COMMUNITY - FORUMS - GENERAL DISCUSSION
Sample Business Plan

With so many Elyrians looking to start a business it seemed good to share some resources on how to get started. Creating a Business Plan is an essential first step and isn’t as hard as it seems. The Business Plan starts pretty rough and gets more refined with each pass. Businesses looking for outside investors will also see their plans expand as it addresses the concerns of the investor.

Even though we don’t know much about the final CoE game mechanics it makes sense to start your plan now. Here is a sample we’ve made to help the community. And if you want to start a business on NA-E, create your own plan and submit it to the Scales of Vitalis competition, we'll help you out and maybe you’ll find an investor!

Come visit Vitalis on Discord with any questions, we love to talk CoE and Economics.


The Vitalis Asset Recovery Corporation (VARC)

Business Overview

The VARC’s primary objective is ensuring entities who are owed a debt has that debt repaid. Our team of bounty hunters is vast and can reach anyone in our kingdom and, for a nominal hazard fee, perhaps other kingdoms.

Plan of Operations

We intend to build a large network of informants across the kingdom and when a debtor is spotted that information is reported to a local hunter(s) to apprehend the individual and deliver them for justice.

All bounties go into pool and expenses leading to that bounty are paid. The remaining money is split between the bounty hunters based on their contribution to that pool.

Leadership Team

Along with myself and investing partners. the company will have a seat on its board for all duchies to appoint a representative to ensure we operate within the law of the kingdom and individual duchies.

Staffing

The company is mostly made up of bounty hunters and informants. Informants can be anyone within any kingdom that provide information leading to a bounty collection. Informants do not work for the company, but are instead paid a percentage of the bounty of their information leads to an arrest.

Bounty Hunters work for the company and are paid based on their contribution to the company. Bounty Hunters are required to be a member of the kingdom.

Marketing

Incentivizing informants is going to be primary marketing goal to get the company off the ground. Having the knowledge to locate the debtor is key in apprehending them.

Risks

The risks we’ve forecasted are: competition from lone operators, legal disputes with Counts / Dukes, and Calculating Revenue Sharing. Our expectations are that building a network of informants will put VARC ahead of lone operators though we have concerns that the fun of bounty hunting could entice many players who will be competitors. Allowing each Duke a seat on the board should help avoid legal issues. And lastly our staffing includes the role of an accountant to gather and verify the contributions of various informants and hunters for fair pay.


See not that hard! And as we go through Land Selection and learn more about the CoE mechanics we can revise the plan.

Good luck in all your endeavors!


4/28/2018 5:33:52 PM #1

Great post Londo, though I should mention, a business plan is not required to enter the Scales of Vitalis contest. Just a simple business concept. We can help entrants design their plans during the contest.


5/1/2018 5:35:26 AM #2

Posted By Jon_Warren at 10:33 AM - Sat Apr 28 2018

Great post Londo, though I should mention, a business plan is not required to enter the Scales of Vitalis contest. Just a simple business concept. We can help entrants design their plans during the contest.

Totally. And anyone looking for help is welcome to PM me.


5/3/2018 7:47:36 PM #3

I can't wait to see how this turns out, I've already heard the beginnings of some very good business plans so far.


5/3/2018 9:20:43 PM #4

I mean I can consider a bounty hunter checking out 4-8 different counties in a span of a day to 3 days for an unlawful person, but a whole Kingdom? Another Kingdom? For what, not paying their way for something? Youre not going to find it feasible to go after someone who owes 3 horses or 12 iron ore through more than 4 duchies, if that.


5/4/2018 2:00:27 AM #5

Yeah, I see bounty hunters going after multiple bounties and sort of plotting a path, looking for bounties along the way. It makes a bit more sense to chain them and double up, rather than just spending time looking for one solitary criminal. I imagine different hunters will have different styles though.


5/4/2018 9:48:43 AM #6

Very interesting. I have made many business plans in real life. While Londo's is more simplified. It looks solid for CoE based on the info we have on the game so far.


5/4/2018 10:12:32 AM #7

I hope to find a few like minded people to craft parts of an end product and than make that product something my county will be known for. Give everybody a job and a place to live, and we'll see what comes out of that.

I prefer to start simple and let nature takes her course. I have friends who will grow barley, and someone who wants to keep bees. Also a friend who wants to run the tavern, and it will be perfect. We're gonna make all kinds of delicious foods and drinks.

I give the people who work for me all kinds of benefits, and my first goal is to make my neighbors either give up or join me in the business. People will hate me for sure.

Sorry my liege, business is business :)

5/4/2018 8:49:04 PM #8

Posted By Ilyria at 03:12 AM - Fri May 04 2018

I prefer to start simple and let nature takes her course. I have friends who will grow barley, and someone who wants to keep bees. Also a friend who wants to run the tavern, and it will be perfect. We're gonna make all kinds of delicious foods and drinks.

That does sound like a good business model! If you are on NA-E, enter it into the contest. Otherwise, you're convincing me to make an alt to go visit your tavern for lunch. :)


5/4/2018 9:45:26 PM #9

Posted By Londo at 10:49 PM - Fri May 04 2018

Posted By Ilyria at 03:12 AM - Fri May 04 2018

I prefer to start simple and let nature takes her course. I have friends who will grow barley, and someone who wants to keep bees. Also a friend who wants to run the tavern, and it will be perfect. We're gonna make all kinds of delicious foods and drinks.

That does sound like a good business model! If you are on NA-E, enter it into the contest. Otherwise, you're convincing me to make an alt to go visit your tavern for lunch. :)

We're on Selene. But with so little known about recipes, all we can do is theory crafting. I hope to start several production chains. As Count I will not have much time, but I'll make sales contracts and supply land for them to work on. I have plans to give them land for free, but it all depends on what profits there will be made. I have a Duke who wants his taxes as well,

The plan depends on so many factors, that I'm afraid to talk about it to much, and than find out that it will not work at all. The whole idea is that my land is free for whom wants to take part in the production, I get my cut to make the duke happy, pay some law enforcers to protect the land, build additional buildings and roads for the infrastructure, and have a little income for myself because of the contracts.

People tend to think that all they have to do is settle somewhere, start crafting whatever, open a business, and that'll be it. But I think it will not be that easy. They'll have a Count as competition, to whom they also must pay taxes and rent.

You are always welcome as independent business men, but I hope you take the time to have a chat first. First round is on me :)

5/19/2018 4:12:13 PM #10

Posted By Ilyria at 03:12 AM - Fri May 04 2018 The plan depends on so many factors, that I'm afraid to talk about it to much, and than find out that it will not work at all. The whole idea is that my land is free for whom wants to take part in the production, I get my cut to make the duke happy, pay some law enforcers to protect the land, build additional buildings and roads for the infrastructure, and have a little income for myself because of the contracts.

People tend to think that all they have to do is settle somewhere, start crafting whatever, open a business, and that'll be it. But I think it will not be that easy. They'll have a Count as competition, to whom they also must pay taxes and rent.

You are always welcome as independent business men, but I hope you take the time to have a chat first. First round is on me :)

I like to think that no time invested into building an idea is truly wasted if you put thoughtful effort into it. It's just practice that helps you become better in future. If 90% of what I design can't be used in the game, then I spent 9 hours practicing to every 1 hour building.

The cool thing about that is that the more we do something the better we get at it. It is estimated that to become a master at a craft, someone must spend 10,000 hours of focused practice.

Even if only 10% of what you build now is usable in game, that 10% compounds over time. If you've spent two years building things in-depth, you will have made significant progress, while those who chose to focus only on what they knew at the time, will have limited their progress.

I believe that there's always a good reason to keep building. Several people told me that a fleshed-out business plan was not possible at this stage of the game. I have now seen three business plans with a great deal of solid detail included. There's always something you can do to keep moving forward.

Anyway, if I ever decide to visit Selene, I'll have to swing by. I might take you up on that first round. ;)