Executive Summary
Green Investments (GI) is a financial service company that focuses on stocks of environmentally responsible companies. The Washington-based L.L.C. is lead by Sarah Lewis and Steve Burke. GI uses financial research purchased from Bear Stearns and in-house environmental responsibility analysis to make recommendations to clients.
Services
GI has developed a criteria-based marker system which is easy and effective in evaluating a wide range of different companies on their environmental impact. Only financially prudent/performing companies are evaluated, ensuring that its recommendations make both financial and environmental sense.
Competitive Edge
GI will leverage the proprietory evaluation system to quickly gain market share. The system is convenient and based on extensive research, providing a streamlined overview of the environmental performance of the companies.
Market
GI will concentrate on the unserved niche of environmental investing within the financial services market. GI faces indirect competition from environmentally responsible mutual funds, which do a similar job in assessing a company's environmental performance but do not allow for investing in individual equity.
Management Team
GI is lead by two experienced managers, Sarah Lewis, and Steve Burke. Sarah has a masters degree in environmental studies and has worked for the Environmental Protection Agency where she was responsible for preparing environmental impact statements. Steve has an MBA and has worked for Salomon Smith Barney where he developed an extensive amount of networking contacts.
GI addresses a previously ignored niche of the financial services market. GI will generate $230,000 and $261,000 in sales in year two and three respectively.

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1.1 Objectives * To become the premier environmental investment firm. * Attract more people into making investments based on environmental actions of the prospective companies, in effect raising the awareness of and supporting investments in companies that act on environmental concerns. * Continue to drive down the costs associated with investment research as it relates to environmental criteria.
1.2 Mission
Green Investments' mission is to become the premier financial service organization that makes investment in companies with outstanding environmental records and practices. Green Investments, through comprehensive research and well thought out and verifiable marker criteria will be able to identify sound environmental investments. By offering the highest level of services, Green Investments will succeed as a company as well as have a positive impact on our environment.
1.3 Keys to Success * Develop a workable, accurate set of environmental markers for a wide range of environmental impacts a company faces. * Purchase high-quality financial performance investment research, recognizing that there is no value added for Green Investments doing this research themselves. * Price the service so that there is a good profit margin while remaining competitive.

Company Summary
Green Investments is a Washington-based financial service company that is concentrating on the niche of environmentally responsible companies. The company is owned by Steve Burke and Sarah Lewis. It has been formed as a L.L.C.
2.1 Start-up Summary
The following equipment will be needed for start up: * Phone system (5 line). * Workstation computers (4), back end server, DSL Internet connection, and laser printer. * Office furniture, meeting room and waiting room furniture. * Monthly service charge for Bears Stearns software. * Fax machine, copier, lighting, and assorted office supplies.

2.2 Company Ownership
Steve Burke and Sarah Lewis equally own Green Investments. While they initially were going to create a S Corporation as the business formation, they decided to form as a L.L.C. as a means to avoid double taxation found with a corporation yet realizing the benefits of personal liability avoidance.

Services
Green Investments is a financial service company that offers investment advice specifically for stocks. GI purchases fiscal performance research from Bear Stearns, one of the highest respected firms in the market. In addition to solid financial performance criteria, GI has developed a set of environmental markers by which it can analyze and grade the attractiveness of the environmental impact that a company has.
As mentioned earlier, the economic performance of a company is rated by the financial firm Bear Stearns. Green Investments purchases Bear Stearns research based on recognition that there is no value added to do this research. The confidence of the research is quite high because of the firm performing it. If Bear Stearns' research or another firm of comparable quality was not available Green Investments would have to rethink the decision to farm out this research.
Green Investments has developed a comprehensive set of environmental markers for which a company and their environmental impact can be evaluated. The following areas are evaluated: * Energy usage * Water usage * Recycling program * Paper consumption and procurement * Chemical cleaning usage * Ground maintenance impact * Formal environmental policy * Recycling rate
All of the markers include current, next stage, and long run benchmarks.
Green Investments takes the list of recommended investments from Bear Stearns and then applies environmental marker criteria to narrow the list down. The result is a list of possible investments (stocks) that are recommended because of their fiscal and environmental performance. Green Investments attempts to make evaluations of companies in a wide range of sectors allowing the customer to make the choice as to what type of company/industry that they would like to invest in.
Green Investments' service charge is similar to a typical brokerage fee system based on a percentage. While Green Investments is a bit more expensive than other standard financial services companies because of the additional research required, the variance is not that material, particularly to customers that want good performing stocks but only want to invest with environmentally sound companies.
Several recent well respected studies indicate that "green" stocks are not inherently under performing. Actually it is just the reverse, companies that make decisions with environmental considerations in mind generally perform better.

Market Analysis Summary
Green Investments has identified two distinct groups of target customers. These two groups of customers are distinguished by their household wealth. They have been grouped as customers with <$1 million and >$1 million in household wealth. The main characteristic that makes both of these groups so attractive is their desire to make a difference in the world by making investment decisions that take into account environmental factors.
The financial services industry has many different niches. Some advisors provide general investment services. Others will only offer one type of investments, maybe just mutual funds or might concentrate on bonds. Other service providers will concentrate on a specific niche like technology or socially responsible companies.
4.1 Market Segmentation
Green Investments has segmented the target market into two distinct groups. The groups can be differentiated by their difference in household wealth, households of <$1 million and >$1 million. * <$1 million (household worth): These customers are middle class people who have a concern for the environment and are taking personal action through their choosing of stock investments based on companies with both strong economic and environmental performance records. Because these people do not have an over abundance of money they choose stocks that are of moderate risk. Generally, this group has 35%-45% of their portfolio in stocks, the remaining percentages in other types of investments. * >$1 million (household worth): These customers are upper middle class to upper class. They have amassed over $1 million in savings and are fairly savvy investors (themselves or the people they hire). These people are generally concerned about the rate of return of their investments but also have environmental concerns.
Some characteristics that are shared by both target segments include: * Vehicles are chosen with environmental concerns in mind. This means they are unlikely to own a SUV, they may in fact be one of the first adopters of the new hybrids (gas/electric vehicles). * Many of the people commute by bike, car pool or use public transportation when possible. * Active recyclers, both at work as well as at home. * Retail purchases are made with environmental concerns in mind. * A higher percentage of these people relative to the general population are vegetarians. * For recreational sports, particularly outdoor sports, the people are more likely to enjoy hiking, XC skiing, and other human powered activities instead of golf, downhill skiing, snowmobiling, and jet skiing, all sports that are destructive to the environment.