| Course | BUSI 4002 Small Business Ventures |
|---|---|
| Week | Week 2 |
| Paper type | Opportunity screen |
| Length | About 900 words, 6 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Walden University |
| Program | BS in Business Administration |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for BUSI 4002 Week 2
Screening Four Venture Ideas for One Former Sous-Chef in Des Moines: Five Weighted Criteria, a Demand Threshold That Eliminates the Mall Kiosk and Why Mobile Sharpening Beats Pet Waste Removal by 0.7 Points
Student Name
Walden University
BUSI 4002: Small Business Ventures
Instructor Name
Month Day, Year
Screening Four Venture Ideas for One Former Sous-Chef in Des Moines: Five Weighted Criteria, a Demand Threshold That Eliminates the Mall Kiosk and Why Mobile Sharpening Beats Pet Waste Removal by 0.7 Points
The Founder and the Ideas
I spent nine years as a line cook and then sous-chef in Des Moines restaurants, and I have about $20,000 saved toward starting a business. I want something I can run alone at first, that I could start for under $60,000 and that brings in repeat revenue rather than one-time sales. Four ideas came out of conversations with friends and former coworkers:
A. Mobile sharpening: a van that sharpens knives for restaurants, shears for salons and barbers, and mower blades for landscaping crews, on site.
B. Pressure washing for restaurant patios, drive-throughs and dumpster pads.
C. Weekly pet waste removal for homes with yards, sold as a subscription.
D. A shoe and leather repair kiosk in a suburban mall.
The Criteria and Why Each Matters
I chose five criteria and weighted them by how much each would matter to whether the business survives its first two years.
Evidence of paying demand (30 percent). Not whether people like the idea, but whether there are buyers who already pay for something similar or have said they would. This gets the most weight because most new ventures fail for lack of customers. Any idea scoring below 3 here is dropped regardless of its total.
Startup cost under $60,000 (20 percent). Ideas that need much more than I have saved plus a small loan would require investors I do not have.
Fit with my skills (20 percent). Brüderl et al. (1992) found that founders' relevant experience improved new firms' survival chances. An idea I already know how to do well starts with an advantage.
Recurring revenue (15 percent). A business that sells the same customer something every week is easier to plan and finance than one chasing new customers constantly.
Competition (15 percent). Fewer direct competitors scores higher, though some competition is a sign that demand exists.
The Scores
Table 1
Weighted Screen of Four Venture Ideas
| Criterion and weight | A. Mobile sharpening | B. Pressure washing | C. Pet waste removal | D. Shoe repair kiosk | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paying demand, 30% | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | |
| Startup cost, 20% | 4 | 4 | 5 | 2 | |
| Skill fit, 20% | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | |
| Recurring revenue, 15% | 5 | 3 | 5 | 2 | |
| Competition, 15% | 3 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| Weighted score out of 5 | 4.20 | 2.85 | 3.50 | 2.10 | |
Scores run from 1, weakest, to 5, strongest. Weighted score is the sum of each score times its weight.
Why Each Idea Scored as It Did
Mobile sharpening scored highest on skill fit, since I have sharpened knives for kitchen crews for years, and on recurring revenue, since restaurants dull knives every week. Demand evidence is solid but not complete: in Polk County there were 391 full-service restaurants, 167 beauty salons and 177 landscaping businesses in 2024 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2025), and several chefs I know already pay a mail-in service. Startup cost is moderate, mainly a used van and sharpening equipment. Competition is the weak spot: a few national knife exchange services operate in the area.
Pressure washing has demand and modest startup costs, but I have no experience with commercial washing or the wastewater rules that come with it, and contracts are often seasonal.
Pet waste removal scored second. It is cheap to start and naturally recurring, and franchises show there is demand. But it fits none of my skills, and I would be competing on price for residential customers I have no connections with.
The shoe repair kiosk fails the demand threshold. Mall foot traffic has fallen, the lease would be expensive, and I would need to learn a craft from scratch.
Would Other Weights Change the Winner?
A screen can be rigged by its weights, so I checked whether a different weighting would change the winner. If demand evidence and recurring revenue were weighted equally at 25 percent each, with the other three criteria at about 17 percent, mobile sharpening would still score about 4.2 and pet waste removal about 3.7. If skill fit were dropped entirely, on the theory that skills can be learned, sharpening would fall to about 4.0 and pet waste removal would rise to about 3.9, close but still behind. Even weighting startup cost at 40 percent leaves sharpening ahead, about 4.15 to 3.88. That tells me the choice does not depend on one generous weight, though it does depend on my skills counting for something, which I think is right for a one-person business.
The Decision
Mobile sharpening wins with 4.20, ahead of pet waste removal at 3.50. The margin comes almost entirely from skill fit and demand evidence, the two criteria I weighted most heavily for survival. Shane and Venkataraman (2000) argued that opportunities exist for particular people because of what they know; my years in kitchens are exactly the knowledge that makes this opportunity mine rather than anyone's.
The screen could be wrong in one important way. If restaurants that already use a national exchange service will not switch, demand is weaker than I scored it. That is the condition the feasibility test will examine. Kahneman and Lovallo (1993) warned that people evaluating their own plans tend toward optimistic forecasts, which is why the next step tests the weakest score rather than the strongest.
References
Brüderl, J., Preisendörfer, P., & Ziegler, R. (1992). Survival chances of newly founded business organizations. American Sociological Review, 57(2), 227-242. https://doi.org/10.2307/2096207
Kahneman, D., & Lovallo, D. (1993). Timid choices and bold forecasts: A cognitive perspective on risk taking. Management Science, 39(1), 17-31. https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.39.1.17
Shane, S., & Venkataraman, S. (2000). The promise of entrepreneurship as a field of research. Academy of Management Review, 25(1), 217-226. https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.2000.2791611
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2025). Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages: 2024 annual averages, Polk County, Iowa [Data set]. https://www.bls.gov/cew/
What the BUSI 4002 Week 2 instructions ask for
Week 2 asks you to compare three to five venture ideas using criteria you define and defend. Describe the founder, since fit matters, and each idea briefly. Then set out the criteria with weights or thresholds before scoring anything, explaining why each matters to whether a business would survive. Score every idea on every criterion in a table and compute a total. The paper should explain why the winner won and why each other idea lost, in terms of the criteria. A strong screen also tests whether the result depends on the weights you chose. Name the weakest point in the winning idea, since it becomes the subject of later feasibility work. Two to four pages with one scoring table is typical.
Inside the BUSI 4002 Week 2 example
The paper introduces the founder's nine years in kitchens and $20,000 of savings, then the four ideas. A criteria section gives each a weight and a reason, citing Brüderl and colleagues on founder experience, and sets a minimum demand score. The scoring table shows weighted totals of 4.20, 2.85, 3.50 and 2.10. A section explains each idea's scores, using 2024 counts of 391 full-service restaurants, 167 salons and 177 landscaping businesses in Polk County from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A sensitivity section tries three other weightings and finds sharpening ahead unless skill fit is dropped. The decision section cites Shane and Venkataraman on opportunities tied to what particular people know, and Kahneman and Lovallo on optimism, before naming demand as the condition to test next.
Where the marks sit in the BUSI 4002 Week 2 rubric
Graders look first at the criteria. Criteria that are vague, unweighted or defined after scoring suggest the screen was built to confirm a favorite. Each criterion should connect to survival or success, and weights should be justified. The scoring table must be complete and the arithmetic correct. Explanations of the scores should cite facts about each idea rather than impressions. The strongest screens test whether a different reasonable weighting would change the answer and say so honestly. Naming the winner's weakest score, and planning to test it, shows the screen is a step in an argument rather than a conclusion. Readings should support the choice of criteria, such as the role of founder experience.
BUSI 4002 Week 2 help: mistakes that cost marks
List your ideas and, before scoring, write down what would make any of them survive: customers who pay, affordable startup, your skills, repeat sales, manageable competition. Weight those factors and set any thresholds. Then score each idea honestly, with a sentence of evidence for each score. Compute totals and check the arithmetic. Try one or two other weightings to see if the winner changes. Weak screens use criteria like "passion" without definition, score only the favorite carefully or skip the explanation of why the losers lost. Others never say what the winner's weak point is. If you would like a model opportunity screen for ideas you are considering, share the ideas and a little about your background.
Get a BUSI 4002 Week 2 example written to your instructions
Send the Week 2 prompt with the rubric and the desk builds the screen to it, first sample free, back in 24 to 48 hours. Prescribed criteria columns get used as written; where the choice is left open, the sample argues for the set it adopts. Weighted and unweighted versions are both available.
More BUSI 4002 papers and BS in Business Administration samples
- BUSI 4002 Week 1: Small Business Survival Post
- BUSI 4002 Week 3: Venture Concept Statement
- BUSI 4002 Week 4: Make-or-Break Feasibility Test
- BUSI 4002 Week 5: Disconfirming Evidence Peer Replies
- BUSI 4002 Week 6: Business Plan Market Section
- BUSI 4002 Week 7: First-Year Startup Cost Estimate
- BUSI 4002 Week 8: Venture Risk Register
- BUSI 4002 Week 9: Startup Funding Section
- BUSI 4002 Week 10: One-Page Pitch Summary
- BUSI 4002 Week 11: Complete Venture Report
- BUSI 3016 Week 2: Income Statement Line Read
- BUSI 3014 Week 2: Business Question Framing
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BUSI 4002 Week 2 questions, answered
Where can I find a free BUSI 4002 Week 2 sample paper?
All four ideas, the scoring table and the weighting check are printed below; there is no charge.
Which ideas does the BUSI 4002 Week 2 example compare?
Mobile sharpening, pressure washing for restaurants, weekly pet waste removal and a shoe repair kiosk in a mall.
What criteria are used?
Evidence of paying demand, startup cost under $60,000, fit with the founder's skills, recurring revenue and competition, each weighted.
Which idea wins, and by how much?
Mobile sharpening, at 4.20 out of 5, ahead of pet waste removal at 3.50.
Does the winner depend on the weights?
Mostly not; sharpening stays ahead under other weightings, though the margin narrows if skill fit is ignored.