Nerd Patrol: A Business Plan For Computer And Technical Consulting Services

Organization of the Business and Key Players

As the computers are becoming more and more prevalent, there is a need for higher tech and computer services would continue to grow (Scarborough 2016). Nerd Patrol is the business to business technology computer service company providing turnkey computing solution which will offer solution on the latest technology and use of Web-based applications. Use of state of art software and hardware under 24×7 computing facility, e-commerce solution, help desk support, computer hardware repair, software debug and network solutions. The business plan is formed as the guide for starting and managing the new business.

Nerd Patrol would also serve the separate and detailed marketing plan. Nerd Patrol would provide computer and technical consulting services to local small business and domestic PC users. Nerd Patrol would place its focus on marketing, responsiveness, quality by creating and retaining customer relations.

Nerd Patrol would be formed as the partnership venture with partners launching the full-fledged business. Nerd Patrol would be first small business using a rented premises and serving the customers in the local area. The business would look forward to lease the office space and also hire technicians. With the increase in the sales, the owners would look forward to hire the additional personnel.

Nerd Patrol would be the Singapore based company whose objective would be to provide the business with the technology that is needed to compete in the web-based world. By using the state of the art equipment and offering the necessary technological expertise Nerd Patrol introduces the Singapore market with the fresh perspective of business to business technology consulting.

The business would provide small to mid-sized companies with the web-based computing solution by using the state of the art techniques. The company would develop the hosting services to ASP companies and would also provide internet sales from the hosting, e-commerce and web development for the small and medium size companies.

1. Nerd Patrol would offer its customers with three main types of services particularly the hour based technical aid, retainer contracts related to particular skills or system and project consulting.
2. Technology is regarded as the critical component of the business. It is necessary for the owners to remain updated on both the equipment as well as knowledge to be competitive in the future.
3. The business would also provide its customers with the onsite repair services as this will enable the business in providing computer repairs to the individuals or the business within local area.
4. The secondary business part of Nerd Patrol would be installation, customization and maintenance of the computers for its customers.

The aspiration of the business is to offer a written guide for commencing and administering the computer consulting business, a strategic framework for creating a comprehensive tactical marketing plan (Schaper et al. 2014). The intended audience would be the owner of the business and the scope of the business is to offer a detailed yearly projection with yearly summary of the profit, growth and ownership.

The objective of Nerd Patrol is stated below;

1. Profit:The objective of Nerd Patrol is to generated sufficient amount of profit in order to finance the future growth as well as offering the resources that is needed to attain the other objective of the company and its business owners. The owners would look forward to generate a minimum of 45% of the sales during the first year of operation.
2. Growth and Expansion:To expand the business which is both challenging as well as manageable resulting the market with the innovation and adaptability (Burns and Dewhurst 2016). The business aims to be intellectual and social asset to its community and environment.
3. Integrity:Another objective of the business is to be the integrated family of Web-based software applications that supports the entire building lifecycle from the construction to facility management. The business aims to meet the requirement of small business by providing online collaboration with software upgrades and dealing with the problems of network.

Considering the business aspirations Nerd Patrol has placed its emphasis on small business market since the customers does not typically has the full time IT employee however they have the full time IT requirements. Nerd Patrol would provide an affordable, on demand service to its customers. For the residential customers Nerd Patrol would be providing the affordable and helpful services with the flexible schedule so that the customers are able to meet their needs.

Anticipated Operating Costs and Investment Requirements

The vision of the business is to provide the fast response and informed expertise to regularly provide the reliable solution. Nerd Patrol would aim to generate satisfied set of repeated customers and offer the stable retainer base. This would help in generating sufficient amount of profit to provide the owners with the comfortable living.

The mission of the business is meeting the short term objective by starting the company quickly and inexpensively with the minimum amount of debt. The long term business mission is to attain growth. The owners look to forward to grow the company as the profitable and stable company which is easy and comfortable to manage.

Nerd Patrol would be created as the partnership firm which will be jointly owned and operated by John Robbins, Mary Singh and Nabil Quresh. John and Mary has the sufficient five year experience in Microsoft and Oracle software products. The owners have the experience as system engineer in large technology companies and understands the need of computer for small business. The owners have the adept in managing their time and can quickly respond to the multiple customer calls and needs.

Considering the roles for the first three months of the business John and Mary will be responsible for all the aspects of the business. Moving to the third month, when the business hires another technicians John would shift his effort from directly responding to the needs of customers, to training and administering others so that they can do their work effectively. Nabil would be responsible for directly maintaining control over the inventory and would make an effort of entertaining as much as on site customers. A portion of the brand recognition strategy is to recognize the PC repair with the John effort, friendliness and technical expertise. The easy method of associating with two is for Mary to be main portion of customer experience with the service. Mary would be responsible for delegating technical repairs in the later part of the year to the techs that are working in the leased office premises and wold also train the staff in a method that they offer support through direct phone.

With the experience of John and Mary extensively with the computer technicians and support staff during their past employment, they understand what works the best in the set of mutually agreed guidelines. The first week of every technicians that are employed would be dedicated in the direction of helping them in understanding the PC repair guidelines which is stated below;

1. The customers would be needing help and the business is open to help its customers
2. The customers also require the needs reassurance as well as solutions.

How the Business will be Operated

Under this framework the technicians would be able to solve the problems of customers in the best manner that fits them.

John Robbins: Graduate in Computer Science

Mary Singh: Graduate in Computer Science

Nabil Quresh: Graduate in Business Administration

The business would be owned by John, Mary and Nabil under the partnership agreement as the owners possess five years of experience in Information & Communication Technology Industry. With the skills and expertise, the owners would be responsible for creating client connections. The client connection ability of the owners would help in bringing the business operations into a profitable venture within two months of operations. The management team would comprise of John and Mary as they specialize themselves in software aspects of the computer repairs and are anticipated to work together.

The owners also have specialized themselves in computer science and have the working experience in system engineering in the technology industry. The business would hire the service of website designer and networking engineer based on contract basis (McKenzie 2015). The management would be would be responsible for delegation of work among the lower level of organization. Their responsibilities comprising of generating sales revenue and would always register every computer that comes to the company for repairs. The management team of owners would be charged with the responsibilities of expanding the business during the first six months of the operations. They are expected to implement the advertisement operations would be effectively targeting the individuals and small businesses inside the targeted market area.

Nerd Patrol would be hiring the services of four employees within the first few months of operations. The owners of Nerd Patrol aim that the salary of four employees would be directly related to the success of the business and the total salary would never go beyond 18% of the total sales revenue. During the second year of operations the business aims to move under the leased office premises and would look forward to hire additional new employee depending upon the number of sales revenue generated by the business, if the projections are on target. Nerd Patrol also plans to hire additional new part-time employees during the second year in order to better handle the rising amount of sales.

Nerd Patrol employees would be skilled with professional qualifications. The employees are anticipated to have strong technical and individual skills. It is vital for the employees that are paid salaries to commensurate with the business abilities and dedications to serve for the customer satisfaction (Burns 2016). Concerning the responsibilities of the employees, the employees would be responsible for rendering services based on Hourly technical aid, project counselling and on site services. The employees are anticipated to discharge their duties in a responsiveness manner. They are anticipated to be available on call computer paramedic within fast and responsive time. Additionally, the employees would be responsible delivering quality of service as getting the job done at first hand and providing 100% assurance forms their sole responsibility. Apart from technical responsibilities, the employees are anticipated to build social-personal relationship with the clients as developing a royal repeat customer would help in retaining the customers for repeat business.

Legal and Sundary Issues

The following sections of financial plans comprise of the yearly estimates for the standards that is set for the financial tables. A detailed monthly pro-forma table for cash flow is included as well.

The anticipated cash flow from operations for the first year operations stands $1, 24,000. This comprises of the lease expenses, general and administration expenditure, capital improvement costs. The company would also incur the non-recurring expenditure in the areas of equipment’s, computers, utilities and furniture’s. Fixed costs are assumed as the 12% of the sales and the average profit figure that is provided by the source are within the consulting field.  

The anticipated investment requirement stands $196,050. The business expects to incur the total fixed cost of $124,000 during the first year of operations as the start-up costs. The total owners funding would be $120,000 while the rest of funds would be obtained through bank loan. Nerd Patrol would obtain the fund of $100,000 with total start-up funds standing $2,20,000.     

Start-up Requirements
	Start-up Expenses
	Fixed Costs	Particulars	Amount ($)
		Premises (RENT & RATES)	$25,000
		Salaries	$18,000
		Interest on loan 10%	$10,000
		Accountant Fees	$15,750
		Payroll Tax	$2,450
		Retainer contracts	$13,750
		Sales and Marketing	$14,500
		Postage & Telephone	$1,650
		Broachers	$2,400
		Logo Designs	$2,150
		Market survey	$1,250
		Preliminary  expenses	$2,100
		Capital Improvements Expenses	$15,000
		Total Fixed Costs	$1,24,000
	Average Monthly Costs
		Rent	$2,083
		Capital Improvements Expenses	$1,250
		Interest on loan 10%	$833
		Postage & Telephone	$138
		Repairs and Maintenance	$200
		Salaries / Wages	$1,500
		Total Average Monthly Costs	$6,004
		x Number of Months:	12
		Total Monthly Costs	$72,050
	Total Start-up Expenses	$1,96,050
	Start-up Assets
	Owner Funding
		Owners Fund	$1,20,000
		Total Owner Funding	$1,20,000
	Loans
		Bank Loan	$1,00,000
		Other
		Total Loans	$1,00,000
		Total Start-up Funds	$2,20,000
	Assets
		Equipment’s	$40,000
		Computers	$50,000
		Total Fixed Assets	$90,000
	Total Start-up Assets		$3,10,000

(1) SALES FORECAST
Year	0	1	2	3
Projected Sales		2,04,050	2,24,455	2,46,901
Direct Cost of Sales		42,500	48,875	56,206
Cost of Fulfilling Maintenance Contract

(4) PROFIT AND LOSS FORECAST
	Preop
Year	0	1	2	3
Revenue	0	2,04,050	2,24,455	2,46,901
Cost of sales	0	42,500	48,875	56,206
Gross profit	0	1,61,550	1,75,580	1,90,694
Gross Margin		1,79,410	1,87,289	2,09,443
Expenses/overheads
Payroll		25,000	27,500	30,800
Wages and salaries		18,000	19,800	22,176
General expenses		15,750	17,325	19,404
Accountant Fees		15,750	17,325	19,404
Payroll Tax		2,450	2,695	3,018
Utilities		13,750	15,125	16,940
Sales and Marketing		14,500	15,950	17,864
Postage & Telephone		1,650	1,815	2,033
Repairs and Maintenance		2,400	2,640	2,957
Preliminary  expenses		2,100	2,310	2,587
Capital Improvement Cost		15,000	16,500	18,480
Total expenses/overheads		1,26,350	1,22,485	1,37,183
Profit before tax		35,200	53,095	53,511
Tax @ 30%		10,560	15,929	16,053
Before tax net margin		17%	24%	22%
Profit after tax		24,640	37,167	37,458
Transfer to reserves		35,200	53,095	53,511
ROC		25%	31%	25%

(2) CASHFLOW FORECAST	Preop
Year	0	1	2	3
CASH INFLOWS
Cash from Sales		2,04,050	2,24,455	2,46,901
Directors loans	1,00,000	1,00,000	1,00,000	1,00,000
Capital Employed	1,00,000	1,20,000	1,50,000	1,75,000
Other cash inflows
TOTAL CASH INFLOW	2,00,000	4,24,050	4,74,455	5,21,901
CASH OUTFLOWS
Payments for materials		42,500	48,875	56,206
operating expenses (         )	0
Payroll	0	25,000	27,500	30,800
Marketing and Promotion	0	18,000	19,800	22,176
Accountant Fees	0	15,750	17,325	19,404
Lease	0	2,450	2,695	3,018
Supplier contracts	0	13,750	15,125	16,940
Sales and Marketing		14,500	15,950	17,864
Postage & Telephone		1,650	1,815	2,033
Website Development Expenses		2,400	2,640	2,957
Logo Designs		2,150	2,365	2,649
Interest on loan 10%		10,000	10,000	10,000
General and Admin Expenses		1,250	1,375	1,540
Preliminary  expenses		2,100	2,310	2,587
Capital Improvement Cost		15,000	16,500	18,480
Corporation Tax		10,560	15,929	16,053
Loan repayments			10,000	10,000
TOTAL CASH OUTFLOWS	0	1,77,060	2,10,204	2,32,708
Cash flow summary
NET CASHFLOW FOR PERIOD	2,00,000	2,46,990	2,64,252	2,89,193
OPENING CASH BALANCE	0	2,00,000	4,46,990	7,11,242
CLOSING CASH BALANCE	2,00,000	4,46,990	7,11,242	10,00,434

Balance Sheet
Assets	FY-1	FY-2	FY-3
Current Assets
Cash	$60,350	$81,535	$96,498
Accounts receivable	$2,04,050	$2,24,455	$2,46,901
Total current assets	$2,64,400	$3,05,990	$3,43,399
Fixed (Long-Term) Assets
Equipment’s	$40,000	$44,000	$48,400
Computers	$50,000	$55,000	$60,500
Utilities	$20,000	$22,000	$24,200
Furniture’s	$25,000	$27,500	$30,250
(Less accumulated depreciation)	$21,000	$19,000	$18,100
Total fixed assets	$69,000	$80,000	$90,800
Total Assets	$3,33,400	$3,85,990	$4,34,199
Liabilities and Owner’s Equity
Current Liabilities
Bank Charges Payable	$10,000	$10,000	$10,000
Short-term loans	$15,000	$20,000	$50,000
Income taxes payable	$10,560	$15,929	$16,053
Accrued salaries and wages	$18,000	$19,800	$22,176
Total current liabilities	$53,560	$65,729	$98,229
Long-Term Liabilities
Long-term debt	$1,00,000	$90,000	$80,000
Less: Loan Repayment		$10,000	$10,000
Total long-term liabilities	$1,00,000	$80,000	$70,000
Owner’s Equity
Owner’s investment	$1,20,000	$1,50,000	$1,75,000
Net Profits	$24,640	$37,167	$37,458
Reserve and Surplus	$35,200	$53,095	$53,511
Total owner’s equity	$1,79,840	$2,40,262	$2,65,969
Total Liabilities and Owner’s Equity	$3,33,400	$3,85,990	$4,34,199

Nerd Patrol intends to implement the extensive marketing strategies that would make sure that greater visibility is available for the business in its targeted market. Nerd Patrol would undertake a fairly focussed marketing strategy. The summary of marketing strategy is stated below;

1. The logical and the target market for Nerd Patrol would be the Home Office and Small business. These business largely has the need of having the temporary technical assistance and are generally billed at the hourly rate (Ross and Byrd 2015). There are some opportunity that exist particularly for the retainer and specific project contracts.
2. There are certain number of competing services provides in the local area. These competitors appears to be widely specialized as well as widely sized which leaves sufficient amount of opportunity for the Nerd Patrol to establish and expand a niche in the selected market segments.
3. Finally it is worth discovering the trends in growth in this market which is projected to be around 9 to 10 per cent yearly.

Nerd Patrol would be providing computer support both in the areas of consulting and technical ability for the small business owners along with the home computer users. As computer repair is presently one man operations, the growth of the business would restricted in the first three months under the capacity of the owners to complete the work (Hatten 2015). The first three months of the business operations would be critical in creating the credibility of Nerd Patrol and reputation for obtaining the customers as well as resolving their job quickly. The business would aim to develop the outstanding service and would use the word of mouth from the commencing period to network with other probable customers.

The personal market analysis conducted by the owners suggest that an attractive niche market for computer repairs, hardware and software problems, networking and software debugging would take full advantage (Hutchinson 2017). The nature of computer industry, with astonishing amount of technological advancement, results in continuous need for the businesses that are skilled in updating and advising the customers related to computer issues. Local competing firms have witnessed a rapid growth in demand for computer services in the last few years (Kuratko 2016). Customers are found to seek assistance with everything starting from the installation of software and hardware machineries, to networking and transfer of files from old machines to new computer. As a result small business owners requires reliable and quick assistance for all their computer needs, as every down hour may result in loss of revenue, particularly for the business that are engaged in website or doing the work of e-commerce.

Major Challenges

The current computer service market is regarded as very extensive and categorizing the market is difficult (Solomon et al. 2014). The owners can break their potential market down into two groups depending upon their needs particularly the home PC users and the small business customers.

Home PC Users:

Nerd Patrol home PC users market comprises of the non-technical savvy local residents customers that ranges between the age of 30 years to 60 years having a minimum of one computer at home. The business expects lower income from these users as they range below the age group of 30 years and are very comfortable with the technology. These users are willing to make an attempt and upgrades on their own or with the help of local technicians once in every quarter (Baker 2014). These home PC users usually own the computer for the purpose of doing emails, playing games and writing letters. They also use PC for printing photos and occasionally for the purpose of bookkeeping or taxes. Home PC users are tends to use the sophisticated software applications and perform repair and upgrades through local technicians. Their hardware needs comprises of the computer machines, monitors, keyboards, mouse, scanner and printer.

Small Business Owners:

Small business owners would form the major part of revenue for Nerd Patrol. The small business market will be defined as the customers that are located within the fifteen mile radius having two or more computers or network that is used for conducting business (Armstrong et al. 2015). Their business use may comprise of minor use, namely updating the business website, designing of graphics or advertisement campaign and writing the copy of press release. It may also be for more extensive purpose such as recording inventory, POS system, consumer database, online product or service delivery or product development.

The greater is their computer usage for business the more critical it becomes for them to make their technology work well and reliably (Jaworski 2018). Therefore, in such Nerd Patrol would be delivering quality of repairs and support available in crisis. The small business hardware needs would comprise of similar items as the home PC users however it would also include servers, a system of backups, data storage and wireless networking. The segment of small business market is growing at a rate of 5% every year.

Market analysis suggest that six market segments as the starting point:

1. Business that are not using computers
2. Small business entrepreneurs that are using a minimum of one or more computers
3. Small to medium size firms that are using computers on networks
4. Big corporations that are seeking assistance in solving the problems of specific projects
5. Government agencies, corporations and other organizations that are in search of computer training.
6. Businesses that are in search of custom computer programming services

Nerd Patrol would place its focus on the top market segments as well with intently remaining focussed on the marketing strategy.

Business’s Vision, Mission, and Objectives

As per the market analysis conducted, findings from the analysis suggest that computer repair industry have three different opportunities that prevails for the computer consultants;

1. Temporary Technical Aid:Short term technical aid for finding solutions. This is regarded as the largest market.
2. Specific skills:The software speciality is second largest area that consists of mainly

• Setting up systems and purchase guidance
• System optimization and reengineering
• Network administration
• Repair
• Data storage
• Database or application development
• Security data protection

1. Trouble shooting or bailout

Nerd Patrol would be adopting the price matching strategy instead of adopting entry pricing. Nerd Patrol would employ the following pricing strategy;

• Hour based price:The average hour based pricing that would be charged is $75.00 per hour
• Retainer Pricing:This method of pricing is based on the number of anticipated minimum number of hours per month with the average price being $150.
• Project Pricing:This method of pricing is for project based work and Nerd Patrol would be charging 8 hours x $75.00 per hour.

Nerd Patrol primary promotional strategy would be in accordance with the strategy pyramids stated previously. The lead strategy would be focussed on nurturing the current relationships by using the known networking technical expertise to the range of referrals and new customer leads. Added with this would be blend of websites based marketing and traditional method of building public relations (Wensley 2016). The ultimate promotional strategy would be providing customer’s satisfaction as happy customers would generate new and repeat business.

The product strategy that is offered by Nerd Patrol is very simple; timely and practical solutions for each customer’s computer related problems with all at the reasonable rate. The most important aspects of Nerd Patrol product is that it offers 100% satisfaction and guarantee by building and retaining customer’s confidence (Jacobs, Chase and Lummus 2014). The product of business would include providing individuals and the small businesses with the wide range of computer and networking related services that would include the hardware and upgrades related to software, hardware repairing, problems in software and dealing with network problems.

The business would be located in Orchard Road one of the busy streets of Singapore. The business will have the wide range of access to individual and small business customers. The location provides the owners with the convenient in locating or visiting their onsite customers (Jacobs and Chase 2017). The distinctive charm of Orchard Road makes an attractive place to locate the business as there are number of small business and home PC users that would provide Nerd Patrol with ease of locating and visiting customers.

Customers chooses computer repair and assistance services depending on the reputations, earlier experience and price. The customers might choose to visit the mediocre service provider with whom they are familiar, instead of trying out the new unknown company regarding whom the customers have the knowledge. Large stores particularly with the service departments of the national chains have the greater advantage particularly in their affiliation with the well-known brand (Monczka et al. 2015). Creating the identity of brand and a good company reputation during the first few months of operations is regarded as the critical to the success of the business. Once Nerd Patrol have made its presence felt into the local market, the better service rendering capacity would turn the new clients into the permanent clients in the present competitive market.

There are two main competitors for Nerd Patrol are the computer upgrade and the repair business in this area;

Super Media: They are the well-established computer service provider that provides services on upgradation and quick work for the clients. Though, they have the highest number of staff turnover but their staff are young and inexperienced (Johnson 2014). The staff are more interested in selling the new machinery components instead of maintaining the current machines or finding the solutions for customers. They hardly provide the onsite services to the clients and does not provide onsite help. The main part of their service comprises of hardware support.

Onramp Labnet: Despite being the smaller and less known company it provide numerous range of services for residents that are living in the east and south parts of the town. They are highly willing to indulge with the customers for solving their problems and figures out what is exactly required by the clients. They suggest new options rather than providing hardware and software support. They do not provide the onsite support services, however they are considering instituting a trial pick and drop off service. Onramp Labnet can be considered to be in the best position of copying the innovations and stealing the customers however their management appears to be complacent and might not respond to the competition.

The competitive analysis shows that both the competitors charge excessive amount of PC repair charges and the owners of Nerd Patrol can attract the customers based on the price sensitive market without much of the work.

The location of the business would be on the Orchard Road which is regarded as one of the busy streets of Singapore. The location of the business would enable Nerd Patrol in gaining access to wide set of customer’s base that would range from both the small business customers to individual PC users (Bratton and Gold 2017). The central location of business would enable its staff to conveniently visit the onsite customers and can also arrange the pick and drop off facilities for its potential customers.

The business would be open from Monday to Saturday from 8 a.m. in the morning to 9 p.m. in the evening throughout the week. The business would operate during the peak business hours which would enable the owners to take the advantage of growing computer trends.

The business would also employ the quality assurance program to achieve the quality excellence which is the base for the management of the business and key measures in attaining customer’s satisfaction (Hill, Jones and Schilling 2014). It is the policy of the company to constantly provide the service which meets the expectations quality of its customers.

The business would actively pursue to improve the quality through the programs that would enable each of the employee to do their job rightly in their first time. The business operations would also include the discover production quality assurance program that would comprise of the new employee orientation on the quality assurance plan. Furthermore, it would implement the in-house training programs for all the employees and the formal certifications training programs (Ferrell and Fraedrich 2015). A quality assurance program would comprise of the performing assurance checks for continuous basis as this would help in making sure that quality workmanship to the company customers is maintained.

The company would aim to prevent the problems by anticipating them. Protection can be attained through planning and would be able to avoid the time and costs that are related with the repair.  

There are certain kinds of laws which is applicable to the new business of computer repair services. Nerd Patrol is requiring to be legally compliant with the applicable rules and regulation governing the business. The business owners would be required to registered their business before commencing their operations. Apart from obtaining the registration of business name, the owners are required to comply with the numerous taxation rules governing the legal structure of Nerd Patrol. The includes the following;

1. Goods and service tax
2. Tax file number of business
3. Payroll taxation
4. Commercial licence of business

Taking into the considerations the operations and functions of business there is a need for obtaining the commercial license to make sure that the owners of the Nerd Patrol comply with the lawful business obligations. Particularly, the Singapore Business License and Information Services would necessarily help in obtaining the permits and registration that is needed for commercial operations of business.

Apart from the above stated legal requirement, Nerd Patrol would also comply with the Contract Law for complying with the Singapore trade authority applicable rules. The business would adhere with the privacy rules of trade secrets as this would help in dealing with the process of diverse client’s personal information for the purpose of direct marketing and divulging with the personal information.

Corporate compliance creates an impact on all types of companies in all forms of industries. It is necessary to discover the forms of records and other documents that should be obtained and maintained by the owners of Nerd Patrol. The laws that apply to the computer service industry may vary in other industry and would be depending upon the range of different factors (Carlon et al. 2015). As a result of this it is very important to obtain the service of an outside legal attorney which help in making sure that the business complies with the federal and state laws that are applicable.      

To protect the business from facing the legal expensive situations it is necessary for the owners of Nerd Patrol to read up on all the available business as this would help the business owners in getting familiar with the legal aspects of business. The business would hire the legal service of commercial lawyer to obtain legal advice on legal issues.

The owners would comply with the financial laws by reading up the laws that concern the business and its customers. The owners would familiarize themselves with the employment and labour laws as this would help in understanding the legal aspects that governs the hiring practices in business. Additionally, the business owners would obtain the protection under the intellectual property as this would give the owners of Nerd Patrol to obtain the protection of over their works. This will help in understanding how the intellectual property law functions and would help in protecting their work.

Nerd Patrol would also take appropriate measures for marketing and advertising law. This is because businesses get sued over the misleading statements that are made in their marketing materials. Understanding the marketing and advertisement laws would help Nerd Patrol in avoiding the trouble with the law.

To avoid any legal issues, the business owners would back up their partnership within the agreements. Prior to commencing any business relationships with the new business partners, customers or service provider, the agreement would put forward the terms and conditions of customer relationship in writing. This would save both the owners and customers from ending their business relationships in court.  

The major business challenges that might be faced by the owners of Nerd Patrol is given below

1. Fierce Competition: The corporate world can be characterised as fierce. There is an environment of ongoing competition among the giants. Competition pose one of the biggest challenges for the survival of Nerd Patrol business. The competitive market may keep the start up on their toes since there is no margin of errors available. Both the B2C and B2B companies generally feels the heat of fierce competition. However, to survive in the environment of fierce competition business environment should cover both the traditional users of PC and small business entities. Being the start-up company Nerd Patrol needs to play in an aggressive manner as this will help in punching above their weight and gaining the wide market attention among the clusters of ever challenging and expanding businesses.
2. Unrealistic Expectations: For Nerd Patrol success does not comes alone and bring expectations with it as well. In most of instances these anticipations appears to be realistic however in real sense they may be unrealistic. The same concepts is a applicable for the young start-ups. Start-ups such as Nerd Patrol may face the challenge when they set up the unrealistic anticipations. The owners should understand that success may be short lived and expectations is a never ending concept. For start-ups like Nerd Patrol sustainability is the name of the game and sustainability requires constant efforts. To gain success in the competitive business world, start-ups such as Nerd Patrol should have high but controlled anticipations, bearing in mind the resource available, the degree of potential growth and other market forces should be considered as well.
3. Hiring the suitable candidates: The most important factor which defines the culture of organization within the start-ups comprises of synergy of team. A team usually consists of individuals that are having identical capabilities and same focus. To develop the highly capable team the start-ups face the challenge of hiring suitable candidates. There are large pool of ambitious candidates available. However, it is difficult to choose the right candidate that fits the job aspects is difficult task. Hiring the suitable candidates is regarded as the challenging task for the start-up business in the age of digital world.
4. Partnership decision making:Partnership forms the spirit of success and such logic holds true for the start-ups such as Nerd Patrol. In the ever growing and ever changing digital era where organizations battle for survival start-ups may find it difficult to make a collective partnership decision making (Maynard 2017). Forming a partnership may result in paying greater amount of dividend for the start-ups however they require considerable amount of factors to be considered while taking decisions to collaborate with other company operating in the identical eco system. To derive maximum amount of benefit from the partnership, start-ups such as Nerd Patrol must look for organizations that enjoy greater amount of presence in the market and better reputations among the industry players.
5. Financial management: It is noteworthy to remember that when there is an increase in income the expenditure also increases. However, one of the biggest challenge that is faced by the company is the financial management. It is understood that small start-up companies are heavily dependent upon the financial backs ups from the investors (Macve 2015). At times, where there is an influx in cash, small firms and particularly the start-ups generally find it difficult to properly administer their finance and consequently surrender under the pressure. To address such kind of situation for Nerd Patrol, the owners are required to play safe and should be cautious by keeping track of the expenses and revenues. Obtaining the help of financial consultancy firm or finance expert would help in managing the finances problems that the company may face.  
6. Winning the customers trust: Customers are king and they are the source for any business success. Winning the trust of customers is one of the most vital challenges that business in general faces particularly the start-up like Nerd Patrol may face. With high degree of satisfied customers and loyal customers, Nerd Patrol can scale and make advancement in the direction of the excellence. Customers forms the real force behind the success of every start-up. To win the trust of customers starts up are required to work aggressively as this would help in implementing a customer centric working relationship. This would enable them to succeed in pursuit of obtaining better sustainability growth and progress that is desired by them in the current tech savvy and challenging business environment.

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