AUDIOSHO
AudioSho Business Plan Lux Earphones
Owner: Byron Biney
AudioSho
10 Monoeith Drive
Farmington, Connecticut
860-951-8237
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Contents
Executive Summary ............................................... 2
General Company Description .............................. 4
Products and Services .......................................... 7
Marketing Plan ...................................................... 10
Operational Plan ................................................... 14
Management and Organization ........................... 17
Startup Expenses ................................................. 19
Sources ................................................................. 21
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Executive Summary If your music is personal, why can’t your earphones be too?
AudioSho, a new audio acoustic company, answers this question with the presentation of Lux.
Lux earphones are custom-fit earphones with customizable features for fashion and style. This
is all topped by the development of AudioSho pop-up stores which will truly magnify the
uniqueness of one’s audio-listening experience by connecting with various communities to
provide one-of-a-kind art galleries and independent music venues.
Nothing should be considered bland or too general when it comes to listening to one’s music.
One’s earphones should be regarded as unique and they should provide an uninterrupted
experience for the user to truly remember. The audio-acoustic industry has been held back with
a notable lack of customization properties alongside cheap and easily-breakable earphones.
Custom-fit earphones are very difficult to attain, usually requiring one to locate a local
audiologist and undergo an uncomfortable injection of silicone into their ears. This usually costs
well over $500. In addition, many earphones are simply not reliable, in that they can constantly
fall out of a user’s ears and they provide very faulty sound isolation. Byron Biney, AudioSho’s
owner and CEO, deeply considered not only how to provide the exclusivity of custom-fit
earphones to as many consumers as possible, but also considered how to appeal to users.
Byron constructed AudioSho focusing on the notions of individuality of consumers, and the
flexibility of a company in order to properly respect said individuality.
The utilization of 3d printing technology and hard work creates Lux, custom-fit earphones that
are crafted based on a picture of a user’s ear. Users will submit a picture using a mobile app
created by AudioSho. 3D printing software linked to mac laptops will allow for an earphone
attachment to created that matches a consumer’s exact ear. Consumers will also be happy to
find a variety of customization options regarding color schemes and patterns on their
earphones, made possible given the innovation of BotObject Prodesk 3D printers.
Our target market is quite diverse, referring to people above the age of 16. Audio experts will be
delighted to find that the custom fit of our product alongside the presence of neodymium drivers
for sound-production compose an earphone with stellar sound isolation properties and above-
average sound quality. Casual users will be happy to indulge in the wide variety of
customization properties that are difficult to attain using other major brands. In addition, there’s
far more comfort present due to the custom-fit of Lux. Travelers will also find Lux suitable given
the mobility, quality, and comfort of Lux. In order to reach this target market, we focus our
marketing primarily online using social media. We seek the development of social media pages,
blogs, and advertising in order to reach such a diverse market to notify people of the
advantages regarding Lux.
AudioSho also goes a step further beyond competitors with the creation of a pop-up stores.
Pop-up stores are temporary stores that will sporadically arise in different rental spaces usually
in major cities. We have planned out a traveling tour alongside the east coast with traveling
representatives and sales associates holding rental spaces in different cities for 100 days in
total. In pop-up stores, we will also present art galleries and venues that are created by local
musicians and artists. Sales associates will help people use the app to attain a custom-fit
earphone and allow them to test their earphones out in-store. In addition, exclusive
customization offers unique to each community will be available at each pop-up store.
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The audio industry continues to see massive growth given the popularization of mobile
interfaces and computers. With flexibility and passion, AudioSho will continue to stress the
significance of individual customers and respect their preferences. AudioSho intends to reform
the audio industry by bringing back personalization like never before.
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General Company Description Mission statement:
AudioSho Acoustics addresses the individualism of each consumer by bringing a personalized
audio experience. We create versatile earphones with the comfort, fashion, and quality to
maximize consumers’ enjoyment of their music.
Objectives:
● Make 3D printed custom fit earphones, using an app available to consumers that will
allow them to submit pictures of their ears and choose design choices for their
earphones.
● Upon attaining resources to produce the earphones, form partnerships with graphic
designers and independent musicians in different states of the U.S in approximately 4
months. This will result in a creative network of artists as contributors towards music and
visual designs of Lux.
● Establish pop-up shops, which are temporary stores that open up in assorted rental
spaces, and a team that will travel across the east coast to run these pop-up stores and
provide art and music venues for 1 full year.
● Create new lines and branches of earphones that vary in their target demographic and
sound properties. Lux is something that can be made accessible to almost anyone, and
it will respect the audio experience that people seek.
Business Philosophy
With Lux, flexibility is key.
Earphones are a lead-in to sound and music. Music, in and of itself is an extremely
eclectic and diverse medium. The creation of Lux stems in the fact that not only does everyone
seek a good audio experience, not everyone searches for the same audio experience. This is
very much the reality especially for the fit of earphones, but there’s also relevance towards
acoustic technology and sound production. With all of this considered, we are uninterested in
becoming just another acoustic and electronics company that is significantly distanced from the
tastes and our users. We thus seek personalize earphones to every user.
We want to be a flexible and multi-faceted business. We want to be versatile enough to
provide personalization and fashion for our users. We want to be flexible enough to essentially
bring the product to the user, which is why we want to create pop up shops that also provide
venues for local artists and musicians. We are making it very clear that we understand the
individual value of every community, city, and location. Pop-up stores and local venues create a
shopping experience memorable for the consumer, and an audio product that carries one’s
individuality.
We value diversity and passion with our employees. We’re a business that seeks a wide range
of fields, and almost anyone with the creativity and passion is capable of contributing to and
strengthening our business.
Target Market
Our target market is quite diverse, consisting of people 16+. These are people who are
concerned about the comfort of their earphones, the quality of their music, and the fashion of
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their earphones. Be it you’re a casual listener, a critical audiologist, or an active person on the
go, these earphones are meant to cater to the diversity and individualism of consumers. With
this target market, there are a plethora of mediums and locations to catch peoples’ attention to
AudioSho.
Industry Description
Earphones and Headphone Acoustics currently are a $6.6 billion dollar industry, with
306 million shipments made in 2014 according to a recent report from China Market Research.
It is also stated that at the top of the earphone market right now, in order, is Beats followed by
Plantronics, Sennheiser, and Sony. Grand View Research attributes all of the recent growth and
prominence of the earphone acoustic market to the increased demand for electronic devices
such as smart phones, laptops, and tablet. People who purchase these devices will also like to
have earphones for personal use. Whereas China exhibits 95% manufacturing for audio
acoustics in general, the United States contains the world’s largest market. The market in 2014
increased by 11.9%, and by 12.5% in the previous year. Most companies must develop well
constructed contracts with manufacturers, because often times, these companies will make
significant expenditures that limit gross margin and profit.
China Market Research goes on to state that Beats is the biggest company for pop
music, Skullcandy is suitable for sports, and Sennheiser dominate hi-fi sound production. With
regards to all of this diversity in the earphone market, AudioSho finds it desirable to become the
one company that balances all of these different purposes and categories.
Strengths and core competencies
Lux is much more flexible and versatile for earphones. The popularity of Dr. Dre’s Beats
emphasize the significance of fashion for earphones, as well as the importance of sound
technology. Beats have become well known for their fashion, and also provide notable sound
isolation and quality. So the customization opportunities of Lux capitalize on these consumer
wants in a unique and personalized way. The result is more fun than other earphones. It is
much more personal, and much more memorable.
Lux is far more accessible than other custom fit earphones. Typical custom fit earphones
require a trip to a local audiologist and an uncomfortable application of a silicone mold to their
ears for 15 minutes. Not only does this trip usually cost large amounts of money, but the
earphones that are available can cost more than $500, even $1,000. Rather than making such a
laborious trip and paying such a large price. The use of 3D printing creates new advantages that
previously were not available for any audio company. AudioSho is one of the first companies to
begin exploring this new field… And we’re doing more than just providing a custom-fit.
The Pop Up Shop format of Lux’s marketing creates a unique and memorable shopping
experience for customers, and also creates a way for us to connect with communities contrary
to any other electronics brand. Mila Gonzales of E-Commerce University states that pop-up
stores are one of the best ways to leave a customer with a “permanent impression.” Why not
leave consumers with the impression of an audio technology company that will seek not only
common individuals, but also prominent members and artists of one’s community? In addition,
the pop-up store format can serve as a smaller testing ground to simply study and observe
customer interests in a direct way.
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Ownership
AudioSho would be a General Partnership. AudioSho does not present the risks necessary in
order to become a Corporation of any sort. A General Partnership allocates debts and taxes to
multiple partners, making debts more manageable. It also shrinks state fees and restrictions,
allowing AudioSho to be more flexible. General Partnerships also allow us to pool resources
with others (Intuit).
We look towards members and officials from the company known as “BotObjects” as potential
partners. BotObject is the company that we plan on purchasing our printers from, and they have
locations in the UK and New York. Though they are a small company at the moment, a
partnership could be useful in catalyzing both of our company’s success. The creation of the
Prodesk 3D printer demonstrates groundbreaking and creative 3d-printing technology, and it
would be to their advantage to work with a company in their popularization (BotObjects).\
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Products and Services
Product Description
Lux is 3d-printed earphones. These earphones are custom made to match a customer’s ear
shape, which is done by means of having a picture of one’s ear sent to us through an app. This
picture will be scanned by 3d printers and after words, will be printed. The earphones can come
in different designs and shapes, which customers can choose after taking a picture of their ears.
The result is a personalized audio experience.
Our pop-up store tour will last for 100 days, with our rental space lasting from 3 (weekend) days
to 12 days, depending on the affordability and offers availability. Given the temporary amount of
time a person has to enter these stores, we will characterize AudioSho in a slightly elusive
character to lead on consumer curiosity.
A consumer will come in and be met by a traveling representative who will assist them in taking
a picture of their ears in order to create the perfect custom-fit. Settling down to take the pictures
for each consumer at the most should take 5 minutes. At the point, a customer adds in their
design choices, which over time, we hope to make more varied. For our start-up, a consumer
can make distinctive choices on color-coding and even exclusive pattern designs, and the color
of the earphone’s outside wire. A customer can then make the choice to stay at the pop-up store
for production to occur, return another day, or have their earphones shipped out to them.
Afterward, all of the consumer’s choices will uploaded directly into an app that is also
linked to our 3D printers, which are known as BotObjects ProDesk3D printers. This printers are
currently the highest quality multi-color printers available, with an efficient price and notable
speed. The custom-fit pieces of an earphone take under 25 minutes to produce, as stated by a
3D printer representative.
Afterward, other representatives and workers will put the custom-fit piece together with various
earphone pieces such as cnc metal parts, neodymium audio drivers, and multicolored coaxial
wires made available to us and constructed by various Chinese manufacturers. A consumer can
test out and purchase their earphones upon their construction.
It is important to keep in mind that the presence of our mobile app allows people to take their
own pictures of their ears and have their designer choices uploaded.
Competitive advantages
● Lux respects the fact that every users’ ear shape is different. These earphones due to
their custom fit will never fall out of someone’s ear.
● More customization properties relative to other earphone brands, resulting in a direct
appeal towards consumer fashion sense
● The 3d printed custom fit serves as a seal that results in far clearer and better sound
quality relative to other earphones, making this earphone appeal to even the most critical
audiophiles.
● The placement of pop-up stores allows us to bring the product to users, giving them a
very unique and memorable in-store experience
Competitive disadvantages
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● It’s quicker and cheaper to get very typical pairs of earphones when one is on the go.
Some may not feel like taking the time to provide the pictures to create a custom fit
earphone. Some may simply not be informed of the quality differences present.
● All of AudioSho’s future goals will definitely take time.
● With certain giants such as Beats, a great amount of work will have to be put in order to
challenge them.
Pricing structures
$160 for the earphones.
This price is made considering the willingness customers have to spend high amounts of money
on earphones by themselves. Going above $200 is an easy way to make most people consider
generic pairs of earphones. Meanwhile, there are many services that are being considered with
Lux that must be taken into account. This price is a $40 decrease from one of our greatest
potential competitors, Normal, who sell their earphones for $200. Another competitor,
Ownphones, sells their earphones for $300. We feel that this is one of the most feasible and
acceptable prices for earphones of our caliber.
We consider this lower price to be feasible for our expenses. We also, however, consider a low
price to be important for this product. Consumers may find it more incentivizing to switch their
purchase to headphones if they have to pay a large sum for our product. This is an important
way to invite people to our product. A lower price is our way of reconciling and balancing a
customer’s need for affordability and a high quality product.
Balance:
Earphones are a complex field. The creation of this product is based on balancing out three
major traits: comfort, quality, and fashion. Lux assesses how to make earphones very
comfortable for the user, offer them quality sound, and make their earphones stylish. All of these
are important to consumer tastes. Too often do most companies fail to maintain these three
qualities. Often, earphones are very uncomfortable to wear, hurting the user’s ears after
prolonged use. They also tend to fall out of the user’s ear, constantly interrupting their audio
experience. In addition, cheap sound technology and bad earphone design creates consistent
static noise and poor sound isolation even among the United States’ most popular brands.
Finally, there’s often very little fashion in the design of most earphones. There’s other examples
where there’s too much of one quality but not enough of the others. There are earphones that
are incapable of making any use of their good sound quality due to their heavy uncomfortable
weight or their simple lack of fashion appeal. There are earphones that are solely meant to look
good, but have unacceptable sound quality.
The solution for balancing all of these refers to creating a flexible, accessible, and personalized
product. We want earphones to be personalized towards customer demands. We also want to
provide the accessibility of our product to the greatest number of people. We thus have our
earphones custom fit to each individual user, and we take into account their choices for designs
and color. We balance out comfort, quality, and fashion, primarily through means of
personalization.
Business Expansion and Additional Features
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We have crafted features and add-ons that we want to present in the future. As AudioSho
attains money and prominence, all of these features will be made more accessible. These can
distant AudioSho from any other acoustic company immediately.
● Multiple lines of the earphones that vary in sound technology, particularly concentrated
towards certain genres of music
Not everyone’s music taste is the same. Whilst Lux at the moment can lead to generally
enjoyment, it is important to consider audio-acoustic technology to suit different music tastes.
For instance, we could consider a notably bass-heavy line of earphones for electronic dance
music fans. We could also consider a very high quality acoustic line of earphones for rock and
country fans. Also, we could provide variance in designs of earphones. A runner might look
towards earphones with a hook design to provide less sound isolation, for instance.
● Wireless Bluetooth technology
Wireless earphones are pretty popular. The addition of bluetooth technology would help
increase great comfort to one’s music experience, so that we can have wireless earphones.
Bluetooth technology is very expensive at the moment, and it would also limit some of Lux’s
current customization properties.
● Dual driver technology
You can’t find very many dual-driver earphones on the market at the moment without paying at
least $200. A driver functions much like a speaker. Gizmodo cites that most earphones provide
sub-par quality with cheap mono-drivers. Having one driver means that it is assigned all
varieties of sound production; high frequencies, mid frequencies, low frequencies, etc… Sound
quality using dual drivers is much better. The only issue is, dual-drivers are usually expensive
from international manufacturers, drawing on companies to have to produce them from scratch.
AudioSho does not find dual-drivers obligatory or feasible for our launch, however, creating
dual-drivers is a very notable goal that we would like to pursue.
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Marketing Plan Marketing Strategy
The earphone/headphone acoustic market is very diverse. Purchases and use are very similarly
distributed amongst all ages. It has, in the past few years seen increased sales and customer
demand proportional to an increased use of electronics, primarily smartphones and computers.
This increased use has led to greater customer sensitivity towards audio quality and sound
isolation, more so than in the past.
We intend to reach a demographic of 16-35 year olds by creating a unique and memorable
marketing and purchasing process for each consumer. We feel that the best way to respect the
individual is to take our marketing to a personal level, bringing the exclusivity of Lux to the
hands and presence of the customer. We will construct pop-up shops in various major cities of
the country known for artistic presences and youth, collaborating with local artists and musicians
to create showcases. In addition, our advertisements will emphasize both the fashion and
mobility of Lux. We will have, for the most part, a web-based campaign.
Customer Group
● Teens to young adults
● Middle to upper income class. Custom-fit earphones, even given the efficiency our price,
are just barely a luxury good considering some may pick up cheap earphones.
● Primarily within the United States, international expansion will be considered as the
company grows.
● People typically in major cities prominent for music and art
● Casual consumers with a predilection for fashion
● Athletic users interested in mobility.
● Audio critics searching for an acceptable product that won’t break the bank.
Artist partnerships
● Independent artists and musicians
● Modern art and photography, typically pertaining to what a city has to offer.
● Electronic Djs, particularly
Marketing Channels
Social media
Social media is one of the most direct ways possible for companies to come into contact with
their consumers. We find it imperative to use social media to our advantage in order to
characterize the uniqueness and expression behind our product. This will be a significant
concentration for our marketing, especially as we begin to launch. We will have employees
monitor pages on three different websites. Statistics are suggesting that other mediums, such
as television, may not be so proficient in reach the 18-49 demographic.
Facebook should be used as one of our most in-depth means of contact, besides just using our
website or emailing an employee. It’ll be used for more direct notifications of dates and features,
as well as images. Users will also feel invited to leave questions in comments or posts to
receive quick information from employees. Facebook remains as one of the largest social
networks, getting nearly 66% of 14-34 year olds in the United States.
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Twitter is much more targeted towards publicity. There will be brief notifications and dates
presented on our Twitter page. Regardless, this is where we want to create hashtags and
specifically target the specific cities we’re going to in order to create an elusive but interesting
hype behind our product and arrival.
Instagram is very much for art. We intend for our Instagram to have the greatest proportion of
content, this pertaining to sharing music, images, gifs, and more. We will also create in depth
blog posts on notifications for our customers. Instagram often comes in second place as a social
media giant, attaining 43.1% of 14-34 year olds
Online Advertising
It is quite efficient to take to the web for advertising. There are a variety of major news sites and
content-sharing services to look for, in terms of ads.
Reddit is an important place for advertising, with over half of the percentage of users being ages
18-44 years old. Given that Reddit is divided into multiple subreddits of its own, it is important to
look towards reddit’s science and technology subreddits that can be used to provide Q&As for
our product and also for advertising purposes. r/technology, a subreddit, garners over 3 million
users. r/science garners over 6 million users. There are also many other subreddits and
communities available for our product.
Buzzfeed, a news-sharing website, has found recent success, managing to reach over 300
million users. 56% of these users are ages 18-34, and 55% of these users are women. With a
website so prominent for news, product reviews, and trends, Buzzfeed as a marketing partner
would be very useful catalyst for our success
Competition
We face direct competition from some major companies that have existed for a longer amount
time, as well as some very recent companies that are attempting to succeed in creating custom-
fit earphones. These are our most significant competitors.
● Sony
● Skullcandy Earphones
● Decibullz
● Normal
● Ownphones
Both Skullcandy and Sony bring significant lines of electronics and has a large line of
earphones. On the other hand, they fail to present custom-fit earphones at all. They lack the
ability to provide a mobile and uninterrupted audio experience to their customers. The sound
quality brought by our product reaches new capabilities of sound quality and sound isolation due
to the custom fit.
Decibullz is a very recent startup that provides a thermoplastic accessory for earphones that
can be shaped towards a user’s ear. There are some more companies that are attempting to
provide cheaper custom-fit accessories. Decibullz, however, receives complaints of a negation
in sound quality due to their thermoplastic, as well as difficulty in making it fit.
Normal and Ownphones are two very new businesses that provide custom-fit earphones.
Ownphones provides wireless earphones at $300. Normals provides custom-fit and
customizable earphones at $200. Despite some positive reviews, both of these earphones fall
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short in their accessibility at the moment. They remain far more concentrated towards their
single factories and far less diverse in terms of their advertising.
Lux will bring the quality of custom fit earphones to the hands of the customer.
Other Promotion
Besides the usage of paid advertisements, the usage of social media and the showcases
offered at the pop-up stores will serve as significant factors in spreading the word of our
company. In addition, we also hope to forge additional networks and relationships with various
artists in order to create traditional advertising posters and art in high-populated areas.
Traditional advertisements lead to a creative variety differing from any other audio-acoustic
technology.
Niche:
The earphone market, especially with the advent of 3d printers and the growth of smartphones
and other technology, is both growing and open to new ideas. In the midst of the growth and
change of this market, we want to be the most accessible company for consumers. As opposed
to being a massive company concentrated around excessive amounts of audio acoustics, we
want to be a company that all consumers can find approachable and accessible for
personalization, customization, and information.
Pricing:
$160 for full earphone.
As far as custom-fit earphones are concerned, this price is closest to the business, Normal. This
price showcases a $30 decrease from their $200 product. Ownphones, another custom fit
earphone company, offers a price at $300.
This price is crafted with consideration towards our marketing plan and means of production.
With the construction of pop-up stores, as opposed to continuously having to pay taxes and
money to own a factory, we are capable of providing custom fit earphones at a price lower than
that of our competitors.
Location:
Our product will have U.S. accessibility through the internet with the use of an application. In
that concern, location is not as critical.
Regarding the pop-up shops, we need cities with a notable population of youth. We believe that
the best location for our pop-up shops pertain to cities along the east coast. We are looking
towards the following cities as the best prospective locations, providing large amounts of youth.
● Boston
● New York
● Philadelphia
● Baltimore
● Washington D.C.
● Charlotte
● Atlanta
● Miami
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Remaining on the east coast is more imperative in the early days of our start-up. As we grow,
we intend to travel across the country to other major cities.
It is also notable to mention the popular website, “The Storefront,” which presents a network of
opening and closing pop-up spaces all throughout the U.S. This well-known website will likely
be significant in deciding specific locations and durations.
Distribution Channels
Lux requires the consumer to submit usable pictures of their ears in order to create the perfect
fit. We want to sell our product through the use of a mobile app as well as our pop-up stores.
A mobile app is significant in that customers now have a quick and easy way to submit pictures
in order to create an earphone. Through the app, they will be guided to submit their pictures.
Afterward, they will be given customization opportunities pertaining to the color and design of
their earphone. Earphones will then be shipped to their residence.
At our pop-up shops, customers can have employees help them submit pictures suitable to
create the custom fit. They will also have customization opportunities for their earphones, in
addition to incentives from art and music venues, as well as exclusive designs and offers. Given
the speed of 3D printers, customers can remain at the pop-up store or nearby, and come back
to get their earphones in under an hour.
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Operational Plan Production
Our product will be produced using a line of BotObject Prodesk 3D Printers. These printers are
sophisticated enough to work with computer and design technology, and they limit our need for
a big factory location. The 3d Printers construct the shape of the earphone overall. The process
of printing takes less than 25 minutes.
At that point, the 3d-fit and audio technology for the earphone is put together by an employee.
After the custom fit is designed, employees will apply the custom-fit to several earphone parts
and pieces made available to us by Chinese manufacturers in order to construct the earphone.
The location of such production can vary. Earphones may be crafted at our office location in
Roanoke, Virginia. Earphones may also be crafted within our pop-up stores, or even in hotels
and resting areas. Shipment will occur with the use of UPS daily shipment service, alongside
UPS shipments and orders that will be established just before AudioSho leaves an city area.
Location
AudioSho will have an office location in Roanoke, Virginia. This location is very affordable and is
equally distanced to help target people on the East Coast, presented to us by Loopnet. In
addition, a Forbes report cites Virginia as one of the most small-business friendly states in the
past year, due to a myriad of incentive programs present to suit our company. In the future, we
will look towards expansion towards a midwestern location, and developing a factory-store
location for people to not only purchase their earphones, but to also witness some of the work
involved.
Whilst our cities-of-interest have already been stated, we can restate that we target areas with a
notable population of youths and entertainment, a notion greatly encouraged by the E-
Commerce guide on Shopify. Many cities on the east coast meet these guidelines, which
explains why we are concentrating our launch on the east coast and will seek expansion over
time. We prefer to seek rental spaces in or near malls or music venues. We will use the website
known as Storefront, the most prominent pop-up store guide, to help find specific rental spaces.
Legal Environment
There are no majorly restrictive legal requirements for Lux. “We haven’t run into anything
unreasonable,” Community Manager Talia Halperin states from Normal. The only prominent
patent is one maintained by apple for heart-rate detection on earphones, something that is not
relevant to our product. In the end, the most notable legal restrictions all pertain to OSHA
(Occupational Safety and Health Administration) based audio limits.
● Earphones can’t exceed 85 decibels regarding sound production
Earphones are often only significant with regards to other employers listening to music on the
job. AudioSho is not liable for any damages from such a context.
When searching for suppliers, AudioSho puts into full consideration background checks on
health and ethical regulations of each factory. We want to forge legal contracts that analyze the
number of hours, wages, and regulations for each factory.
“Lux Earphones” is not a trademarked name, nor is “AudioSho.”
Employees and personnel
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AudioSho focuses on having a diverse team, not confined to specific educational disciplines, but
simply proactive and passionate individuals.
With regards to employees, AudioSho will need
● Traveling representatives
● Customer resources and management
● Factory manufacturers
These are critical fields. We will also need a fraction of these workers to be educated audio
engineers that can play a role in informing others on earphone construction and properly
manage the business. We will look into a training program for workers.
Education-Portal cites a significant number of well-known audio-engineering programs present
at multiple universities and colleges across the East Coast in major cities, ranging from
Nashville to New York City. In order to find employees, targeting these colleges as well as
towns for potential employees and representatives could lead to creative, charismatic, and
young minds devoted to audio acoustics. In addition, the diversity of such schools gets
AudioSho one step closer to understanding local communities across the country. Forbes also
cites HackerNews, a prominent news website that has built a notable community of young
engineers and students interested in technology. By means of some paid advertising, or even
through use of forums and communication, this would be an ideal place to connect with and look
for young employees. These would be the most skilled workers aligned with the company.
Lesser skilled but devoted workers are more important with regards to manufacturing.
To find the best employees, it is imperative that AudioSho maintains flexibility, and we plan to
have phone lines available for people who are interested to call.
Inventory
The only inventory necessary is for the preservation of earphone parts, which should occupy a
very minor amount of space. To start off AudioSho, we plan to have 2000 units in inventory.
Keep in mind that we can’t fully construct any earphones without a consumer’s order.
Suppliers
Name: Shenza Toufa Technology Co.
Location: Shenzhen, Guandong Province, China
Supply Ability: 15000 pieces per month
Min. Order Quantity: 50 pieces
The Shenza Toufa company provides custom made stainless metal parts of multiple
kinds necessary for earphones. This is signficant in providing the inner framework for electro-
magnets, wires, and drivers, inside of the earphone.
Name: Donguan Hardware Manufacturing Factory
Location: Guandong, China
Supply Ability:
The Donguan Hardware Manufacturing Factory provides technology for the outer portion
of the earphone that connects drivers to the coaxial wire. In other words, it’s essentially the
outer shell of the earphone. With stylish assorted colors, they’re clearly competent in supporting
this business.
16
Name: Dailymag Electronics
Location: Zhejiang, China
Neodymium drivers suitable for providing competitive and high sound quality.
17
Management and Organization Business Leadership
AudioSho fervently believes that It is imperative for a company leader to develop a culture for
their work place. It’s very blatant that AudioSho intends to become a thriving and popular
electronics company, but culture explains exactly how it is done. AudioSho identifies with the
notion of creating newfound flexibility, expressing this with a custom-made audio product and a
significant stress on versatility and eclecticism.
It is a CEO, rather, the company leader, that must identify not only with AudioSho’s work culture
but also demonstrate it. The key to versatility is passion, and devotion to wanting to find the best
outcome in all situations. There is balance between idealism and practicality that must
addressed. A person who is not afraid to work hard for a dream, not afraid of future obstacles,
and who truly loves their work will naturally develop the pragmatism to become a fervent leader,
flexible enough to turn challenges on their back.
With regards to past education, an AudioSho CEO must have a degree in preferably Business
Management, or another degree pertaining to the business field that will prove significant for the
company. In addition, a minor pertaining to an engineering or social science field is notably
favorable, providing evidence a good understanding of what is scientifically feasible for the
company. In addition, the CEO should be a person that is well acclaimed with traveling and
mobility. Especially concerning the pop-up store nature of AudioSho, a person that is willing to
visit and learn more about new communities is highly favorable. Finally, they should also have
interest in the arts and music. AudioSho connects with communities, artists, and musicians. A
CEO must feel comfortable in being able to make that connection.
This type of education, combined with the previously mentioned ardour and traits will result in a
versatile, commendable, and beneficial CEO, that balances the passion and idealism with work.
For AudioSho, Rome definitely wasn’t built in a day. Starting off, AudioSho is a team of 15
workers. 8 of which will be present at the Virginia office location, whereas the other 7 will be
traveling for the pop-up stores.
Office:
● Chief Technical and Design Officer, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Operations Officer
● Three manufacturers solely devoted to audio engineering and research.
● 3 Management advisors
Traveling representatives
● Owner (CEO)
● Human Resource Manager
● 2 Sales associates
● 1 Management advisor
We plan to have daily phone calls and meetings between these two groups in order to ensure
that everyone is constantly notified on the state of the company.
Here is an in depth description of different positions and roles necessary for AudioSho.
● Board of Directors: The CEO will be overseen by a board of four officers: Chief Financial
Officer (CFO), Chief Technical and Design Officer (CTDO), Human Resource Manager
(HRM), and Chief Operations Officer (COO). The HRM and CEO are both traveling
representatives, providing to both of them direct contact and work with the public.
18
○ CFO: creates and organize financial accounting and balance sheets, presenting
suitable inforgraphics regarding what we need to know. Anyone in this position
should have a major in business or finance.
○ CTDO: Researches technology, coding, and graphic design suitable for our
product. A major in computer science with some background in the fine arts
and/or graphic design is heavily preferable.
○ HRM: Functions primarily for customer service and employment based issues.
Also serves to research and learn about industry association, and seeks out
independent artists and musicians suitable for AudioSho to work with.
○ COO: Coordinates and researches all matters referring to shipment, suppliers,
and packaging, working very closely with manufacturers.
● Management advisory: The Management Advisory board contains a director and a team
of 4 people. This board oversees all parts of the company to make sure standards are
upheld and everything is going smoothly, and is given a great depth of flexibility to
communicate information and access any areas of improvement.
● Attorney: AudioSho looks towards the employment of a corporate lawyer, allowing
AudioSho to succeed within the boundaries of the law. They will monitor regulatory
changes, create and edit legal documents for transactions, and fill out registration
documents concerning AudioSho’s pop-up store as well as the various communities
AudioSho interacts with. They will be heavily affiliated with the (COO)
● Insurance Agent: We are looking toward an insurance agent to help regulate health
insurance and legally required forms of aid for all AudioSho workers. At the moment, we
concentrate heavily on the work of our HRM, but we definitely would like to attain a fully
trained insurance agent who will work closely with AudioSho.
● Consultant: AudioSho does not seek a full-time consultant, however, we reserve money
to contact different community members as we travel to different cities. We heavily value
the advice and work we can get from different community members.
19
Startup Expenses
20
21
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URL: http://botobjects.com/prices
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22
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used.html
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Author(s): Shenzan Toufa Technology
URL: http://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/CNC-machining-custom-amde-metal-
stainless_1758944833.html
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Author(s): Shenzhen
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paper_1762355718.html
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Title: Virginia Tops 2013 list of Best States for Business
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best-states-for-business/
23
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Title: Why You Can’t Get Decent Earphones for Less than $100
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URL: http://gizmodo.com/5371253/giz-explains-why-you-cant-get-decent-earphones-for-less-
than-100
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Title: Earphone Parts
Author(s): Wolf hardware
URL: http://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/earphone-parts_515324501.html
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Title: High Quality Neodymium Earphone Drivers
Author(s): Dailymag Electronics
URL: http://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/High-quality-neodymium-earphone-
driver_60062208519.html