EMBA Capstone

Handbook

Developing a Business Plan,

Pitching a Business Idea

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EMBA Capstone Handbook

Contents

Overview of the Capstone Project and Presentation

Capstone Project
Basic Contents of the Business Plan
Learning Outcomes

Capstone Presentation
Assignment Requirements
Project Guidelines
Context
Content and Structure
Presentation Design
Delivery
Learning Outcomes

The Capstone Journey

Project Kickoff
Research Phase
Capstone Check-Ins
Finalization Phase
Citations and Sources
Plagiarism Policy
Submission and Grading

Capstone Project Rubric

Capstone Presentation Rubric

Capstone Project and Presentation FAQ

Business Concept

Document Structure

Plan Detail

Presentation

Research

Grading

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EMBA Capstone Handbook

Overview of the Capstone Project and Presentation

For your Capstone Project and Presentation, you will be creating and presenting a
business plan for a real or fictional business of your choosing. Your business can offer
any product or service—use this assignment as an opportunity to research an industry
that interests you! The business can be for-profit or not-for-profit, and can be located
anywhere in the world. While most students choose to write business plans on new
enterprises, you may also base your project on an existing business that is looking to
pivot (e.g. to expand or diversify) in the future. What is important is that the plan is
future-oriented. This means that for existing businesses there is no need to include any
historical financial data.

You will be required to submit a written business plan and to pitch an aspect of your plan
with a slide deck (either live over video conference or recorded and submitted) in a pitch
that is 10 minutes maximum. Both the written business plan and pitch are graded
separately and considered separate submissions.

In addition, all eligible high scoring projects/plans will be entered into Quantic’s annual
entrepreneurial pitching competition—Moonshot! Comprised of multiple rounds, it gives
students an opportunity to submit their Capstone project for a chance to be reviewed by
VCs and other business leaders, as part of a live final event. One grand-prize winning
team (or individual) will receive a cash prize of $50,000 to help them launch their winning
idea. You’ll be receiving more details about the Moonshot competition over email.

Capstone Project
The Capstone Project is a future-oriented, written business plan, typically around 30-35
pages in length (your plan may be longer, but rarely shorter). We are looking for a
cohesive, persuasive plan that demonstrates high-quality research, is presented in a high
impact manner, and convinces the reader of the viability of the business idea.

We recommend that you begin by making a copy of this template. (Note: after opening
the link, click “make a copy” to begin working on your own copy of the template.) The
template provides key guidelines; follow those instructions to create a successful plan,
but remember to delete the advice from your final document.

The template contains the basic sections that must be completed in order to create a
comprehensive plan and to receive full credit for your plan. However, it is intended to be
flexible, and you may add to, amend, or develop sections as fits your specific business

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EMBA Capstone Handbook

idea. For example, you may need to present five years of financial projections rather than
three (see below) or, if you are a non-profit, you may decide to incorporate a “fundraising
strategies” section. Every business is different, and so is every business plan.

Note: A basic requirement to pass this project is that the viability of the business idea is
demonstrated. For for-profit businesses, we require that you provide three years of
healthy and profitable profit and loss statements, cash flow statements, and balance

sheets. In other words, if years 1 and 2 of your business are unprofitable, or demonstrate
negative cash flow, provide three additional years of statements. If your business is a
not-for-profit, at least three years of sustainable financial health should be demonstrated.

Basic Contents of the Business Plan

___ Cover page
___ Table of contents
___ Executive summary
___ Company description
___ Management summary
___ Industry background
___ Competitive analysis
___ Market analysis
___ Marketing plan
___ Operations plan
___ Financial plan
___ Appendix (including at least your financial statements (at least three years of cash
flow statements, profit and loss statements, and balance sheets) and a list of sources,
as well as optional milestones and sample business materials)

Learning Outcomes
When completed successfully, this project will enable you to:
● Identify a promising opportunity through researching and analyzing an industry
and its market.
● Create a cohesive, detailed plan to capitalize on an opportunity by forming a new
business.
● Evaluate the potential risks and rewards of a business opportunity.

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Capstone Presentation
You will also deliver a 10 minute pitch for your new business. To do this you’ll determine
your context; identify which elements matter to your audience; and prepare, rehearse,
and present your pitch.

Pitching is one of the most impactful skills you can learn. A good pitch can mean the
difference between funding or no funding, have a direct impact on the talent you attract,
and buy you positive social capital. This is a great opportunity to practice this crucial skill!

Assignment Requirements
● To receive credit, each group member must be visibly present and participate
meaningfully.
● In order for Quantic to verify the identity of each participant, the presentation must
include video and audio of every group member.
● The pitch should last no more than 10 minutes. If presenting live, please be
prepared to answer questions at the end of the presentation. These questions will
not be counted against your time, and your answers will not impact grading.
● You may use Powerpoint, Keynote, or Google Slides to build your presentation.
(See the Resources section below for more on building an effective slide deck.)

Project Guidelines
Context
Different audiences need different subsets of information about your business. Decide
on a context for your pitch and explain it at the beginning. Note that this explanation
does not count toward the time limit. Also tell us what the objective is—it should be
specific to your context and your business (asking Quantic for a 5/5 doesn’t count!). You
might be pitching for a number of reasons, and different audiences will naturally have
different, though overlapping, questions.

Some ideas:
● Communicate your concept to a potential C-level partner (need a CIO?)
● To secure funding from a VC or a government agency (if this is your choice, be
sure to include your specific ask and the expected return)
● At a networking event, to attract mid- or senior-level talent to your organization
● At a chamber of commerce or other business association event
● To an upstream/downstream business you want to partner with
● To secure a nonprofit partnership

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Content and Structure

Once you know your context and audience, focus on deciding what they’ll need to know
in order to interact with you further. In many ways, a pitch is the beginning of your
relationship with that audience, not the end.

Make sure you structure your pitch to give the audience the gist of your idea, answer
their top questions, and give them a clear path to continue the conversation. This is a
chance to display your expertise and generate enthusiasm for your idea.
The presentation and the written business plan are distinct submissions and you should
treat them as separate projects. You might want to think about the presentation as an
initial pitch that would spark the audiences’ interest in reading the main plan.

Presentation Design
Use the presentation tool of your choice, but use the medium to its advantage. Make
effective use of visual elements! Avoid placing long blocks of text on a slide—under no
circumstances should you read your audience the text that’s on the slide. Your slides
should be an accompaniment, rather than notes for you to read.

Instead think about using charts, maps, graphs, quotes, or large format text and photos.
Visual aids can help cement your message and make your pitch memorable.

Delivery
Make sure you practice your pitch a few times before you submit it, either live or on
video (and yes, we can absolutely tell!). If you are in a team, try to get together to
practice. If you find that difficult to schedule, you can still practice your section—just
record it and send it to your team for feedback!

If you can get a friend, peer, or another student group to watch and give you feedback,
all the better. Having an audience will help you work out issues of pacing and timing,
identify gaps in your content, and highlight places where you can revise your slides to
make your message stronger.

Learning Outcomes
When completed successfully, this project will enable you to:
● Pitch your business in a lively, engaging, and compelling fashion.
● Develop a visually pleasing and well-organized slide presentation.
● Anticipate likely questions from investors and other stakeholders.
● Hone your presentation skills.

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The Capstone Journey

Now that you have this handbook, you are ready to start your Capstone journey! You can
think of the Capstone journey as taking place over three phases: the kickoff phase, the
research phase, and the finalization phase.

Project Kickoff
For the capstone, you may work individually or in a group of up to 6 students. We highly
recommend that you work in a group for this project. The Capstone is a much more
intensive project than any other project, and our research shows that students that work
in groups are more likely to graduate than students who work alone. If you’d like to work
in a group, please choose your partner(s) by the end of the kickoff week.

Your first task is to think of a business idea! If you are stuck, you might want to take a
look at this list from Business News Daily to find ideas that may suit you, or you could
make a business plan for your current company. Look out for an invitation to attend one
of our Business Idea Deconstruction Workshops, which is an optional event designed to
provide you with inspiration on how to break into the startup business world. We also
recommend completing the course Developing a Business Plan as soon as possible. This
course will introduce you to each section of your Capstone Project.

Research Phase
The majority of the time on your Capstone project will be spent conducting research to
validate your ideas and support the development of your sub-strategies. While your
business may be fictitious, your industry and market research must be based upon
factual information.

During the research phase, you will have the opportunity to consult with the Quantic
Librarian, who can give you guidance on your research strategy. In addition, you will be
sent links to the following pre-recorded webinars via Slack:

● Getting Started with Capstone Research: An introduction to the library resources

available to you to support your research activities (16 minutes)
● Analysis Toolkit: Watch an example of gathering sources and using them for
analysis (18 minutes)
● Using Statista Business Plan Export for Financial Statements: A walkthrough of
an online tool you can use for financial modeling (18 minutes)

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Key Sources
In addition to our two databases (ProQuest One and Statista) good sources for the types
of secondary data you’ll need for the business plan include NYU’s list of historical
industry growth rates and projections from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. You can
also use information from reputable industry-specific associations—for example, The Toy
Association for toy manufacturers.

We also recommend that you revisit Accounting III: Financial Statements and Creating
Financial Statements in Excel for help writing the financial plan.

Capstone Check-Ins
You will also have the opportunity to have two check-ins with a member of the Academic
Team to ask questions and receive feedback on work in progress—a general check-in to
talk about your overall business plan and a more specific check-in focused on the
financial statements you’ve created. Before each check-in period, we will send out
notifications over Slack and email letting you know how you can sign up. To get the most
out of this check-in, we recommend preparing questions and submitting any material you
want reviewed. Work in progress or supplemental material can be sent well in advance of
your check-in appointment to projects@quantic.edu.

Finalization Phase
Towards the end of your Capstone journey, you will be polishing your plan and
developing your pitch. To prepare for your pitch, you can watch our pre-recorded Pitch
Perfect webinar, which will show you how to use the power of storytelling to connect to
your audience and empower them to action. You may also want to check out the
following resources:

● The Art of Presentation course for specific guidance on creating your slide deck
and presenting it with confidence.
● Example of a Business Plan and Pitch Deck, keep in mind the following are
examples and not exemplars:
○ S’Naps Business Plan, an example of what a business plan should look like.
○ S’Naps Pitch Deck, an example of what a pitch deck should look like.
● YCombinator seed deck template to organize your presentation.
● Guides on Powerpoint, Keynote, and Google Slides to familiarize yourself with the
presentation program of your choosing.

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Citations and Sources

You should also make sure your sources are complete and accurate during this phase.
Please include a list of sources in the appendix to your written business plan. Quantic
uses Chicago-style author-date citations (in-text, not footnotes) and expects students to
provide a works cited page. Please be sure to cite your sources for both images and
information in your slide presentation (you don’t need to read that as part of your
presentation; as long as a resources list is the final slide, you’re covered).
You can find answers to FAQs about our citation policy here.

Plagiarism Policy
Quantic takes academic integrity very seriously—we define plagiarism as: “Knowingly
representing the work of others as one’s own, engaging in any acts of plagiarism, or
referencing the works of others without appropriate citation.” This includes both misusing
or not using proper citations for the works referenced, and submitting someone else’s
work as your own. Quantic monitors all submissions for instances of plagiarism and all
plagiarism, even unintentional, is considered a conduct violation. If you’re still not sure
about what constitutes plagiarism, check out this two-minute presentation by our
librarian, Kristina.

It is important to be conscientious when citing your sources. When in doubt, cite! Kristina
outlines the basics of best citation practices in this one-minute video. You can also find
more about our plagiarism policy here.

Submission and Grading

Submit your written business project as a single PDF file in an email to
projects@quantic.edu. To do this, from the Google Docs menu click “File” then
“Download as” then “PDF Document (.pdf)”. If working in a group, include the names of
all group members on the PDF submissions. Students submitting their Capstone as a
group must also submit the final page of their Group Project Agreement signed by all
group members along with their written plan. Please note that if you’re working in a
group, your feedback will be emailed back to your entire group. If you do not wish to
reveal your email to the rest of your group, email us at projects@quantic.edu to let us
know.

You’ll have the opportunity to submit a video recording of your presentation or to

schedule a live video presentation starting after the written Capstone Plan due date. You
can submit your video or schedule your presentation no later than two weeks after the
written Capstone due date. You should not assume that your business plan has already

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been read when preparing your presentation. The pitch should be designed as a
standalone submission.

Submission Logistics
You must submit your video or schedule your presentation no later than two weeks
after the written Capstone due date. You’ll have the opportunity to submit a video
recording of your presentation or schedule a live video presentation starting after you
submit your written Capstone.
○ Live Pitch: If you choose to present live, the Quantic team will circulate a link to
register for a live time slot close to the written project submission date. Please
ensure that all group members can attend the live video conference. Note that
live presentations will be recorded for internal grading purposes only, unless
explicitly instructed otherwise.
○ Video Recording: If you choose to submit a recording, submit your work as an
unlisted Youtube video:
1. Create a Zoom account and host a meeting with all of your group
members.
2. Record the presentation using the guidelines at this link.
a. Be sure that all group members enable video cameras so that they
are visibly present during the recording. All members must speak at
least once. This will allow Quantic to verify each participant’s
identity.
3. Upload the final recording to Youtube as an “unlisted” video. For help, you
can follow the steps in this tutorial.
Email a link to the Youtube video to projects@quantic.edu. Please include the names and
email addresses of each of the group members present in the video.

See the scoring rubrics below for details on how your plan and pitch will be graded.

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Capstone Project Rubric

Scores 3 and above are considered passing. Students who receive a 2 or below will not
receive credit for the assignment, and must revise and resubmit to receive a passing
grade.

Score Description

5 ● The business opportunity, key people, business context, and potential risks
& rewards are all clearly, thoroughly, and compellingly described.
● The plan includes all relevant sections (see checklist above), is organized in
a thoughtful and purposeful manner, and provides visual aids and optional
addenda where useful.

4 ● The business opportunity, key people, business context, and risks & rewards
are all clearly and thoroughly described.
● The plan includes all relevant sections (see checklist above), is organized in
a thoughtful manner, and provides visual aids where useful.

3 ● The business opportunity, key people, business context, and risks & rewards
are all described, though some details are missing or incomplete.
● The plan includes all or most relevant sections (see checklist above) and is
organized in a reasonable manner.

2 ● The business opportunity, key people, business context, and risks & rewards
are all described, though there are significant information gaps or
inconsistencies within those descriptions.
● The plan includes most relevant sections (see checklist above) but may be
disorganized or poorly presented.

1 ● The business opportunity, key people, business context, and risks & rewards
are not all described, and/or there are such significant information gaps or
inconsistencies that the descriptions are not comprehensible.
● The plan is missing key sections and has no clear organization. May have
poor presentation and/or be difficult to read.

0 ● The assignment is plagiarized, not turned in, or completely off topic.

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Capstone Presentation Rubric

Scores 2 and above are considered passing. Students who receive a 1 or 0 will not receive
credit for the assignment, and must revise and resubmit to receive a passing grade.

Score Content Detail Deck Presentation

The pitch includes all The details provided The slide presentation is All students are visibly
relevant information in the pitch are visually engaging, easy to present, participate
and is organized in a factually correct, interpret, uses meaningfully displaying

5 thoughtful and
compelling manner.
relevant, and highly
persuasive.
appropriate visual aids to
add value to the
unique areas of expertise,
the presentation has
presentation. been well rehearsed and
meets the constraint with
engaging pacing.
The pitch includes all The details provided in The slide presentation is All students are visibly
relevant information and the pitch are factually generally well-designed present and participate
is organized in a correct, relevant, and and some visual aids are meaningfully during the
4 thoughtful manner. generally persuasive. included. The slides
generally support the
presentation, the
presentation has been
presentation. rehearsed and timed to
meet the time constraint.
The pitch includes all or The details provided in Any grammatical errors or All students are visibly
most relevant information the pitch are generally design flaws in the present and participate
and is organized in a factually correct, presentation do not meaningfully during the
reasonable manner. relevant, and clear. seriously inhibit the presentation, the
3 reader’s ability to interpret
the slides. Not all slides
presentation has been
timed to meet the time
add value to the pitch constraint.
and/or the presenter(s).
read some of the slides.
The pitch includes most Some of the details Design flaws or All students are visibly
relevant information but provided in the pitch grammatical errors may present and participate
may be disorganized or may be factually make it difficult to interpret during the presentation,
2 poorly presented. incorrect, incomplete,
irrelevant, or unclear.
some slides. The slides add
little value to the pitch
time constraint is not
followed and pacing is
and/or the presenter(s) uneven.
read the slides.
The pitch may be poorly Many of the details Many or most slides may All students are visibly
organized or missing key provided in the pitch be difficult to interpret due present and participate
sections. may be factually to grammatical errors or during the presentation.
1 incorrect, significantly
incomplete, irrelevant,
significant design flaws.
The slides add no value to
or unclear. the pitch, and/or the
presenter(s) read the slides.

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0
The students either did not complete the assignment, plagiarized all or part of the assignment, or are not
recorded on video and audio during the presentation.

Capstone Project and Presentation FAQ

If you have reserved a spot for your initial Capstone check-in, please attend ready with
questions! However, you may find some of your questions already answered below.

Business Concept
● Does my business have to make a profit?
● Can I use a fictitious or hypothetical business?

Document Structure
● Do I have to use the business plan template?
● How long should the business plan be?
● Can I include images?
● Do I need to cite images?

Plan Detail
● What is the right amount of detail to include in each section?

Presentation
● How should I prepare for the pitch?
● How should the pitch be structured?
● Who should I aim the pitch at?
● What goes on the pitch slides?
● Should I assume that my written project has already been read?

Research
● How can I find out about the size of the market?
● What are some good sources for industry/competitor information?
● Can I conduct primary research?
● What can I do if I don’t have any competitors?
● Can the financial information be made up?
● What kind of help is available at the check ins?

Grading
● What is a passing score?

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● Do I have to do a presentation as well as a written plan?

● What happens if I don’t receive a passing score?
● What happens if I submit late?

Business Concept
Does my business have to make a profit?
No! You can create a business plan for any type of organization. This includes social
enterprises, charities, and other third-sector organizations. You may amend any section
of the business plan template to meet your needs. For example, your ‘profit and loss’
accounts can be used to show sources of donated funds and to demonstrate the viability
of the idea. However, if you are working on a for-profit business, at least three years’ of
profitability must be shown.

Can I use a fictitious or hypothetical business?

Yes. It is perfectly acceptable to create a business plan for a fictitious business—in fact,
most plans are for hypothetical businesses, since they do not currently exist. While
ancillary elements (e.g. the website or employees) can be fictitious, all core elements
must be based on research, including the industry analysis, the competitive analysis,
marketing plan, and so on. For this reason, it is best to select an idea that is conducive to
secondary research (i.e. a space exploration idea might be a challenge!).

Document Structure
How long should the business plan be?
All business plans differ, but roughly you should be aiming for 2-4 pages of content per
section, for a total of around 30-35 pages. Remember that content includes visual
elements—in fact, long swaths of text are to be avoided.

Do I have to use the business plan template?

It is advisable, but not necessary. If you do use something other than our template, make
sure all the elements we cover in the grading rubric are included. Remember also that
the template is just that—a template. You may amend it to suit your needs. For example,
intellectual property may be particularly important to your idea. Although there is no
specific area for this in our template, you should include it. Conversely, if you carry no
inventory, you do not have to address this section. The Capstone template can be found
here. (Note: after opening the link, click “make a copy” to begin working on your own
copy of the template.)

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Can I include images?

Yes please! You may (and should!) include as many visual elements that will help augment
your business plan and presentation. Remember that the business plan/presentation is
essentially a sales document—an attempt to convince the reader of the viability of your
idea. It is often true that a picture speaks a thousand words, so use visual elements
effectively. Examples of visual elements you might include are: a competitor matrix,
charts and figures showing industry growth, a photograph of your physical premises, a
screenshot of the geographical location of the business on a map, a logo, a website
mockup, or a sketch of a prototype.

Do I need to cite images?

Please be sure to cite all of your sources—both for images and for your research in
general—throughout your plan and presentation. It is important to be conscientious when
citing your sources. When in doubt, cite! You can find more about our plagiarism policy
here. Quantic uses Chicago-style citations as guidance. You can find answers to FAQs
about our citation policy here.

Plan Detail
What is the right amount of detail to include in each section?
It depends; however, as a general rule of thumb, include both information and a
justification (either explicitly or implicitly) for each decision. For example, if your idea is
aimed at elderly people, you will need a thorough justification why your promotional
strategy uses social media. Equally, it is not enough information to tell us that your
product will be $2.99. Rather, you might indicate something along the lines of: A
penetration pricing strategy will be used, with $2.99 the entry price. As the competitor
analysis shows, the average price of similar products is $5.99. The penetration strategy
will enable us to capture 10 percent of the market within the first six months, thus
achieving our aims for year 1.

Presentation
How should I prepare for the pitch?
Determine your context, identify which elements matter to your audience, prepare,
rehearse, and present your pitch. Remember that the pitch is about ‘selling’ your idea, so
preparation is key. Even if your audience is not physically present, you must imagine
them to be so it is important to follow the basic rules for presenting—this means good
eye contact and confident body language, an authoritative yet authentic delivery, and
remembering to minimize distractions (such as your phone pinging in the background!).

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Refer to The Art of Presentation course for specific guidance on creating your slide deck
and presenting it with confidence.

How should the pitch be structured?

You do not need to follow the same approach as the business plan for the presentation.
In fact, it makes more sense to follow the problem-solution-call to action approach,
whereby you begin by articulating the problem and how your idea solves it, you follow by
detailing the solution, and end with a strong reinforcing message and call to action (e.g.
to invest in your idea, or otherwise support it). This means that some of the early
elements of the business plan template—for example, the company description and team
description—should actually be presented towards the end of the pitch.

Who should I aim the pitch at?

It’s up to you! Business plans are often aimed at investors, but this is not always the case.
Perhaps you want to secure a partner, raise donations for a passion project, or convince
a manager that you should expand. Be explicit about the context for the presentation so
that the audience can adopt this mindset while watching.

What goes on the pitch slides?

Visual elements! It is hard to read and listen at the same time, so keep the text on your
slides minimal. Instead think about using charts, maps, graphs, quotes, or large format
text and photos. Visual aids can help cement your message and make your pitch
memorable.

Should I assume that my written project has already been read?

No! The pitch and the written business plan are distinct submissions and you should treat
them as separate projects. You might want to think about the presentation as an initial
pitch that would spark the audiences’ interest in reading the main plan.

Research
How can I find out about the size of the market?
Use your best estimate based on the information you can find. Although it may be
challenging to find market information from quality sources, you can glean insight and
make estimates based on primary and secondary research. Likely, your local jurisdiction
reports census-based information by demographic characteristics and is always a good
start (for example, Statistics Singapore in Singapore, the US Census Bureau in the US,
and the Office of National Statistics in the UK). You can also find information about the
market from Chambers of Commerce and from local newspapers and journals.

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What are some good sources of industry/competitor information?

Start by speaking to our librarian, Kristina, who will introduce you to ABI/INFORM, a
repository of information about industries, and Statista, a great resource for market and
consumer data, graphs, charts, and infographics. However, through primary and
secondary research you can find a wealth of information. Good sources of information
include Chambers of Commerce, trade publications, trade associations, government
databases, company monitors (such as companysleuth.com or bizminer.com), industry
commentators and experts, and even competitors themselves—some students have had
good responses by reaching out to competitors to request information. The Dow Jones
Million Dollar Database can yield some basic information and an SIC Industry Code about
primary competitors which in turn can be used to identify other companies in the
industry.

Can I conduct primary research?

Of course! It’s not necessary, but you will learn much from conducting primary research.
You may, for example, run a customer survey, or include insights from interviews
conducted with business leaders. The business plan should be the result of intelligence
you have gathered that speaks to the viability of your idea, and primary data may help
you to refine your strategies.

What can I do if I don’t have any competitors?

All firms have competitors! Even if your idea is very novel, and there are no other
ventures exactly like yours, there will always be competitors. The best way to identify
competitors is to think of the opportunity costs of your idea from the perspective of a
customer. That means, if your customer is not buying from you, what are they buying and
where are they buying it from? Taking this approach serves to widen your analysis, so
that a yoga club might see a relaxation retreat as a competitor, or a water bottle heater is
competing with a standard kettle!

Can the financial information be made up?

No! We recognize that the financial projections are just that—projections of an unknown
future—so don’t worry if you can’t find this information. However, the information you do
use should be logical, reasonable, and clearly based in research. For that reason, we
include an assumptions section, which is used to develop your projections. For example,
if your idea is a restaurant, and you have identified the Total Addressable Market as 1000
customers, growing at 10% per annum, you can easily construct a revenue model over
three years by telling us your assumptions of the average amount each customer will
spend. To estimate cost data, undertake secondary research. For example, consult local

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EMBA Capstone Handbook

real estate listings to get an idea of the rent and rates for your business premises, or
consult competitors’ business plans (a Google search might yield some, or consult the
repository bplans.co.uk) to get an idea of the costs of utilities, transportation and the like.

What kind of help is available at the check-ins?

There will be two opportunities for more specific Capstone Check-ins with the Academic
Team: the first is more focused on your overall business strategy and approach and the
second will be centered around checking your financial statements. A link to schedule
your Capstone check-in will be sent out over Slack and email at the beginning of your
designated Capstone Check-in and Capstone Financials Check-in week. Both are
optional but encouraged! Library check-ins with Kristina are focused on research needs
and can be scheduled at any time using this link.

Grading
What is a passing score?
For the written Capstone plan, you must receive a 3 or higher to receive credit. For the
Capstone presentation, a 2 or higher is passing. In order to graduate, you must submit
and pass both your written Capstone project and your Capstone presentation.

Do I have to do a presentation as well as a written plan?

Yes! Completing and passing your Capstone presentation is a mandatory graduation
requirement.

What happens if I don’t receive a passing score?

If you don’t receive a passing score on your plan or presentation, you will need to revise
(or re-record) and resubmit. This process may delay graduation for you. If you need
assistance making the necessary corrections to your plan or presentation, feel free to
reach out to academics@quantic.edu or library@quantic.edu—we’re happy to help!

What happens if I submit late?

Although your grade won’t be penalized for a late submission, submitting your capstone
late may result in you not graduating on time with the rest of your cohort. Instead, you will
graduate once your project and presentation have been graded, assuming you have
received a passing score on your submission.

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