We're a small group of IT students and recently we came up with an idea that we're going to pitch with business plan in an event hoping to get feedback and funding from investors. (Ok, I read that people on this site keep saying that no one asks for business plans these days, but in the part of the world where I'm, I've to go through this process and I think I'm fine with it.)
My first question is that while asking for funding, should I try to include all possible investments in our funding requirements (which we're writing as part of executive summary) or the aim should be to be a little frugal? So, should I count office space for the team and associated expenditures which we might need soon but not really need urgently, or not? Are there some guidelines to come up with funding requirements. How does investors look at the way we specify our funding requirements? If we're being frugal, does that leave a negative impression or the investors take it positively?
Also, should funding requirements include expenditures by the team while working on the project? As in, suppose I'm working from my home, do I count (even approximately) my home internet bandwidth usage and other cost (like electricity?) for the next few months or so?
My second question is that since the project is in its very early stages at the moment, and we're not really sure about exact market size, but intuitively there's a big market waiting for it, so, how do I mention our expected "market size" and justify it, should we conduct some survey or what? I think proper justification of market size will be a good deciding factor for the impression that we leave on the investors/judges of the competition.
Looking forward for your insights.
