Entrepreneurship

To put it simple: transFERRITIN provides a drug delivery system based on ferritin and CPPs, encapsulating substances and providing specificity by fusing nanobodies to the ferritin’s outer surface. The work done in the course of this year’s iGEM project functions as proof of concept. When selling our product in the future, we can offer different combinations of ferritin, CPPs, nanobodies, and substances to encapsulate.

On the one hand, our business concept includes offering a determinated selection of continuously produced constructs. For instance, this could be Pseudomonas aeruginosa targeting R12-Ferritin encapsulating flavone and rutin. In addition to that, we want to offer an option for customizing a construct for special orders when an individualized drug delivery system is required.

The three external factors - customer relationship, customer segments and channels - are related to how the business defines their clients and how these clients should be contacted and held in service. It is all about the interaction of the company and their environment.

Customer Segments

In this section we have to think about our target group. What are typical customers of our business? Who do we want to address?

We are designing a therapeutic product. Thus, possible customers are companies of the pharmaceutical industry or pharmacies that can resell the product. Hospitals, medical centers and the military can buy the product for usage in their own facilities. Furthermore, other research groups can request customized constructs in case they want to use it for their own research.

Customer Relationship

Now, that we know how to define our customers, we have to determine how we get into contact to them and how to build up and maintain this relationship.

For the very first sale, we want to establish personal contact with our potential new customer to talk about our service and our product in general and why it can improve their patient’s treatment. The ongoing service, including placing new orders, should take place online via a website. For problems and concerns that can not be solved on this website, we want to be available for direct costumer contact, also.

Channels

Now, we already know who our customers are and what interaction we want to establish with them. One open question is how we want to approach possible new customers.

As digital marketing is very important nowadays, we want to build a strong social media and web presence. Via platforms like LinkedIn, we can reach out to companies to inform them about our existence and to continuously expand our network. Furthermore, we can participate in conferences, science fairs and sales events and present ourselves to visitors.

Since our product is designed for a niche market rather than for the broad public, it is not necessary to do offline advertising like on billboards, TV, or radio.

Key Partners

Business is nearly impossible without external help. In these sections, we think about which companies, suppliers, or parties we want to involve to achieve our desired goals.

First of all, like almost every lab, we would need a lab supplier and some technicians in case devices malfunction or require maintenance.

Then, we decided it would be easier to outsource the production of required nanobodies and anti-microbial substances. With that, our production facility can focus on the production of the CPP-Ferritin construct, the fusion to nanobodies, and the encapsulation of substances.

We will also outsource the delivery of the products to reduce staff and staff costs.

Finally, we thought it would be helpful to obtain data from hospitals for ongoing studies with the goal of improving all transFERRITIN products.

Key Activities

Before starting business, we should define what exactly our company does. What do we want to do in order to keep our promises?

First of all, we have to produce the CPP-Ferritin constructs, fuse the nanobodies to the surface and encapsulate the substances.

Since our product will be new on the market, we will have to make sure to get and keep a patent to hinder other companies from copying it.

In order to ensure that our customers can provide their patients the safest environment possible, we will have to do quality and safety controls throughout our production process.

Additionally, we will have to establish some kind of leaflet that contains a user guidance for application and safety measures.

Last but not least, we want to have a team in the field of development that strives to find new improvements and new modules for our system.

Key Resources

To achieve the fulfillment of all these activities we need several resources.

Cleary, we need financial resources. More on that in the “Cost Structure”-section.

Furthermore, we need two facilities: Firstly, a lab for quality control and development tasks. Secondly, a production facility for the production of the constructs, the fusion of the nanobodies and the encapsulation of the substances.

Lastly, the most important point: no business runs without people. We need work force in the lab and production facility, for logistics, for management, for transaction and many more areas. Everyone makes a contribution to running the business and bringing it forward.

The value propositions combine the internal and external factors of the business. It defines what we as a company are offering customers. Everything evolves around the question of why customers should choose us.

transFERRITIN provides products for therapeutic use. So, in the first place, we are selling life and health. Due to our specific targeting mechanism, we are also providing risk reduction to make patients feel more safe when using our product.

Since we are delivering a ready-to-use product, customers acquire easy handling when buying our product.

In addition to that, the way we implement the use of ferritin in combination with CPPs and nanobodies, is new and does not exist on the market so far.

Last but not least, we provide modularity. If costumers have special needs, for example research groups, they can easily request constructs based on their wishes. Thus, we offer a great versatility and the possibility of customization.

Cost Structure

We do not have defined numbers yet, but we figured out those areas requiring monetary input.

The cost of obtaining a product patent is comparatively low, yet not to neglect.

Then there will be costs to consider for distinct things:

• Salaries
• Technicians
• Production of nanobodies
• Lab inventory costs
• Costs for substances
• Delivery costs
• Rent for facilities
• Advertisement costs
• Costs for primers

Revenues Streams

To be able to pay all that, we have to make sure to have a steady income and to have backup plans for the case of unplanned expenses.

Most of the income should come from ongoing sales. Our product gets used up. Consequently, we can rely on customers to order more than once. The prize of our product will be dependent on its specific construction. The cheapest products are those that are provided by us permanently. More expensive are constructs that are unique and customized.

As a startup, we can not rely on these sales in the beginning. We hope to be able to receive sponsorships, scholarships or governmental funding.