of the first year, the team will grow to up to 5 members,
including Android and iOS developers (CTO), front-end developer, business
development manager, and CEO. Flits will strive for entering into strategic partnership
with local online databases of music events and artists (such as Bandzone.cz in Prague),
ticketing providers (such as Smsticket.cz in Prague), as well as Berklee College of Music
and other major music education institutions.
In three years time, Flits will be internationally renowned platform serving over 300k
users (iOS and Android combined). By then, Flits will have expanded its team and
establish offices in Berlin and Boston. Flits will be number one service providing realtime information about trending events in all major European music hubs, including
Berlin, London, Paris, Madrid, Vienna, and Prague etc. After establishing a secure
position in Boston within the three years of operations, its US expansion will continue
to NYC, LA and Chicago.
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1.4 Value innovation
By working day in and day out on Flits, we strongly believe, that technology is yet to
radically streamline the urban music event discovery. Having assembled a team of music
and technology lovers, we strive for simplification of musicians’, venues’, and
concertgoers’ lives.
To sketch out the value innovation of Flits, we use variation of Blue Ocean Strategy
framework. Figure 1 explains, how gets the value created and further expands for both
venue and artist on one side, and concertgoers and music enthusiast on the other.
(1) By simplifying the process of searching for music events and providing real-time
multimedia updates from ongoing events, the value of the service is lifted for
concertgoers and live music event enthusiasts.
(2) By reducing costs and streamlining promotion efforts, the value of the service
raises for venues and musicians. Flits provides precise targeting tool, since the
main audience (user base) consists of concertgoers.
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Figure 1: Value innovation model of Flits
1.5 Corporate Culture
As of now, Flits team has five international members of diverse age range – German
(34), Spanish (44), Czech (24), Colombian (28), and Mexican (25) – for a good reason.
We believe that the diversity of the funding team is crucial for the successful global
expansion of our product and for building up the network of mentors and partners.
The current characteristics of the team reflect one of the basic HR strategies of our
company for the future.
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We love startups and music. And so do have to the people we would like to
collaborate with. The internationality of the team poses the need for high level of
commitment and self-discipline, since we can’t always reside in the same office.
Therefore, we look for motivated individuals that naturally want to make things better
and break through the status quo. Entrepreneurship is fostered within the team. From
bottom up, all team members are encouraged to bring new ideas and improvements
exceeding the scope of the subject of their employment.
1.6 Business Model
We plan to generate revenue from 4 independent revenue streams. The model (see
Figure 1) is based on active connection between the main 3 stakeholders of Flits:
venues, artists (musicians), and concertgoers. Through our platform, they all together
create a stable ecosystem (see the inner orbit of Figure 1), which we are going to
capitalize on in these ways:
A. Ticketing
The users will be able to purchase tickets for the shows of their choice directly in
the Flits application. The main functions will include the option to save the credit
card for future orderings, buy and send ticket to a friend, see the history of
purchases etc. First, we will make an affiliate marketing deals with existing ticketing
services (e.g. Smsticket.cz in Prague) and earn a commission for the leads through
our platform. Later on, we will build our own ticketing platform in order to
maximize the gain from the commission and fully secure the distribution channels.
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B. Promotional packages for festivals
Multi-location music festivals (e.g. The Great Escape, UK) always struggle with
managing queue times and providing updated insight from their venues. For a flat
fee, festivals’ managers will be able to upload their programming materials into our
platform. The package will include the special visibility in the application (presence in
“festival” bookmark in the side menu of the application, custom icons on the map
etc.) and additional marketing (mentions on Flits’ social media channel, direct mailing
list, home website etc.).
C. Subscriptions for venues
As the platform will grow, so will our database of events and venues. For a regular
subscription fee, limited number of venues will receive special visibility in the
application (such as higher position in the lists, customizable icons on the map,
mentions on platform’s social media and other marketing channels).
D. Geo-localized advertising
Among the main functionalities of Flits application is the live feed from all the events
around the city. All the active users who send multimedia updates to the application
generate it. The feed is stored in one place in the application (instant stream of
user-generated multimedia posts), so the user can locate the trending events. Geolocalized promotional posts will occasionally penetrate the feed (e.g. Facebook
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home page view – friends’ activity is mixed with advertising). To do so, we will
utilize professional mobile advertising network.2
Figure 2: Business model of Flits
!
!
2. Business Environment
2.1 Market size
We determine the market size of Flits by using TAM – SAM – SOM methodology.
2
Marshall, Matt. ‘The Top 10 Mobile Advertising Companies.’ VentureBeat. Accessed 15 June 2015.
http://venturebeat.com/2013/06/12/the-top-10-mobile-advertising-companies/.
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TAM – Total Available Market: Total market demand of the product
SAM – Serviceable Available Market: Target market segment
SOM – Serviceable Obtainable Market: Portion of the SAM in the company markets
Further we will make assumption on the value of a customer in order to get a more
specific number on the market value per se.
Applying the methodology to Flits we capturing the following values:
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TAM (USA/ Europe)
Value
Assumption
User
40 m34
The typical Flits users are students. Referring to EUROSTAT and the Institute of
Education Science (IES) we found out that we have 20 million students in the
Europe Union (EU) and 20 million in the USA. Please note for the EU that we
only considered countries with more than 400.000 students in a country
Market value
4bl€
We assume a value per customer of 10€
SAM (USA / Czech Rep.)
Value
Assumption
User
18 m5
Mobile penetration of US citizen in the age group 18-34 = 85%6
Mobile penetration of Czech Republic citizen = 75%7
Market value
90m€
We assume a value per customer of 5€
SAM (Boston / Prague)
Value
Assumption
User
≈220.0008
Number of students in Boston: 160k9 (mobile penetration 85% = 136.000)
Number of students in Prague: Referring to Eurostat, Prague has 440.000
students. We assume that ¼ are studying in Prague: 110.000 (mobile
penetration 75% ≈ 83.000)
Market value
220.000m€
We assume a value per customer of 1€
‘The NCES Fast Facts Tool Provides Quick Answers to Many Education Questions (National Center for Education Statistics)’ (National Center for Education Statistics), accessed 5 May 2015,
http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=372.
4 ‘Database - Eurostat’, accessed 14 June 2015, http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/data/database.
5 ‘The NCES Fast Facts Tool Provides Quick Answers to Many Education Questions (National Center for Education Statistics)’ (National Center for Education Statistics), accessed 5 May 2015,
http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=372.
6 ‘Mobile Millennials: Over 85% of Generation Y Owns Smartphones’, accessed 1 June 2015, http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/news/2014/mobile-millennials-over-85-percent-of-generation-yowns-smartphones.html.
7 ‘Czech Republic Just Tops Russia for Mobile Penetration’, accessed 1 June 2015, http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Czech-Republic-Just-Tops-Russia-Mobile-Penetration/1012047.
8 ‘The NCES Fast Facts Tool Provides Quick Answers to Many Education Questions (National Center for Education Statistics)’ (National Center for Education Statistics), accessed 5 May 2015,
http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=372.
9
‘Boston Redevelopment Authority’, accessed 1 June 2015, http://www.bostonredevelopmentauthority.org/getattachment/3488e768-1dd4-4446-a557-3892bb0445c6/.
3
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2.2. Competitive landscape
Flits is overlapping two different markets with an increasing density of competition. The
first is an event (ticketing) market. The second is real-time discovery market, which will
likely expand within the next few years. As evidence, companies like Twitter and
Foursquare are heavily investing in real-time information services.10
Since almost every bigger city operates a website informing about local cultural events,
the business plan focuses only on big international players – web and mobile
applications.
‘Neue App Mit Lokalen Echtzeit-Infos: Wie Lange Ist Die Schlange?’ (Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 20 April 2015),
http://www.nzz.ch/mehr/digital/wie-lange-ist-die-schlange-ld.251
10
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Table 3: Competitive Landscape
Bandsintown
Songkick
Vamos
Xceed
Fever
Visor
Banjo
Based
San Diego
London
Berlin
Madrid
New York
New York
Redwood
Funding
60m $
N/A
N/A
N/A
8,3m $
500k $
121m EUR
User base
16m (2015)
10m (2014)
N/A
8k (2015)
N/A
N/A
4m (2015)
Core country
US
US, UK
Germany
Spain
Spain, UK, US
USA
USA
Since
2004
2007
2012
2014
2014
2014
2011
Description
Concert discovery
app powering the
tour dates for over
270K artists
worldwide.11
Allows organizing
and tracking
favorite bands,
getting concert
alerts, and buying
tickets.12
Everything from Art
& Entertainment,
Food & Drinks,
Fashion to Clubs &
Parties.
Party in town:
access to guest
lists, book tickets,
reserve VIP &
bottle service.13
Provides curated
and personalized list
of local events
based on user
preferences14
Request a photo
or video from
any location,
right now.
Real-time
content
discovery by
location across
social networks.15
‘Bandsintown Group’, accessed 12 April 2015, https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/bandsintown-group.
‘Songkick’, accessed 12 February 2015, https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/songkick.
13 ‘Xceed’, accessed 13 February 2015, https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/xceed-me.
14 ‘Fever’, accessed 13 February 2015, https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/fever-3.
15 https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/banjo
11
12
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In order to fully comprehend the competition, we provide a competitive profile matrix (CPM).
Hereby, we identify the key competitors and using critical success factor (CSF).
In our assumptions, we identified the following:
1. Innovation of the product – business plan / technology
2. # Customer base
3. Financial background – how much funding did they received
4. Product Quality – functionality of the app/ website etc.
Each critical success factor will be assigned a value between 0.0 (low) and 1.0 (high). The
number indicates how important the factor is in succeeding in the industry. The rating (Rt)
shows how well a company is doing in each area. They range from 4 to 1, where 4 means a
major strength, 3- minor strength, 2- minor weakness and 1- major weakness. The score (Sc) is
the result of weight multiplied by rating.16
16
Ovidijus Jurevicius, ‘Competitive Profile Matrix (CPM)’, 29
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Table 4: Critical success factor
Event discovery
Bandsintown
Songkick
Vamos
Real-time
Xceed
Fever
Banjo
Visor
Flits
CSF
Weight
Rt
Sc
Rt
Sc
Rt
Sc
Rt
Sc
Rt
Sc
Rt
Sc
Rt
Sc
Rt
Sc
Innovation
of the
product
0.4
2
0.8
2
0.8
3
1.2
1
0.4
2
0.8
4
1.6
4
1.6
3
1.2
User base
0.3
4
1.2
4
1.2
2
0.6
1
0.3
2
0.6
1
0.3
3
0.9
1
0.3
Financial
background
0.2
4
0.8
4
0.8
3
0.6
2
0.4
3
0.6
2
0.4
4
0.8
1
0.2
Product
Quality
0.1
2
0.3
3
0.3
3
0.3
2
0.2
3
0.3
2
0.2
4
0.4
1
0.1
TOTAL
1
-
3.1
-
3.1
-
2.7
-
1.3
-
2.3
-
2.5
-
3.7
-
2.2
Figure 3: Competitive profile matrix
Bandsintow
n
4
Flits
3
Bandsintown
2
Flits
Sonkick
Sonkick
1
2
0.5
1
Banjo
1.5
Vamos
0
Visor
Xceed
Fever
Total
Banjo
0
Visor
Vamos
Xceed
Fever
Innovation of the product
# customer base
Financial background
The CPM shows that the biggest competitors are Banjo and Bandsintown / Songkick. To have
even a better understanding of the competitors we compare the main app product feature in
the following table.
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Table 5: Functionalities
Event discovery
Ticket purchases
X
Tracking of Artist
X
In app music examples
X
VIP admission
X
X
X
Real-time
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Real time information
X
Concert alerts
X
Map overview
X
X
X
X
Pics of past events
X
Invitation option
X
Messaging possibility
X
X
Surprise give-aways
See attendance
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
On the event side, we see that ticket purchase is the key element of each event discovery
platform and which is also represent their main revenue streams. We also see that the 4 out of
7 competitors are offering to see the attendance list. Furthermore, we see the importance to
offer the related products on both platforms. As Table 5 shows, most of our competitors are
focusing on concerts and parties. Fever range is outstanding by offering different event
possibilities. Flits will focus on festival, concerts & party information.
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Table 6: Market segmentation
Event discovery
Real-time
Festivals
Concerts
X
X
X
Parties
X
X
X
Theater
Sport
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Exhibitions
Restaurants
X
X
X
X
X
Comedy Shows
X
X
3. Customer
The ideal customer of Flits will be detailed under demographic, geographic, psychographic and
behavioral aspects
A. Demographics
•
Age: 21
•
Income: low to mid income (value depends on country)
•
Profession: Student
•
Education: Bachelor
•
Family status: Single
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•
Level of tech savviness: High
•
Tech preferences: Apple devices
B. Geographics
•
Place of residence: Big cities above 800.000 inhabitants
•
Countries: USA, Europe (countries with > 400.000 students)
C. Psychographics
•
Humorous and trendy language style
•
Explorer: Energy - autonomy, experience, challenge, new frontiers. Brand choice
highlights difference, sensation, adventure, indulgence and instant effect - the first to try
new brands
•
Reformer: Freedom from restriction, personal growth, social awareness, value for time,
independent judgment, tolerance of complexity, anti-materialistic but intolerant of bad
taste. Curious and enquiring, support growth of new product categories. Select brands
for intrinsic quality, favoring natural simplicity, see minimalistic as beautiful.17
D. Behavior
•
Out going
•
Sophisticated
•
Active social media user
17 ‘Study Room - Business - Marketing - Analysing the Market - Demographic Segmentation’, accessed 24 April 2015,
https://www.examstutor.com/business/resources/studyroom/marketing/market_analysis/8_psychographic_segmentation.php.
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•
Music streaming user
•
Early adopter of electronic gadgets
4. Marketing Plan
Referring to Statista, 1.4m18 apps are available in the apple app store in 2015. Whereas 6%
referring to entertainment and 2%19 to social media apps. In order to become visible in the app
store and generate downloads a specific marketing plan is necessary. Flits is planning to have
around 12.000 downloads until, end of the year. The market entry for Prague is scheduled for
August 15, for Boston December 1.
Table 7: Marketing plan
18
19
(Number of apps available in leading app stores 2015 | Statistic, no date)
(Apple: most popular app store categories 2015 | Statistic, no date)
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Table 8: Marketing plan
Activity
Description
Measures / KPI
Increase Blog activity
Posting of blog entries on different platforms but also on Flits.io
10 blog entries
Increase social media
activity
Creation of Product
Video
Reviews by blogger
Mainly on Facebook and Instagram
Optimizing Email
signature
App Store optimization
High Profile Media
Coverage
Showing main features of the product, introduction of team
Get in contact with influential bloggers and convince them to write about the
app
Put a catchy sentence in the email signature together with the link to download
Flits
Optimization of preview pictures and the description of the app
3.000 followers on FB and Instagram
2 videos
10 bloggers
All personal email accounts as well as the flits email
account of all team members
Define 3 preview pictures
Contact Darkside.cz / Creativedoc.cz /
webproduction.cz and finalize action plan
Finalizing branding
Logo, online presence, color scheme etc.
Finalize before the release
Launch Facebook / Instagram campaigns
Finance of 10 campaigns
Ask friends & family to rate the app in the app store
Getting press coverage in print and online
Ask all family members with iPhone
Campaigns at launch
Hire Marketing agency in order to get multi channel media coverage
Launch Facebook /
Instagram campaigns
Promos in venues
•
•
Increasing loyalty
Marketing before the release
Time
Organic growth
Social media and mouth to mouth propaganda
Present Flits at different
events
Present Flits at music festivals / conferences / guest speaker
Getting App reviews
Getting Press coverage
Sponsorship
Conduct events in a specific venue
Distribute flyers
Different events such as concerts or conferences
Contact 5 print media houses
•
•
3 venues
All major venues in Prague and universities
New investment in online campaigns
2 festivals
2 national conferences
1 int. conference
3 concerts
1 sponsorship of conference
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5. Financial Projections
As mentioned above, we plan to capitalize on 4 different revenue streams: (1) ticketing – first
as affiliation marketing and then building or own ticketing platform, (2) advertising – both
mobile and web, (3) promotional packages for festival, and (4) subscription model, which will
allow venues to gain more visibility within the platform. Besides the projected growth of the
income of the platform, the revenue model (Table 10 – 12) shows, the key performance
metrics, conversion and growth rates etc.
The growth of the platform as a whole is directly link to the strategic expansion and set of
planned market entries both in Europe and USA.
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Table 9: Budget
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Table 10: Revenue model (Year 1)
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Table 11: Revenue model (Year 2)
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Table 12: Revenue model (Year 3)
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Table 13: Income statement
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NET PROFIT
EUR$300,000$
EUR$250,000$
EUR$200,000$
EUR$150,000$
EUR$100,000$
EUR$50,000$
EUR$0$
Year$1$
Year$2$
Year$3$
EUR$50,000$
EUR$100,000$
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Table 14: Balance sheet
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Table 15: Cash-flow statement
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6. Risk management Matrix
All companies facing different risks, in order to monitor and define them we will explain the
major risks of Flits on a risk management matrix. After the evaluation of the risks (0-5) we are
able to indicate the risks into the risk matrix. The matrix is based on two criteria’s:
A. Likelihood (divided in 5 categories): The probability of a risk
i. Almost certain
ii. Likely
iii. Possible
iv. Unlikely
v. Rare
B. Consequences (divided in 5 categories): The damage caused by the risk
vi. Insignificant
vii. Minor
viii. Moderate
ix. Major
x. Catastrophic20
20 David Olsen, ‘Supply Chain Risk Management’, ed. Steven Nahmias (United States of America: Busines Expert Press LLC,
2011).
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Flits Music GmbH, 6/2015
Table 7: Risk management matrix
Likelihood
Consequences
Insignificant
Minor
Moderate
Major
Catastrophic
Rare
1
2
B) F)
3
D) H)
4
5
Unlikely
2
4
6
E)
8
10
Possible
3
6
9
A)
12
C)
15
G)
Likely
4
8
12
16
20
Almost certain
5
10
15
20
25
Low Risk
Moderate Risk
High Risk
Extreme Risk
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Flits Music GmbH, 6/2015
Table 8: Risk management matrix
Ref
Topic
Risk
Likelihood
Consequences
Priority
A)
Business Model (BP)
BP will not succeed
3
3
9
B)
Market timing
The market is not ready yet
1
2
2
C)
Market adoption
Competitors will adopt features
3
4
12
D)
Market Size
The market is smaller than
calculated
1
3
3
Not reaching of milestones
2
3
6
Weekly team meetings
Speed to develop technology /
product
1
2
2
If necessary collaborate with free lancer
The company will not get seed
funded
3
5
15
Applying to accelerator programs, build up of network
to secure finance
Potential law suits
1
3
3
Partner with experience lawyer
E)
F)
G)
H)
Execution risk
Technology risk
Financial risk
Legal risk
Actions
Fast testing and implement feedback loop and focus on
the successful
Testing in two different Markets (Prague / Boston).
Also testing on 3 customer groups (Festival-, party-,
concertgoer)
Fast market entry and establish cooperation with
different companies, such as ticket companies etc.
Aggressive marketing
Monitor market size and if necessary reevaluate
revenue streams
The risk matrix reveals that Flits’ biggest risk is lack of funding. Therefore, fundraising is among the key challenges of the company for the following
weeks. Therefore the consideration of applying to Accelerator programs should be evaluated. Reaching out to stakeholders, institutions and industry
specialists is necessary.
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Flits Music GmbH, 6/2015
6. Organization and structure
The Flits Music GmbH has in total 4 employees and was founded in June 2015. The company is
registered in Hamburg, Germany. The corporate address is Flits Music GmbH,
Henriettenstrasse 13, 20259 Hamburg.
The team members are as follows:
Martin Erler
Age: 34
Position: CEO / Founder
Country: Germany
Experience:
- International Business Development (3 years)
- Global Key Account Management (2 years)
- Controlling (2 years)
- M.A. Global Entertainment & Music Business
Javier Sanchez
Age: 44
Position: CTO / Co-Founder
Country: Spain
Experience:
- IOS developer (since 11 years)
- Founder of Luraki
- Faculty member of the Berklee College of Music
- Post doc of Stanford University
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Flits Music GmbH, 6/2015
Matej Zak
Age: 24
Position: Business Development / Co-Founder
Country: Czech Republic
Experience:
- Music Promoter (2 years)
- Professional musician
- M.A. Global Entertainment & Music Business
Morris Pinero
Age: 28
Position: Front End Developer / Web Designer
Country: Colombia
Experience:
- Graphic Designer (since 4 years)
- Postgraduate of interactive digital design & development at ESAT
Fernanda Gomez
Age: 25
Position: Designer
Country: Mexico
Experience:
- Music production experience in different genres (since 4 years)
- M.A. Global Entertainment & Music Business
The established Flits team is well connected in the music industry, has substantial technical as
well as business experience.
Martin Erler
Javier Sanchez
Matej Zak
Morris
Pinedo
Fernanda
Gomez
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Flits Music GmbH, 6/2015
The company is always looking for skilled and motivated team members. Currently, we are
looking for:
•
Back-End Developer
•
Social Media specialist
•
Interns
7. UI / UX Design and Development: Navigating and Understanding Tech / Mobile App
Design
It has been established that Flits is about concert navigation made easier. This has been the
team’s ultimate objective and the end goal is clear. This mission, however, is one shared by
much of the competition. They all have the technology to provide this type of information to
their users in a very straight-forward way. How is Flits any different?
It was understood from the very beginning that app design would be a key component and
player in Flits’ future success. Encompassing areas of User Interface, User Experience and
Navigation, the team’s approach is one where “Business goals might decide the destination, but
user requirements must always steer the ship” (Cao 2015). Starting with content first and the
intuitive ways in which users tend to look for information. We asked ourselves “what the user
would do, then slowly work your way back to the business goals” (Cao 2015). We adopted a
‘Lost Traveler’ design where such function-approach perspective forced us to design each
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Flits Music GmbH, 6/2015
element and every single page as if it was our users’ initial interaction with the mobile
application.
Learning from the newest trends for mobile and web design and navigation, we have been
working and continue making progress in order to distinguish ourselves from the competition
not only in terms of functionality and innovative features, but also on the design front - where,
with one single look, users can love us or hate us.
7.1.
UI vs UX
While conducting some initial research it was important to make the distinction between UIUser Interface and UX-User Experience given that these two are commonly, and mistakenly,
used and interchangeable terms.
UI is specifically concerned with the way in which users interact with the interface, the mobile
app itself. The way they navigate the site as well as the way the app design is forcing the user
the look for information. UX on the other hand deals with the users’ reactions to such interface,
the way the interface as a whole makes them feel; the way in which the design elements
interact with each other and with the user in order to create a hopefully memorable
experience (Cao 2015).
Our goal is to achieve a balance and a harmony between the two of them, one that will help us
establish an emotional attachment with our users. We want Flits to be easy to navigate, and we
want it to feel intensely social. We understand that our target market is young and they want
to go out and have fun while listening to live music. What are you in the mood for? What do
you feel like doing tonight? It’s not just about genres and location, it’s about achieving a full
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Flits Music GmbH, 6/2015
nightlife experience. By creating this bond Flits goes beyond just being another app that simply
provides information to one acting as a friend, as a real person who you trust and enjoy
interacting with - a buyer persona (Walter 2015).
7.2.
Connectivity
Although future growth and development may see Flits simultaneously working in a web-based
platform, it is first and foremost a mobile-based application:
•
88% of young adults owning a smartphone according to data from Ofcom (Hodge
2015)
•
85% of smartphone usage is done through apps rather than the mobile web
(Stewart 2015)
•
91% of American adults now own a mobile phone (Laybourne 2014)
It’s been established that Flits’ target market are mainly young tech-savvy adults. They own
smartphones and they like to use them in order to stay connected with their friends and the
world around them. With the popularity of the phablet (phone+tablet) growing more and
more each day we also have to modify and adapt to the way our consumers are using these
devices (light green). It gives us more opportunities to be creative in the ways we make
information “more readable, accessible and usable” without losing our content-focused,
function-first approach (Yadav 2015).
As previously established, we want to work towards achieving a balance of UI and UX that
translates into higher connectivity: fast, easy, seamless, and increasingly social. An experience,
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Flits Music GmbH, 6/2015
where the app can “infer when we eat, when we rest, when we're at work and when we're at
home” (Hodge 2015). Smart connectivity.
7.3.
Flat Design
One of the most notable advances in mobile app technology is flat design, successfully
introduced by Google’s “Material Design.” We take note of their design approach and the way
that it helps strips down design to its basic and most simple elements thus allowing for content
to speak for itself while still making visually striking in its simplicity:
o A material metaphor… of a rationalized space and a system of motion.[…]
inspired by the study of paper and ink, yet technologically advanced and open
to imagination and magic.
o Surfaces and edges of the material provide visual cues that are grounded in
reality (“Material Design” 2015)
o It’s clean, interactive, graphic, and “intentionally bold:”
These elements do far more than please the eye. They create hierarchy, meaning, and focus.
Deliberate color choices, edge-to-edge imagery, large-scale typography, and intentional white
space create a bold and graphic interface that immerse the user in the experience […] All
action takes place in a single environment […] without breaking the continuity of experience
(“Material Design” 2015)
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Flits Music GmbH, 6/2015
The subtlety of color, shadow, and depth give the design and these elements the feeling of
context found in reality making it easy to form associations from icons/design cues to real-life
actions, “retain[ing] a sense of the tangible world (physical space and objects) while still
achieving all the advantages of flat design” (Fontaine 2015). Layered interfaces mimicking
layered behaviors. Giving the intangible a physical presence - from symbols to actions (See A2
& A5).
7.4.
Visual Interest & UI Cards
One of the best ways to create visual interest and grab the attention of your users is through
the power of high impact imagery. By replacing the traditional list view presentation and still
following the formats of Google’s “Material Design,” we aimed for a much more photographicbased display of information. Incorporating these rich visuals help us “tempt the user into the
story of a site, inviting them to scroll for more” while additionally making it possible to deliver
the information in a quick and organized manner, “[creating] an impact in a matter of seconds”
(Fontaine 2015, Laybourne 2014).
Once again following the idea of rich graphics and bold design and color, we believe that this
kind of presentation is at the height of mobile app design trends, and it is also one of the best
ways to create a narrative. As seen on A3_Fig01, there’s a context to every photograph making
them appealing to the user while respecting and maintaining its simplicity - “the site lets
illustrations explain how to actually use the grill” (Cao 2015).
We could also talk about visual interest and boldness in terms of logo (see A1). From the
beginning the team knew that, just as our entire design was going to be, we needed to be very
graphic and clean with our logo design. Working a play on the ‘F’ letter and the ubiquitous
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Flits Music GmbH, 6/2015
location icon of the arrow, we came up with a number of options that highlight the graphic
quality and elements also presented in “Material Design.”
Furthermore, the use of UI Cards - card-style layouts - offer a lot of versatility and cleanliness
for organizing a lot of content. We want to keep it clean, simple, flexible, and digestible
(Fontaine 2015). The images on A6 showcase this type of functionality and exemplify the
concise nature of UI cards and their role in this new type of layouts.
7.5.
Typography & Icons
In line with the idea of visual interest we have the elements of typography and icons. The
former allows for much freedom than can give the design an added playfulness and boldness. In
the past typography was very limited to a certain number of serif/sans serif staples that did not
add sufficient design quality for it to be considered at all in the overall aesthetic of the platform.
But nowadays “fonts as the centerpiece for design” (González 2015). They are becoming an
integral part of the look and feel of the project as a whole, giving the app a character and a
personality - one that will speak for the platform (See A4).
We see a similar scalable integration with icons. The use of icons over text help us not only
avoid complications with language barriers, but they also represent “quick, [and] intuitive
representations of an action, a status” that facilitate the interaction between user and
application (See A5) (Mesibov 2015).
7.6.
Hidden Navigation
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Flits Music GmbH, 6/2015
Behind such ease of navigation there is the hidden structure of menus. The objective is to make
functionality only visible when requested, keeping it ‘light copy:’ “rich displays where the visuals
carry the story, with minimal keyword relevant text provided as needed” (Stewart 2015). We
aim to take advantage of gesture interactions and utilize as much tactile commands as possible,
such as swipe-reveal, sliding, scroll-reveal, and tap-reveal - some of them demonstrated in both
A5 and B1 images.
Many photo-editing and radio/music-based applications such as the Photoshop mobile app are
great examples on how to use these type of tools, respecting the function/content-focused
approach that has been previously described. This trend emphasizes specific tasks for every
situation and thus unclogging the space of any unwanted information.
7.7.
Contextual UX
Another one of the most important and relevant design trends of the past couple of years is
this one referred to as Contextual User Experience, meaning suggested content based on
previous visits, on usage patterns. Just as Netflix’s ‘Recommended for you’ feature, contextual
UX helps the system establish a meaningful connection with the user, a bond, one that has
been discussed in this paper. It can help us, as Flits, become our users’ trusted friend by
“generating positive user experiences and developing stronger, more personalized client
relationships” (Fontaine 2015).
The way that we have been trying to translate this into the mobile app is by building what we
call the Dashboard page (see A7). Although this page may be seen as a ‘Profile Page’ we want
to steer away from that association since, as previous research shown here, users prefer not to
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Flits Music GmbH, 6/2015
sign up to create an account. At the moment, we still have the option to do so, but we do
believe that this is a service that could be accessed without having to create an account.
Where we see value in the idea of the ‘Dashboard’ is that we can take advantage of this idea of
Contextual UX in order to activate such tailored layouts - we want Flits to not only be your
friend, but your smart friend. Push notifications customized in the Settings tab - not yet
activated - could also save the user an extra step of having to check this page by simply
notifying you when there is an event/venue that matches your previous usage patterns.
7.8.
Micro-Interactions
The last trend that we wanted to adopt is concerned with the User Experience, and its role in
creating user loyalty if used successfully. These are micro-interactions, or “contained
experiences or moments within a product that revolve around a single use case” (Laybourne
2014). This is when the user swipes left to delete an email, when they click on the like button
to show they’ve enjoyed a particular post, when they double tap to like a photo on Instagram.
These are new ways to interact with the product; moments that take it from just navigating the
interface to actually creating a lasting and memorable experience, for “products are people too”
(Walter 2015). We have tried to include as many opportunities for micro-interactions within
the app and the navigation process. This process not only helps the app maintain a relatively
clean and uncluttered look, but it also performs the necessary tasks to its fullest potential.
7.9.
Basic Navigation - Continued Development
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Flits Music GmbH, 6/2015
Although Flits is still undergoing the development process, we believe that having an
understanding of basic navigation is key to future growth and success. We have identified the
main features that will distinguish the app from the competition and we continue to work hard
to showcase and highlight them (See B1).
As it has been mentioned throughout this paper, there are many important and relevant trends
that have been adopted and translated to our product; trends that serve their purpose in
creating a persona, in giving Flits a personality. “It won't be long before we have apps […] that
automatically choose activities for you when you sit down in the evening” (Hodge 2015). Hey!
Wanna go out? What are you in the mood for? What do you feel like doing tonight? Trust us.
We want to be your friend.
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Flits Music GmbH, 6/2015
References
Cao, Jerry. "How to Create the Right Emotions with Color in Web Design." TNW Network All
Stories RSS. April 7, 2015. Accessed June 1, 2015. http://thenextweb.com/dd/2015/04/07/howto-create-the-right-emotions-with-color-in-web-design/.
Hendricks, Drew. "An In-Depth Look at the Scrolling Website Trend." An In-Depth Look at the
Scrolling Website Trend. April 27, 2015. Accessed June 1, 2015. http://tech.co/depth-lookscrolling-website-trend-2015-04.
Souiedan, Sara. "Lessons from the "Seductive Interaction Design" Book." Lessons from the
"Seductive Interaction Design" Book. April 26, 2013. Accessed June 23, 2015.
http://sarasoueidan.com/blog/lessons-from-seductive-interaction-design-book/.
“U.S. Mobile Benchmark Report." ADI Mobile Report 2014/2014 US Mobile Benchmark Report.
2014. Accessed June 1, 2015.
http://www.cmo.com/content/dam/CMO_Other/ADI/ADI_Mobile_Report_2014/2014_US_Mo
bile_Benchmark_Report.pdf.
47
Flits Music GmbH, 6/2015
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Fontaine, Tracy. "Top UI/UX Trends in 2015 - Fresh Consulting." Fresh Consulting Top UIUX
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Appendix
51
A1: Logo_Visual Interest
A2: Flat Design
A3: Visual Interest
A4: Typography
Body: Montserrat Light
Fig01: BBQ Time (web platform)
Main Titles: Lovelo Black
Numerical Information: Lovelo Black
Hashtags: Montserrat Light
A5: Icons_Hidden Navigation
A6: UI Cards_Scrolling
Fig01
Fig02: NatGeo View
Fig03: Timeline
A7: Contextual UX_Microinteractions
B1: Basic Navigation
01. Log In
• With Facebook (preferably)
• With Twitter
• Create an account
• Not Right Now: making it faster/easier navigation starts right away
02. Event_List View
• Scroll down to load more events
• Scroll all the way up to show
Filter Tab - Scroll back down to
hide Filter Tab
• Swipe Left to access Single
Event View
• Tap Once on map_icon to
access Map View
• Tap Twice to Favorite Venue
• Tap on green/red arrows to
access Feed/Comments for
corresponding event
• Tap Once on person_icon to
access list of people attending
the event
• Tap Twice on person_icon to
confirm attendance (turns
yellow)
03. Single Event View
• Scroll down to show Artist
Information (Band_View)
• Scroll all the way up to go back
to Event_List View
• Swipe Left/Right to access
Single Event View for other
events (order corresponding to
Event_List View)
• Tap Once on Floating_Menu
icons to access varied
information:
• About
• Price
• More additional information
• Facebook account (leave app)
• Twitter account (leave app)
• Once in Floating_Menu mode,
tap once outside of the
information box to exit OR tap
once on the exit_icon
• Once in Band_View, swipe left/
right to access more embedded
videos - Press Play to access
default full screen mode
• Tap Once on social_media icons
to access more band
information
04. Side Menu
• Tap Once on hamburger_icon OR Swipe Right
to access Side Menu
• Tap Once outside side menu OR Swipe Left to
return to previous view
• Tap Once on calendar_icon to access
Event_List View
• Tap Once on dashboard_icon to access
Dashboard
• Tap Once on feed_icon to access feed/
comment view regarding current events
• Tap Once on settings_icon to access Settings
where Push Notifications can be customized
05. Dashboard
• Tap Once on myEvents_icon to access list of attending events
• Tap Once on friends_icon to access list of your friends (if connected via
Facebook) and a list of events they are attending
• Tap Once on heart_icon to access list of favorite venues and their upcoming
events (if any)
• Tap Once on checkmark_icon to access list of Recommended events/
venues
• Tap Once on history_icon to access any content posted by user (comments/
photos/videos)
• Once having accessed any of these floating information boxes, Tap Once
outside the box OR Tap once on exit_icon to return to default Dashboard
view
FLITS
– Business Plan –
Table of Content
1. Executive Summary
1.1.
1.2.
1.3.
1.4.
1.5.
1.6.
Activity
Mission
Vision
Value Innovation
Corporate Culture
Business Model
2. Business Environment
2.1.
2.2.
Market Size
Competitive Landscape
3. Customer
4. Marketing Plan
5. Financial Projections
6. Risk management matrix
7. Organization and Structure
8. UI / UX Design and Development
References
Bibliography
Appendix
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Flits Music GmbH, 6/2015
1. Executive summary
Flits is a multi sided cloud platform that allows concertgoers and music enthusiast to
find nearby trending music events. It is one-stop music event discovery solution for
anybody who aspires to know what music events are happening in the desired location
– be it anywhere around you or in the city you plan to visit over the next weekend.
The core value of Flits is providing real-time multimedia (text, photo, audio, video)
insights form ongoing live1 music events.
The mobile service consists of two substantial components: (1) The large (yet to certain
extent curated) database of small and medium size music events with detailed
information about the performing artists, location of the venue, ticket price etc.; and (2)
social network of concertgoers and live music enthusiasts.
On the B2C side, Flits simplifies the process (hassle) of searching for music events. Our
team has found out that as of now, any concertgoer who is looking for a trending life
music event have to open up to 8 different websites and applications (from generic
Google search to databases like Yelp or Trip Advisor) in order to get the factual picture
of what is on around them. Flits solves this pain by providing instant information about
the concert situation in music venues by delivering user generated updates to the
mobile app.
The B2B side of Flits is a powerful promotional tool for music venues and festivals. It
allows the managers to cost-effectively promote their events in real-time, attract
consumers to discounts and time-limited offers, inform the concertgoers about the
1
By “live music events” we mean any music show that is publicly available including DJ sets, Discos etc.
2
Flits Music GmbH, 6/2015
latest news from the shows, and ultimately boost the events’ exposure, turnout and
ticket sales.
The business model of Flits stands on 4 piers. We plan to capitalize on: (1) Ticket sales
through our platform; (2) geo-localized advertising in the live feed of the application; (3)
promotional packages for festivals; (4) subscriptions packages for music venues.
We will generate traction by partnering with ticketing companies, local music event
databases, music festivals, and music schools. For every new market entry, we plan to
hire local marketing agency or exceptional freelancer, to carry out the campaign of the
launch. The reason for doing so is that we believe that the knowledge of the
environment is necessary.
1.1 Activity
Flits is a one-stop platform, that solves the needs of concertgoers, venues, and
musicians.
Unlike most of the competitors (Vamos, Bandsintown, Exceed, Fever) the B2C side of
Flits focuses on: (1) Providing real-time information about the situation in the venue at
the time of the event, which enable the users to base their event decision not only on
the genre of music and location of the venue, but also on the prevailing atmosphere at
the show; (2) giving the users the option to socialize and interconnect with other users
from the respective Facebook network, to share lists of favorite venues, and see friends’
attendance at the events; (3) publishing the exhaustive information about the event,
including artists’ bio, links to their social media channels, excerpts of the recorded music
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Flits Music GmbH, 6/2015
(SoundCloud, Spotify) and life performances (YouTube), location of the venue, price of
the tickets and many more.
To scale the business quickly internationally, we will aim to outsource the back-end data
flow (info about events, venues, artists in our database). We will partner with local
databases (e.g. online city culture magazines) in order to receive access to their APIs.
However, two other scenarios may arise: (1) if such provider won’t be available in the
location, we will inject the data in the database manually; (2) if the provider refuses to
open the API for Flits, we will deploy data scrapping – a legal technique that uses
algorithms to scrape data from any publicly available website.
1.2 Mission
Flits navigates concertgoers to the music of their choice by providing real-time user
generated insights into the music events happening in any city.
The music industry is without saying increasingly driven by digital technologies. All
suppliers along the value chain have to adapt to the transformation and embrace digital
technology as to succeed at the marketplace. We strongly believe that our product
gives a powerful tool to our three main stakeholders: concertgoers, musicians, and
venues.
Firstly and most importantly, our product solves the pain of concertgoers searching for
music events. Concertgoers and music events enthusiasts are the mass end users of our
mobile service. Flits gives a response to the question: ‘Where should I go tonight to
enjoy my favorite music?’ without the necessity of spending half an hour searching on
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Flits Music GmbH, 6/2015
Google or reaching friends for last minute advice. In addition to thorough programming
information provided by the management of the venues, Flits collects and transmit realtime feedback of the events and venues generated by the users.
Secondly, Flits is a powerful marketing tool for venues and their managers. The mobile
application is an efficient promotion format for direct targeting of the right audience
due to the fact, that most concertgoers look for and enter events just a few hours
before or even during their duration. To be in charge of editing the promotional info
and provide last minute promotional offers give the venues opportunity to maximize
turnout and thus increase revenues from ticket and alcohol sales.
Finally, Flits addresses the need of musicians seeking for efficient promotion of their
non-music venue events. Interestingly enough, significant fraction of music events
publicly available takes place in other places than official professional music venues.
These events usually accounts for performances with smaller audiences in local arts
spaces (galleries, museums, theaters etc.), dining places (restaurants, cafes etc.) and
open-air shows (busking). Yet, those performances noteworthy in volume and delivered
by professional musicians often lacks any kind of promotion what so ever.
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Flits Music GmbH, 6/2015
Table 1: Pains & Gains
Flits navigates concertgoers to the music of their choice by providing real-time user
generated insights into the music events happening in the city.
Concertgoers (B2C)
Venues (B2B)
Pain: No-single stop mobile
Pain: Cost-inefficient marketing Pain: Promotion for non-music
application for music events in
with problematic targeting
any city
Musicians (B2C)
venues and other nonstandard location for music
Solution: Precisely targeted
performances
Solution: Hassle-free search
geo-localized promotion, last
for trending music events
minute marketing for “walk-
Solution: Facebook fan page
based on location & genre
ins”, special offer and
sign up in the application
(and other criteria such user
discounts management to
allows create events that
generated venue ratings,
boost turnout and ticket sales
appears on the lists and map
videos, photos), mobile
views of all events
application
1.3 Vision
Flits operates with a highly scalable business model. It is in the service’s nature to grow
internationally and expand to any culturally rich urban area. The fact that the service
uses open API of third parties (Facebook and other social media profile credentials are
required for sign up in order to open the full functionality of the application) also
enables its viral growth. In other words, users of the application are able to connect and
invite friends from their own networks.
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Flits Music GmbH, 6/2015
Within the first year, our aim is to prove the feasibility of the concept, test, and
implement basic functions of the application in Valencia, Prague, and Boston. In order to
fulfill this goal, our team is going to apply for accelerator programs and fundraise seed
capital.
The pre-launch in Valencia (May) will be followed by 3 month long (August to
October) market entry in Prague. By then, with the base counting almost 8.000 users,
we will expand to Boston and initiate serious fundraising efforts to scale the business
internationally. By the end of the first year, the team will grow to up to 5 members,
including Android and iOS developers (CTO), front-end developer, business
development manager, and CEO. Flits will strive for entering into strategic partnership
with local online databases of music events and artists (such as Bandzone.cz in Prague),
ticketing providers (such as Smsticket.cz in Prague), as well as Berklee College of Music
and other major music education institutions.
In three years time, Flits will be internationally renowned platform serving over 300k
users (iOS and Android combined). By then, Flits will have expanded its team and
establish offices in Berlin and Boston. Flits will be number one service providing realtime information about trending events in all major European music hubs, including
Berlin, London, Paris, Madrid, Vienna, and Prague etc. After establishing a secure
position in Boston within the three years of operations, its US expansion will continue
to NYC, LA and Chicago.
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1.4 Value innovation
By working day in and day out on Flits, we strongly believe, that technology is yet to
radically streamline the urban music event discovery. Having assembled a team of music
and technology lovers, we strive for simplification of musicians’, venues’, and
concertgoers’ lives.
To sketch out the value innovation of Flits, we use variation of Blue Ocean Strategy
framework. Figure 1 explains, how gets the value created and further expands for both
venue and artist on one side, and concertgoers and music enthusiast on the other.
(1) By simplifying the process of searching for music events and providing real-time
multimedia updates from ongoing events, the value of the service is lifted for
concertgoers and live music event enthusiasts.
(2) By reducing costs and streamlining promotion efforts, the value of the service
raises for venues and musicians. Flits provides precise targeting tool, since the
main audience (user base) consists of concertgoers.
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Flits Music GmbH, 6/2015
Figure 1: Value innovation model of Flits
1.5 Corporate Culture
As of now, Flits team has five international members of diverse age range – German
(34), Spanish (44), Czech (24), Colombian (28), and Mexican (25) – for a good reason.
We believe that the diversity of the funding team is crucial for the successful global
expansion of our product and for building up the network of mentors and partners.
The current characteristics of the team reflect one of the basic HR strategies of our
company for the future.
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Flits Music GmbH, 6/2015
We love startups and music. And so do have to the people we would like to
collaborate with. The internationality of the team poses the need for high level of
commitment and self-discipline, since we can’t always reside in the same office.
Therefore, we look for motivated individuals that naturally want to make things better
and break through the status quo. Entrepreneurship is fostered within the team. From
bottom up, all team members are encouraged to bring new ideas and improvements
exceeding the scope of the subject of their employment.
1.6 Business Model
We plan to generate revenue from 4 independent revenue streams. The model (see
Figure 1) is based on active connection between the main 3 stakeholders of Flits:
venues, artists (musicians), and concertgoers. Through our platform, they all together
create a stable ecosystem (see the inner orbit of Figure 1), which we are going to
capitalize on in these ways:
A. Ticketing
The users will be able to purchase tickets for the shows of their choice directly in
the Flits application. The main functions will include the option to save the credit
card for future orderings, buy and send ticket to a friend, see the history of
purchases etc. First, we will make an affiliate marketing deals with existing ticketing
services (e.g. Smsticket.cz in Prague) and earn a commission for the leads through
our platform. Later on, we will build our own ticketing platform in order to
maximize the gain from the commission and fully secure the distribution channels.
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Flits Music GmbH, 6/2015
B. Promotional packages for festivals
Multi-location music festivals (e.g. The Great Escape, UK) always struggle with
managing queue times and providing updated insight from their venues. For a flat
fee, festivals’ managers will be able to upload their programming materials into our
platform. The package will include the special visibility in the application (presence in
“festival” bookmark in the side menu of the application, custom icons on the map
etc.) and additional marketing (mentions on Flits’ social media channel, direct mailing
list, home website etc.).
C. Subscriptions for venues
As the platform will grow, so will our database of events and venues. For a regular
subscription fee, limited number of venues will receive special visibility in the
application (such as higher position in the lists, customizable icons on the map,
mentions on platform’s social media and other marketing channels).
D. Geo-localized advertising
Among the main functionalities of Flits application is the live feed from all the events
around the city. All the active users who send multimedia updates to the application
generate it. The feed is stored in one place in the application (instant stream of
user-generated multimedia posts), so the user can locate the trending events. Geolocalized promotional posts will occasionally penetrate the feed (e.g. Facebook
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Flits Music GmbH, 6/2015
home page view – friends’ activity is mixed with advertising). To do so, we will
utilize professional mobile advertising network.2
Figure 2: Business model of Flits
!
!
2. Business Environment
2.1 Market size
We determine the market size of Flits by using TAM – SAM – SOM methodology.
2
Marshall, Matt. ‘The Top 10 Mobile Advertising Companies.’ VentureBeat. Accessed 15 June 2015.
http://venturebeat.com/2013/06/12/the-top-10-mobile-advertising-companies/.
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Flits Music GmbH, 6/2015
TAM – Total Available Market: Total market demand of the product
SAM – Serviceable Available Market: Target market segment
SOM – Serviceable Obtainable Market: Portion of the SAM in the company markets
Further we will make assumption on the value of a customer in order to get a more
specific number on the market value per se.
Applying the methodology to Flits we capturing the following values:
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Flits Music GmbH, 6/2015
TAM (USA/ Europe)
Value
Assumption
User
40 m34
The typical Flits users are students. Referring to EUROSTAT and the Institute of
Education Science (IES) we found out that we have 20 million students in the
Europe Union (EU) and 20 million in the USA. Please note for the EU that we
only considered countries with more than 400.000 students in a country
Market value
4bl€
We assume a value per customer of 10€
SAM (USA / Czech Rep.)
Value
Assumption
User
18 m5
Mobile penetration of US citizen in the age group 18-34 = 85%6
Mobile penetration of Czech Republic citizen = 75%7
Market value
90m€
We assume a value per customer of 5€
SAM (Boston / Prague)
Value
Assumption
User
≈220.0008
Number of students in Boston: 160k9 (mobile penetration 85% = 136.000)
Number of students in Prague: Referring to Eurostat, Prague has 440.000
students. We assume that ¼ are studying in Prague: 110.000 (mobile
penetration 75% ≈ 83.000)
Market value
220.000m€
We assume a value per customer of 1€
‘The NCES Fast Facts Tool Provides Quick Answers to Many Education Questions (National Center for Education Statistics)’ (National Center for Education Statistics), accessed 5 May 2015,
http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=372.
4 ‘Database - Eurostat’, accessed 14 June 2015, http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/data/database.
5 ‘The NCES Fast Facts Tool Provides Quick Answers to Many Education Questions (National Center for Education Statistics)’ (National Center for Education Statistics), accessed 5 May 2015,
http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=372.
6 ‘Mobile Millennials: Over 85% of Generation Y Owns Smartphones’, accessed 1 June 2015, http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/news/2014/mobile-millennials-over-85-percent-of-generation-yowns-smartphones.html.
7 ‘Czech Republic Just Tops Russia for Mobile Penetration’, accessed 1 June 2015, http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Czech-Republic-Just-Tops-Russia-Mobile-Penetration/1012047.
8 ‘The NCES Fast Facts Tool Provides Quick Answers to Many Education Questions (National Center for Education Statistics)’ (National Center for Education Statistics), accessed 5 May 2015,
http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=372.
9
‘Boston Redevelopment Authority’, accessed 1 June 2015, http://www.bostonredevelopmentauthority.org/getattachment/3488e768-1dd4-4446-a557-3892bb0445c6/.
3
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2.2. Competitive landscape
Flits is overlapping two different markets with an increasing density of competition. The
first is an event (ticketing) market. The second is real-time discovery market, which will
likely expand within the next few years. As evidence, companies like Twitter and
Foursquare are heavily investing in real-time information services.10
Since almost every bigger city operates a website informing about local cultural events,
the business plan focuses only on big international players – web and mobile
applications.
‘Neue App Mit Lokalen Echtzeit-Infos: Wie Lange Ist Die Schlange?’ (Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 20 April 2015),
http://www.nzz.ch/mehr/digital/wie-lange-ist-die-schlange-ld.251
10
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Flits Music GmbH, 6/2015
Table 3: Competitive Landscape
Bandsintown
Songkick
Vamos
Xceed
Fever
Visor
Banjo
Based
San Diego
London
Berlin
Madrid
New York
New York
Redwood
Funding
60m $
N/A
N/A
N/A
8,3m $
500k $
121m EUR
User base
16m (2015)
10m (2014)
N/A
8k (2015)
N/A
N/A
4m (2015)
Core country
US
US, UK
Germany
Spain
Spain, UK, US
USA
USA
Since
2004
2007
2012
2014
2014
2014
2011
Description
Concert discovery
app powering the
tour dates for over
270K artists
worldwide.11
Allows organizing
and tracking
favorite bands,
getting concert
alerts, and buying
tickets.12
Everything from Art
& Entertainment,
Food & Drinks,
Fashion to Clubs &
Parties.
Party in town:
access to guest
lists, book tickets,
reserve VIP &
bottle service.13
Provides curated
and personalized list
of local events
based on user
preferences14
Request a photo
or video from
any location,
right now.
Real-time
content
discovery by
location across
social networks.15
‘Bandsintown Group’, accessed 12 April 2015, https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/bandsintown-group.
‘Songkick’, accessed 12 February 2015, https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/songkick.
13 ‘Xceed’, accessed 13 February 2015, https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/xceed-me.
14 ‘Fever’, accessed 13 February 2015, https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/fever-3.
15 https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/banjo
11
12
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Flits Music GmbH, 6/2015
In order to fully comprehend the competition, we provide a competitive profile matrix (CPM).
Hereby, we identify the key competitors and using critical success factor (CSF).
In our assumptions, we identified the following:
1. Innovation of the product – business plan / technology
2. # Customer base
3. Financial background – how much funding did they received
4. Product Quality – functionality of the app/ website etc.
Each critical success factor will be assigned a value between 0.0 (low) and 1.0 (high). The
number indicates how important the factor is in succeeding in the industry. The rating (Rt)
shows how well a company is doing in each area. They range from 4 to 1, where 4 means a
major strength, 3- minor strength, 2- minor weakness and 1- major weakness. The score (Sc) is
the result of weight multiplied by rating.16
16
Ovidijus Jurevicius, ‘Competitive Profile Matrix (CPM)’, 29
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Flits Music GmbH, 6/2015
Table 4: Critical success factor
Event discovery
Bandsintown
Songkick
Vamos
Real-time
Xceed
Fever
Banjo
Visor
Flits
CSF
Weight
Rt
Sc
Rt
Sc
Rt
Sc
Rt
Sc
Rt
Sc
Rt
Sc
Rt
Sc
Rt
Sc
Innovation
of the
product
0.4
2
0.8
2
0.8
3
1.2
1
0.4
2
0.8
4
1.6
4
1.6
3
1.2
User base
0.3
4
1.2
4
1.2
2
0.6
1
0.3
2
0.6
1
0.3
3
0.9
1
0.3
Financial
background
0.2
4
0.8
4
0.8
3
0.6
2
0.4
3
0.6
2
0.4
4
0.8
1
0.2
Product
Quality
0.1
2
0.3
3
0.3
3
0.3
2
0.2
3
0.3
2
0.2
4
0.4
1
0.1
TOTAL
1
-
3.1
-
3.1
-
2.7
-
1.3
-
2.3
-
2.5
-
3.7
-
2.2
Figure 3: Competitive profile matrix
Bandsintow
n
4
Flits
3
Bandsintown
2
Flits
Sonkick
Sonkick
1
2
0.5
1
Banjo
1.5
Vamos
0
Visor
Xceed
Fever
Total
Banjo
0
Visor
Vamos
Xceed
Fever
Innovation of the product
# customer base
Financial background
The CPM shows that the biggest competitors are Banjo and Bandsintown / Songkick. To have
even a better understanding of the competitors we compare the main app product feature in
the following table.
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Table 5: Functionalities
Event discovery
Ticket purchases
X
Tracking of Artist
X
In app music examples
X
VIP admission
X
X
X
Real-time
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Real time information
X
Concert alerts
X
Map overview
X
X
X
X
Pics of past events
X
Invitation option
X
Messaging possibility
X
X
Surprise give-aways
See attendance
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
On the event side, we see that ticket purchase is the key element of each event discovery
platform and which is also represent their main revenue streams. We also see that the 4 out of
7 competitors are offering to see the attendance list. Furthermore, we see the importance to
offer the related products on both platforms. As Table 5 shows, most of our competitors are
focusing on concerts and parties. Fever range is outstanding by offering different event
possibilities. Flits will focus on festival, concerts & party information.
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Table 6: Market segmentation
Event discovery
Real-time
Festivals
Concerts
X
X
X
Parties
X
X
X
Theater
Sport
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Exhibitions
Restaurants
X
X
X
X
X
Comedy Shows
X
X
3. Customer
The ideal customer of Flits will be detailed under demographic, geographic, psychographic and
behavioral aspects
A. Demographics
•
Age: 21
•
Income: low to mid income (value depends on country)
•
Profession: Student
•
Education: Bachelor
•
Family status: Single
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Flits Music GmbH, 6/2015
•
Level of tech savviness: High
•
Tech preferences: Apple devices
B. Geographics
•
Place of residence: Big cities above 800.000 inhabitants
•
Countries: USA, Europe (countries with > 400.000 students)
C. Psychographics
•
Humorous and trendy language style
•
Explorer: Energy - autonomy, experience, challenge, new frontiers. Brand choice
highlights difference, sensation, adventure, indulgence and instant effect - the first to try
new brands
•
Reformer: Freedom from restriction, personal growth, social awareness, value for time,
independent judgment, tolerance of complexity, anti-materialistic but intolerant of bad
taste. Curious and enquiring, support growth of new product categories. Select brands
for intrinsic quality, favoring natural simplicity, see minimalistic as beautiful.17
D. Behavior
•
Out going
•
Sophisticated
•
Active social media user
17 ‘Study Room - Business - Marketing - Analysing the Market - Demographic Segmentation’, accessed 24 April 2015,
https://www.examstutor.com/business/resources/studyroom/marketing/market_analysis/8_psychographic_segmentation.php.
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Flits Music GmbH, 6/2015
•
Music streaming user
•
Early adopter of electronic gadgets
4. Marketing Plan
Referring to Statista, 1.4m18 apps are available in the apple app store in 2015. Whereas 6%
referring to entertainment and 2%19 to social media apps. In order to become visible in the app
store and generate downloads a specific marketing plan is necessary. Flits is planning to have
around 12.000 downloads until, end of the year. The market entry for Prague is scheduled for
August 15, for Boston December 1.
Table 7: Marketing plan
18
19
(Number of apps available in leading app stores 2015 | Statistic, no date)
(Apple: most popular app store categories 2015 | Statistic, no date)
22
Flits Music GmbH, 6/2015
Table 8: Marketing plan
Activity
Description
Measures / KPI
Increase Blog activity
Posting of blog entries on different platforms but also on Flits.io
10 blog entries
Increase social media
activity
Creation of Product
Video
Reviews by blogger
Mainly on Facebook and Instagram
Optimizing Email
signature
App Store optimization
High Profile Media
Coverage
Showing main features of the product, introduction of team
Get in contact with influential bloggers and convince them to write about the
app
Put a catchy sentence in the email signature together with the link to download
Flits
Optimization of preview pictures and the description of the app
3.000 followers on FB and Instagram
2 videos
10 bloggers
All personal email accounts as well as the flits email
account of all team members
Define 3 preview pictures
Contact Darkside.cz / Creativedoc.cz /
webproduction.cz and finalize action plan
Finalizing branding
Logo, online presence, color scheme etc.
Finalize before the release
Launch Facebook / Instagram campaigns
Finance of 10 campaigns
Ask friends & family to rate the app in the app store
Getting press coverage in print and online
Ask all family members with iPhone
Campaigns at launch
Hire Marketing agency in order to get multi channel media coverage
Launch Facebook /
Instagram campaigns
Promos in venues
•
•
Increasing loyalty
Marketing before the release
Time
Organic growth
Social media and mouth to mouth propaganda
Present Flits at different
events
Present Flits at music festivals / conferences / guest speaker
Getting App reviews
Getting Press coverage
Sponsorship
Conduct events in a specific venue
Distribute flyers
Different events such as concerts or conferences
Contact 5 print media houses
•
•
3 venues
All major venues in Prague and universities
New investment in online campaigns
2 festivals
2 national conferences
1 int. conference
3 concerts
1 sponsorship of conference
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5. Financial Projections
As mentioned above, we plan to capitalize on 4 different revenue streams: (1) ticketing – first
as affiliation marketing and then building or own ticketing platform, (2) advertising – both
mobile and web, (3) promotional packages for festival, and (4) subscription model, which will
allow venues to gain more visibility within the platform. Besides the projected growth of the
income of the platform, the revenue model (Table 10 – 12) shows, the key performance
metrics, conversion and growth rates etc.
The growth of the platform as a whole is directly link to the strategic expansion and set of
planned market entries both in Europe and USA.
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Table 9: Budget
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Table 10: Revenue model (Year 1)
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Table 11: Revenue model (Year 2)
27
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Table 12: Revenue model (Year 3)
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Table 13: Income statement
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NET PROFIT
EUR$300,000$
EUR$250,000$
EUR$200,000$
EUR$150,000$
EUR$100,000$
EUR$50,000$
EUR$0$
Year$1$
Year$2$
Year$3$
EUR$50,000$
EUR$100,000$
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Table 14: Balance sheet
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Table 15: Cash-flow statement
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6. Risk management Matrix
All companies facing different risks, in order to monitor and define them we will explain the
major risks of Flits on a risk management matrix. After the evaluation of the risks (0-5) we are
able to indicate the risks into the risk matrix. The matrix is based on two criteria’s:
A. Likelihood (divided in 5 categories): The probability of a risk
i. Almost certain
ii. Likely
iii. Possible
iv. Unlikely
v. Rare
B. Consequences (divided in 5 categories): The damage caused by the risk
vi. Insignificant
vii. Minor
viii. Moderate
ix. Major
x. Catastrophic20
20 David Olsen, ‘Supply Chain Risk Management’, ed. Steven Nahmias (United States of America: Busines Expert Press LLC,
2011).
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Flits Music GmbH, 6/2015
Table 7: Risk management matrix
Likelihood
Consequences
Insignificant
Minor
Moderate
Major
Catastrophic
Rare
1
2
B) F)
3
D) H)
4
5
Unlikely
2
4
6
E)
8
10
Possible
3
6
9
A)
12
C)
15
G)
Likely
4
8
12
16
20
Almost certain
5
10
15
20
25
Low Risk
Moderate Risk
High Risk
Extreme Risk
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Flits Music GmbH, 6/2015
Table 8: Risk management matrix
Ref
Topic
Risk
Likelihood
Consequences
Priority
A)
Business Model (BP)
BP will not succeed
3
3
9
B)
Market timing
The market is not ready yet
1
2
2
C)
Market adoption
Competitors will adopt features
3
4
12
D)
Market Size
The market is smaller than
calculated
1
3
3
Not reaching of milestones
2
3
6
Weekly team meetings
Speed to develop technology /
product
1
2
2
If necessary collaborate with free lancer
The company will not get seed
funded
3
5
15
Applying to accelerator programs, build up of network
to secure finance
Potential law suits
1
3
3
Partner with experience lawyer
E)
F)
G)
H)
Execution risk
Technology risk
Financial risk
Legal risk
Actions
Fast testing and implement feedback loop and focus on
the successful
Testing in two different Markets (Prague / Boston).
Also testing on 3 customer groups (Festival-, party-,
concertgoer)
Fast market entry and establish cooperation with
different companies, such as ticket companies etc.
Aggressive marketing
Monitor market size and if necessary reevaluate
revenue streams
The risk matrix reveals that Flits’ biggest risk is lack of funding. Therefore, fundraising is among the key challenges of the company for the following
weeks. Therefore the consideration of applying to Accelerator programs should be evaluated. Reaching out to stakeholders, institutions and industry
specialists is necessary.
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Flits Music GmbH, 6/2015
6. Organization and structure
The Flits Music GmbH has in total 4 employees and was founded in June 2015. The company is
registered in Hamburg, Germany. The corporate address is Flits Music GmbH,
Henriettenstrasse 13, 20259 Hamburg.
The team members are as follows:
Martin Erler
Age: 34
Position: CEO / Founder
Country: Germany
Experience:
- International Business Development (3 years)
- Global Key Account Management (2 years)
- Controlling (2 years)
- M.A. Global Entertainment & Music Business
Javier Sanchez
Age: 44
Position: CTO / Co-Founder
Country: Spain
Experience:
- IOS developer (since 11 years)
- Founder of Luraki
- Faculty member of the Berklee College of Music
- Post doc of Stanford University
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Flits Music GmbH, 6/2015
Matej Zak
Age: 24
Position: Business Development / Co-Founder
Country: Czech Republic
Experience:
- Music Promoter (2 years)
- Professional musician
- M.A. Global Entertainment & Music Business
Morris Pinero
Age: 28
Position: Front End Developer / Web Designer
Country: Colombia
Experience:
- Graphic Designer (since 4 years)
- Postgraduate of interactive digital design & development at ESAT
Fernanda Gomez
Age: 25
Position: Designer
Country: Mexico
Experience:
- Music production experience in different genres (since 4 years)
- M.A. Global Entertainment & Music Business
The established Flits team is well connected in the music industry, has substantial technical as
well as business experience.
Martin Erler
Javier Sanchez
Matej Zak
Morris
Pinedo
Fernanda
Gomez
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Flits Music GmbH, 6/2015
The company is always looking for skilled and motivated team members. Currently, we are
looking for:
•
Back-End Developer
•
Social Media specialist
•
Interns
7. UI / UX Design and Development: Navigating and Understanding Tech / Mobile App
Design
It has been established that Flits is about concert navigation made easier. This has been the
team’s ultimate objective and the end goal is clear. This mission, however, is one shared by
much of the competition. They all have the technology to provide this type of information to
their users in a very straight-forward way. How is Flits any different?
It was understood from the very beginning that app design would be a key component and
player in Flits’ future success. Encompassing areas of User Interface, User Experience and
Navigation, the team’s approach is one where “Business goals might decide the destination, but
user requirements must always steer the ship” (Cao 2015). Starting with content first and the
intuitive ways in which users tend to look for information. We asked ourselves “what the user
would do, then slowly work your way back to the business goals” (Cao 2015). We adopted a
‘Lost Traveler’ design where such function-approach perspective forced us to design each
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Flits Music GmbH, 6/2015
element and every single page as if it was our users’ initial interaction with the mobile
application.
Learning from the newest trends for mobile and web design and navigation, we have been
working and continue making progress in order to distinguish ourselves from the competition
not only in terms of functionality and innovative features, but also on the design front - where,
with one single look, users can love us or hate us.
7.1.
UI vs UX
While conducting some initial research it was important to make the distinction between UIUser Interface and UX-User Experience given that these two are commonly, and mistakenly,
used and interchangeable terms.
UI is specifically concerned with the way in which users interact with the interface, the mobile
app itself. The way they navigate the site as well as the way the app design is forcing the user
the look for information. UX on the other hand deals with the users’ reactions to such interface,
the way the interface as a whole makes them feel; the way in which the design elements
interact with each other and with the user in order to create a hopefully memorable
experience (Cao 2015).
Our goal is to achieve a balance and a harmony between the two of them, one that will help us
establish an emotional attachment with our users. We want Flits to be easy to navigate, and we
want it to feel intensely social. We understand that our target market is young and they want
to go out and have fun while listening to live music. What are you in the mood for? What do
you feel like doing tonight? It’s not just about genres and location, it’s about achieving a full
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Flits Music GmbH, 6/2015
nightlife experience. By creating this bond Flits goes beyond just being another app that simply
provides information to one acting as a friend, as a real person who you trust and enjoy
interacting with - a buyer persona (Walter 2015).
7.2.
Connectivity
Although future growth and development may see Flits simultaneously working in a web-based
platform, it is first and foremost a mobile-based application:
•
88% of young adults owning a smartphone according to data from Ofcom (Hodge
2015)
•
85% of smartphone usage is done through apps rather than the mobile web
(Stewart 2015)
•
91% of American adults now own a mobile phone (Laybourne 2014)
It’s been established that Flits’ target market are mainly young tech-savvy adults. They own
smartphones and they like to use them in order to stay connected with their friends and the
world around them. With the popularity of the phablet (phone+tablet) growing more and
more each day we also have to modify and adapt to the way our consumers are using these
devices (light green). It gives us more opportunities to be creative in the ways we make
information “more readable, accessible and usable” without losing our content-focused,
function-first approach (Yadav 2015).
As previously established, we want to work towards achieving a balance of UI and UX that
translates into higher connectivity: fast, easy, seamless, and increasingly social. An experience,
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Flits Music GmbH, 6/2015
where the app can “infer when we eat, when we rest, when we're at work and when we're at
home” (Hodge 2015). Smart connectivity.
7.3.
Flat Design
One of the most notable advances in mobile app technology is flat design, successfully
introduced by Google’s “Material Design.” We take note of their design approach and the way
that it helps strips down design to its basic and most simple elements thus allowing for content
to speak for itself while still making visually striking in its simplicity:
o A material metaphor… of a rationalized space and a system of motion.[…]
inspired by the study of paper and ink, yet technologically advanced and open
to imagination and magic.
o Surfaces and edges of the material provide visual cues that are grounded in
reality (“Material Design” 2015)
o It’s clean, interactive, graphic, and “intentionally bold:”
These elements do far more than please the eye. They create hierarchy, meaning, and focus.
Deliberate color choices, edge-to-edge imagery, large-scale typography, and intentional white
space create a bold and graphic interface that immerse the user in the experience […] All
action takes place in a single environment […] without breaking the continuity of experience
(“Material Design” 2015)
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Flits Music GmbH, 6/2015
The subtlety of color, shadow, and depth give the design and these elements the feeling of
context found in reality making it easy to form associations from icons/design cues to real-life
actions, “retain[ing] a sense of the tangible world (physical space and objects) while still
achieving all the advantages of flat design” (Fontaine 2015). Layered interfaces mimicking
layered behaviors. Giving the intangible a physical presence - from symbols to actions (See A2
& A5).
7.4.
Visual Interest & UI Cards
One of the best ways to create visual interest and grab the attention of your users is through
the power of high impact imagery. By replacing the traditional list view presentation and still
following the formats of Google’s “Material Design,” we aimed for a much more photographicbased display of information. Incorporating these rich visuals help us “tempt the user into the
story of a site, inviting them to scroll for more” while additionally making it possible to deliver
the information in a quick and organized manner, “[creating] an impact in a matter of seconds”
(Fontaine 2015, Laybourne 2014).
Once again following the idea of rich graphics and bold design and color, we believe that this
kind of presentation is at the height of mobile app design trends, and it is also one of the best
ways to create a narrative. As seen on A3_Fig01, there’s a context to every photograph making
them appealing to the user while respecting and maintaining its simplicity - “the site lets
illustrations explain how to actually use the grill” (Cao 2015).
We could also talk about visual interest and boldness in terms of logo (see A1). From the
beginning the team knew that, just as our entire design was going to be, we needed to be very
graphic and clean with our logo design. Working a play on the ‘F’ letter and the ubiquitous
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Flits Music GmbH, 6/2015
location icon of the arrow, we came up with a number of options that highlight the graphic
quality and elements also presented in “Material Design.”
Furthermore, the use of UI Cards - card-style layouts - offer a lot of versatility and cleanliness
for organizing a lot of content. We want to keep it clean, simple, flexible, and digestible
(Fontaine 2015). The images on A6 showcase this type of functionality and exemplify the
concise nature of UI cards and their role in this new type of layouts.
7.5.
Typography & Icons
In line with the idea of visual interest we have the elements of typography and icons. The
former allows for much freedom than can give the design an added playfulness and boldness. In
the past typography was very limited to a certain number of serif/sans serif staples that did not
add sufficient design quality for it to be considered at all in the overall aesthetic of the platform.
But nowadays “fonts as the centerpiece for design” (González 2015). They are becoming an
integral part of the look and feel of the project as a whole, giving the app a character and a
personality - one that will speak for the platform (See A4).
We see a similar scalable integration with icons. The use of icons over text help us not only
avoid complications with language barriers, but they also represent “quick, [and] intuitive
representations of an action, a status” that facilitate the interaction between user and
application (See A5) (Mesibov 2015).
7.6.
Hidden Navigation
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Flits Music GmbH, 6/2015
Behind such ease of navigation there is the hidden structure of menus. The objective is to make
functionality only visible when requested, keeping it ‘light copy:’ “rich displays where the visuals
carry the story, with minimal keyword relevant text provided as needed” (Stewart 2015). We
aim to take advantage of gesture interactions and utilize as much tactile commands as possible,
such as swipe-reveal, sliding, scroll-reveal, and tap-reveal - some of them demonstrated in both
A5 and B1 images.
Many photo-editing and radio/music-based applications such as the Photoshop mobile app are
great examples on how to use these type of tools, respecting the function/content-focused
approach that has been previously described. This trend emphasizes specific tasks for every
situation and thus unclogging the space of any unwanted information.
7.7.
Contextual UX
Another one of the most important and relevant design trends of the past couple of years is
this one referred to as Contextual User Experience, meaning suggested content based on
previous visits, on usage patterns. Just as Netflix’s ‘Recommended for you’ feature, contextual
UX helps the system establish a meaningful connection with the user, a bond, one that has
been discussed in this paper. It can help us, as Flits, become our users’ trusted friend by
“generating positive user experiences and developing stronger, more personalized client
relationships” (Fontaine 2015).
The way that we have been trying to translate this into the mobile app is by building what we
call the Dashboard page (see A7). Although this page may be seen as a ‘Profile Page’ we want
to steer away from that association since, as previous research shown here, users prefer not to
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Flits Music GmbH, 6/2015
sign up to create an account. At the moment, we still have the option to do so, but we do
believe that this is a service that could be accessed without having to create an account.
Where we see value in the idea of the ‘Dashboard’ is that we can take advantage of this idea of
Contextual UX in order to activate such tailored layouts - we want Flits to not only be your
friend, but your smart friend. Push notifications customized in the Settings tab - not yet
activated - could also save the user an extra step of having to check this page by simply
notifying you when there is an event/venue that matches your previous usage patterns.
7.8.
Micro-Interactions
The last trend that we wanted to adopt is concerned with the User Experience, and its role in
creating user loyalty if used successfully. These are micro-interactions, or “contained
experiences or moments within a product that revolve around a single use case” (Laybourne
2014). This is when the user swipes left to delete an email, when they click on the like button
to show they’ve enjoyed a particular post, when they double tap to like a photo on Instagram.
These are new ways to interact with the product; moments that take it from just navigating the
interface to actually creating a lasting and memorable experience, for “products are people too”
(Walter 2015). We have tried to include as many opportunities for micro-interactions within
the app and the navigation process. This process not only helps the app maintain a relatively
clean and uncluttered look, but it also performs the necessary tasks to its fullest potential.
7.9.
Basic Navigation - Continued Development
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Flits Music GmbH, 6/2015
Although Flits is still undergoing the development process, we believe that having an
understanding of basic navigation is key to future growth and success. We have identified the
main features that will distinguish the app from the competition and we continue to work hard
to showcase and highlight them (See B1).
As it has been mentioned throughout this paper, there are many important and relevant trends
that have been adopted and translated to our product; trends that serve their purpose in
creating a persona, in giving Flits a personality. “It won't be long before we have apps […] that
automatically choose activities for you when you sit down in the evening” (Hodge 2015). Hey!
Wanna go out? What are you in the mood for? What do you feel like doing tonight? Trust us.
We want to be your friend.
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Flits Music GmbH, 6/2015
References
Cao, Jerry. "How to Create the Right Emotions with Color in Web Design." TNW Network All
Stories RSS. April 7, 2015. Accessed June 1, 2015. http://thenextweb.com/dd/2015/04/07/howto-create-the-right-emotions-with-color-in-web-design/.
Hendricks, Drew. "An In-Depth Look at the Scrolling Website Trend." An In-Depth Look at the
Scrolling Website Trend. April 27, 2015. Accessed June 1, 2015. http://tech.co/depth-lookscrolling-website-trend-2015-04.
Souiedan, Sara. "Lessons from the "Seductive Interaction Design" Book." Lessons from the
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“U.S. Mobile Benchmark Report." ADI Mobile Report 2014/2014 US Mobile Benchmark Report.
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http://www.cmo.com/content/dam/CMO_Other/ADI/ADI_Mobile_Report_2014/2014_US_Mo
bile_Benchmark_Report.pdf.
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Flits Music GmbH, 6/2015
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Appendix
51
A1: Logo_Visual Interest
A2: Flat Design
A3: Visual Interest
A4: Typography
Body: Montserrat Light
Fig01: BBQ Time (web platform)
Main Titles: Lovelo Black
Numerical Information: Lovelo Black
Hashtags: Montserrat Light
A5: Icons_Hidden Navigation
A6: UI Cards_Scrolling
Fig01
Fig02: NatGeo View
Fig03: Timeline
A7: Contextual UX_Microinteractions
B1: Basic Navigation
01. Log In
• With Facebook (preferably)
• With Twitter
• Create an account
• Not Right Now: making it faster/easier navigation starts right away
02. Event_List View
• Scroll down to load more events
• Scroll all the way up to show
Filter Tab - Scroll back down to
hide Filter Tab
• Swipe Left to access Single
Event View
• Tap Once on map_icon to
access Map View
• Tap Twice to Favorite Venue
• Tap on green/red arrows to
access Feed/Comments for
corresponding event
• Tap Once on person_icon to
access list of people attending
the event
• Tap Twice on person_icon to
confirm attendance (turns
yellow)
03. Single Event View
• Scroll down to show Artist
Information (Band_View)
• Scroll all the way up to go back
to Event_List View
• Swipe Left/Right to access
Single Event View for other
events (order corresponding to
Event_List View)
• Tap Once on Floating_Menu
icons to access varied
information:
• About
• Price
• More additional information
• Facebook account (leave app)
• Twitter account (leave app)
• Once in Floating_Menu mode,
tap once outside of the
information box to exit OR tap
once on the exit_icon
• Once in Band_View, swipe left/
right to access more embedded
videos - Press Play to access
default full screen mode
• Tap Once on social_media icons
to access more band
information
04. Side Menu
• Tap Once on hamburger_icon OR Swipe Right
to access Side Menu
• Tap Once outside side menu OR Swipe Left to
return to previous view
• Tap Once on calendar_icon to access
Event_List View
• Tap Once on dashboard_icon to access
Dashboard
• Tap Once on feed_icon to access feed/
comment view regarding current events
• Tap Once on settings_icon to access Settings
where Push Notifications can be customized
05. Dashboard
• Tap Once on myEvents_icon to access list of attending events
• Tap Once on friends_icon to access list of your friends (if connected via
Facebook) and a list of events they are attending
• Tap Once on heart_icon to access list of favorite venues and their upcoming
events (if any)
• Tap Once on checkmark_icon to access list of Recommended events/
venues
• Tap Once on history_icon to access any content posted by user (comments/
photos/videos)
• Once having accessed any of these floating information boxes, Tap Once
outside the box OR Tap once on exit_icon to return to default Dashboard
view
Media of
