ENGR90026 Engineering Entruprenureship Group Assessment Help

1 Executive summary

The start-up focussed on an online computer-aided design (CAD) 3d model viewer tool to connect design engineers and employers. The tool generates an ‘HTTP link’ and a QR code which the employers can access, and it will be directed to the hosted CAD model portfolio. The principal customers are engineers who use CAD software, for instance, mechanical design engineers, civil design engineers, electrical design engineers and electronics design engineers. The product is primarily built using cloud servers which allows for easy scaling of the application as well as high reliability and robustness. Presently, no tool offers the unique value that the firm plans to provide which is dedicated hosting and sharing of cad models. The initial monetisation will be done using a freemium business model but once the customers and revenue sources are established advertising sourced revenue model will be eventually implemented.

2 Company overview

Cadportfolio is a start-up company based in Geelong, Victoria, Australia. It’s a company founded on an idea to share computer-aided design portfolio through the internet.

The company was started by a group of mechanical and civil engineers who felt difficulty in sharing their CAD designs to their prospective employers. Upon further market research, it was found that this problem did not have a standard solution in the industry. The basic product was conceived as an online tool which worked as a hosting platform to upload cad designs for engineers and would generate QR code and HTTP link for the employers to visit and see the designs as 3d models. The basic MVP was produced within weeks of conceiving the product.

The product is still in the development phase with the team building a world-class product and is still not open for the public to use.

2.1 Mission statement

Cadportfolio’s mission is to become a bridge between design engineers and their clients. This will ensure that no talented design engineers are left behind.

2.2 Markets and products

What market needs will the company address?

Cadportfolio tries to address a problem which many design engineers face, which is to share their CAD portfolio through the internet in a standardized way. The firm tries to do this using a cloud-based web application which acts as a hosting platform for CAD designs and helps to share the portfolio. The shared portfolio can be viewed by employers or clients using a web browser in a 3d model viewer.

The target customers of the firm are mechanical, civil, electrical and electronics engineers and graduates involved with designing the products using CAD software.

The MVP of the current product has been made successfully and the full product is still in development.

Our business tries to solve a very niche problem for many design engineers but our business is not a CAD software provider, unlike many other competitors.

2.3 Objectives

The objectives of Cadporfolio are as follows. Firstly, we hope to carve out a niche market for ourselves. We hope to do this by providing unique services that are useful to design engineers that are not there yet in the market. This can reduce wastage of talents in the field of design engineering and also, help employers and clients to hire the right talent, thereby improving the productivity of the engineering industry.

We are planning to expand the company to worldwide service, we hope to do this by using a cloud-based approach for our application which can ensure the scalability of the product. But initially, we are focussing more on engineering graduates. Our anticipated exit strategy is to build traction and good market size for ourselves and sell the firm to an online employment-oriented service such as LinkedIn or Indeed. If this anticipated plan doesn’t work out we are planning to take the company public.

3 Product or service description

Every year thousands of new engineering graduates pass out from various universities around the world. Among these engineers, mechanical engineers, civil engineers, electronics engineers and electrical engineers occupy a major portion of the specialised branches. Approximately 30% of engineers end up in some sort of design roles which require computer-aided design or CAD software as the daily driver.

Employers and clients often ask the potential candidates to provide a sample portfolio for deciding who the most suitable engineer. Presently, engineers resort to a multitude of methods including using documents, pictures and websites. None of these methods is efficient. Documents often make the 3d models into 2d images. Personal websites are cumbersome to create and require good programming skills, which many mechanical and civil engineers do not possess. This problem was a personal problem faced by one of the co-founders of the team. Upon further market research, we have concluded that this problem doesn’t have a standard solution yet in the design industry.

3.1 Description

As a possible solution to the above-mentioned problem, Cadportfolio presents www.cadportfolio.xyz a cloud-based tool used to publish a portfolio of CAD designs for design engineers. The tool allows anyone to view the published portfolios by accessing it using an “HTTP” link or a QR code. This lets users to easily access the portfolio using a web browser in a 3d model viewer.

The product is mainly intended for the use by design engineers to upload their CAD portfolios and to share with employers. But also, the product can be used to share the portfolio with clients or anybody whom the engineer wishes to share with.

The billing will be done initially using a freemium business model but later on, we hope to incorporate advertisement sourced revenue model.

3.2 Market comparison

The global CAD market is expected to reach USD 14.2 bn by 2025 from USD 7.5 bn in 2018[1]. The key drivers of the CAD market include the emergence of 3D CAD software and its wide-scale adoption across the construction, dental and automotive industry. The CAD software aids the engineers in designing complex structure easily due to which the demand for CAD tools by mechanical engineers for plumbing and piping has also increased. Furthermore, the other key underlying factors for the growth of CAD software include the integration of virtual reality with CAD software that is driving the market growth.

The Computer-Aided Design (CAD) portfolio software belongs to the CAD market industry of Australia that has reported a CAGR of 3.31% over 2014-2019 time-period[2]. Currently, the major player in the Australian CAD market is InVision with 73.7% hold. However, AutoCAD, Autodesk, 3DS Max and Dassault Systemes follow the market led by InVision with market share of 6.89%, 4.59%, 3.14% and 2.54% respectively (see Figure 1below).

Although the product www.cadportfolio.xyz is not a direct competitor to cad software providers in provides auxiliary service to the industry. Some of the products such as Autodesk Fusion 360 provides cloud storage for designers to upload their CAD designs[4]. In spite these similarities there is still no dedicated tool for sharing CAD designs with different file formats. This is the unique value of our product.

3.3 Stage of development

The basic MVP of the product has been completed including a landing page, a system to add users and create profiles, 3d cad model viewer. Yet the seamless integration of these various components has not been done completely. Presently the product is still under development with the integrating of various components. Once the integration of various components is completed the payment gateway should be setup for the transfer of payment to take place smoothly.

Some of the challenges that we are facing include not having a senior software architect in the team who can guide the project. The team is looking for a senior software architect to direct the project as the project will require a specialist software developer to make this online tool into a world class product. The landing page of the product has been shown in Figure 2