Acme Consulting will be an international consulting firm that specializes on the marketing and sale of high-tech products. The company provides high-tech producers with a reliable, high quality alternative to their in-house resources for marketing, market development and channel development.

Acme Consulting is a California C corp that will be located in Santa Clara County and owned by its principal operators and investors. The initial office will be established in A-quality office space in the Santa Clara County “Silicon Valley” area of California, the heart of the U.S. high tech industry.

Within the US and European high tech firms that Acme plans to target,we will focus on large manufacturer corporations such as HP, IBM & Microsoft. Our secondary target is medium-sized firms in high growth sectors such as multimedia or software. Acme’s challenge will be to establish itself as a real consultant company and position it as a relatively risky corporate purchase.

There are many types of industry competition. The most important is that companies choose to conduct market research and business development in-house. There are large, well-known management consulting firms like Arthur Anderson and Boston Consulting Group. These firms are broad-based and don’t focus on any particular market. Their inability to find the most skilled people for client projects is another problem. Another competitor is the various market research companies, such as Dataquest and Stanford Research Institute. Acme Consulting’s advantage over these companies is its high-level consulting that helps integrate market research data and the company goals.

Acme Consulting will be priced at the upper edge of what the market will bear, competing with the name-brand consultants. Acme Consulting is known for its high-level expertise and the pricing fits in with that.

The founders of the company are ex-marketers in consulting services, personal computers, market research and marketing, all in international markets. Acme is a formalization of the consulting services that they offer. Acme should be managed jointly by working partners. At the outset, we assume 3-5 Partners.

With a net profit margin in excess of 6%, the firm projects that it will make $65,000 in annual profits. The company intends to take on approximately $130,000 of current debt and to raise $50,000 in long term debt in order to invest in long-term assets. The company does not anticipate any cash flow problems arising.

1.1 Objectives

1. Sales of $550,000 in Year 1 and $1 million by Year 3.
2. Gross margin higher that 70%
3. In Year 3, Net Income greater than 5% of Sales

1.2 Mission

Acme Consulting offers high tech manufacturers a reliable, high quality alternative to in house resources for international business development, market development and channel development. Acme Consulting offers an alternative to traditional in-house resources. They offer a high level practical experience, knowhow, contacts, as well as confidentiality. Clients must know that working with Acme is a more professional, less risky way to develop new areas even than working completely in-house with their own people. Acme must also be able to maintain financial balance, charging a high value for its services, and delivering an even higher value to its clients. Initial focus will be development in the European and Latin American markets, or for European clients in the United States market.

1.3 Keys to Success

1. Excellence in fulfilling the promise–completely confidential, reliable, trustworthy expertise and information.
2. Developing visibility to generate new business leads.
3. Leveraging from a single pool of expertise into multiple revenue generation opportunities: retainer consulting, project consulting, market research, and market research published reports.