Presentation Transcript

1. William Sircin Nick Sprinkel Steve Williams Sep. 21, 2012
2. The Story Unibike Theories, Inc. was conceived in 2010 at Sky Tree Artpocalypse, the infamous week-long experimental art festival that convenes every September in the middle of the Mojave Desert. Website designer Nick Sprinkel, a first time Sky Tree attendee, and Steve Williams, a brilliant but unpredictable Kettering dropout, met while standing in line for absinthe snow cones and immediately hit it off. They were soon wandering the festival grounds together in one hundred degree heat, taking in a panoply of hallucinatory sights and sounds. But Sprinkel and Williams’ Sky Tree sojourn, and their newly forged friendship, took an unexpected turn a few days later. One evening they came across a crowd that was cheering on a wild-looking character as he jumped the gap between a pair of ten-foot-high dirt ramps while astride what appeared to be a homemade motorized unicycle. Again and again he flew through the empty air on his contraption, executing head over foot cartwheels and three hundred sixty degree pirouettes, as a girl in a bikini, fur boots, and waistlength dreadlocks stood directly beneath him and blew bright orange fireballs in his direction. Williams and Sprinkel were both immediately captivated by the demonstration. Williams, who had been nicknamed “Dr. Frankenstein” by his Kettering classmates, fell in love with this beautifully absurd bit of engineering genius. Sprinkel, on the other hand, could not help but notice the number of onlookers who exclaimed that they wanted a motorized unicylce of their own.
3. After the last jump had been completed and the crowd had dispersed, Sprinkel and Williams approached the performer and introduced themselves. Thus they made the acquaintance of William Sircin, circus acrobat and self-proclaimed “stunt wizard.” He showed them his unicycle, which he had built himself on a dare from another professional stunt performer. Williams and Sprinkel, without having discussed it beforehand, then simultaneously asked if he would be interested in manufacturing and selling them. Sircin intitially scoffed at the proposal, but Sprinkel proved a convincing pitchman, and by the end of the week the three of them had formed a loose preliminary business plan. They then spent the next six months searching in vain for a source of funding. During that time they continued to modify and perfect the vehicle’s design, and built up a list of friends and acquaintances—mostly other stunt performers—who expressed serious interest in owning one. Finally, in Spring 2011, they met Marcario Tatopolous, the twenty-one year-old son of an expatriate Greek billionaire. An aficionado of sky diving, hang gliding and other thrill-seeking pursuits, he instantly understood the appeal of the “unicycle dirt bike,” and agreed to provide seed capital for the venture.With it they purchased an old auto body repair shop in Portland, Oregon, converted it into a factory/showroom, and produced their first two Unibikes, which were sold to a couple of married stunt riders in Miami.
4. The Team CEO: Stephen Williams. Although Nick Sprinkel initially assumed the leading role at Unibike Theories, Williams very quickly demonstrated a preternatural talent for business organization. He was also instrumental in selecting the half-dozen technicians and designers who make up the company’s “floor team.” CTO: Nick Sprinkle. Sprinkel’s experience as a web developer made him an ideal choice for the role of Unibike’s “Information Czar.” He directs the company’s internal information management systems, as well as overseeing its online presence. CFO: Marcario Tatopolous. Marc was given the role of Chief Financial Officer as a condition of his agreement to provide funding. He was clearly motivated by a desire to prove his maturity and sense of responsibility in the eyes of his father. Nonetheless, he has acquitted himself very well in this role. He also has many contacts in the world of wealthy, bored young people who enjoy doing dangerous things. COO: Williams Sircin. Sircin is the nominal Chief Operating Officer of the company, as well as its public face. He spends much of his time traveling and giving demonstrations of the product. Most of the company’s first customers were his peers in the acrobatic performance world.
5. The Products The major product of Unibike Theories is, of course, the Unibike, a motorized unicycle designed for dirtbike-style stunt riding and racing. Each Unibike is a custom-built product, created from scratch according to the client’s specifications. They have become something of a prestige item, and usually cost $12,000-$15,000 per unit. Each unit takes about a week to assemble. Parts are machined onsite. Initial inquiries are made ONLINE, with clients then being invited for one on one consultations to finalize the order. Also for sale is a range of merchandise—t-shirts, helmets, bumper stickers, water bottles, etc.—bearing the company’s logo. This merchandise is available ONLINE only, at the company’s website. Unibike Theories also provides an indoor track in a warehouse space adjacent to the factory. Unibike riding lessons are available here to the general public. It is also home to special Unibike stunt demos and races. This is, in reality, the company’s only “STOREFRONT” operation.
6. Customer Demographics The majority of people who actually purchase Unibikes belong to one of two groups: Professional stunt riders or acrobats Young rich people Unibikes are rather expensive and potentially quite dangerous, and they are not legal forms of street transportation in most states. As a result, they are not logical choices for the general population. They sell not more than a few dozen each year. However, Unibike Theories offers basic Unibike riding lessons at their indoor track in Portland. These lessons are safe, relatively inexpensive, and make the Unibike experience available to anyone over the age of 18. This service provides Unibike Theories with a fairly large portion of its overall income.
7. Marketing Storefront/ Physical: Promotional stunt demonstrations - Organize local demonstrations as well as traveling to various states to promote product. Print ads (newspaper/magazine) – Not only will we be using advertisements in the following magazines and newspaper, but we may possibly be able to get some journalists interested in writing about our invention. Stunt demonstrations, online games and viral videos should directly help with this. MotoCross Mag(http://www.motocrossactionmag.com/Main/Home.aspx) DirtRider Mag(http://www.dirtrider.com/) Popular Mechanics Mag(http://www.popularmechanics.com/) Newspapers (Seattle Times, The Oregonian) Television commercials: These commercials would start out local to build a base, then move throughout the states depending on how successful our business becomes. They should target our customer demographics. Online: Viral videos – In order to make the most appealing videos, our company might want to invest in some action-sport video cameras that mount on a riders helmet. A short, well-organized, documentary posted on YouTube could attract a strong customer base. Online/App (for Andriod/Apple) games (Unibike Stunt Master)- Our CFO could invest in a companies that could design addictive games that users could play during their free time Banner ads – UniBike Theories, Inc. Could utilize banner adds within websites that are popular among our customer base. Consider the magazine websites above in addition to social media sites such as Facebook.