The Marketing Plan
Get numbers on your strategy. Evaluate the first two rounds and write down a Marketing Plan, complete with previsions and objectives. When are you going to do big R&D projects? When will you release new products? What is the size of the loan? etc... Be realistic. Do not believe that you can have a tremendous growth rate far beyond that of the actual market. And above all do not underestimate the competition! They are likely to hinder your growth. The Marketing plan will help you to see if you are on track. At the beginning of each round fill in your results and compare them with your previsions.
Loan
You probably will want to borrow some money at the beginning. Try to make a good prevision about how much money you will need to borrow for the whole game, so that you know how much you will have to pay back per round. If you need to borrow money again, chances are that you will screw up your budget. Try to think realistic and make your calculations, and then stick to the result, even if it's a huge sum of money.
Accounting
Unfortunately you will have to do a bit of accounting. Below is a sample sheet at its bare minimum. You will need to keep track of at least these values. Unless you're a discounter, the rule of thumb is: the higher the gross margin percentage, the more profitable is your company.
| Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | total |
| Turnover (revenue) | ||||||||
| Total | ||||||||
| Market 1 | ||||||||
| Market 2 | ||||||||
| Gross Margin1 | ||||||||
| Gross Margin %2 |
| Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | total |
| Advertising | ||||||||
| Sales force | ||||||||
| R&D | ||||||||
| Market Research | ||||||||
| Total |
| Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | total |
| Installment amount |
If you have the time and want to write down a complete income statement, refer to Monychimp.com for a sample sheet. (http://www.moneychimp.com/articles/financials/income.htm)
1Total sales revenue - cost of goods sold
This dollar amount represents the amount of money the company generated over the cost of producing its goods or services. This amount can then be used to pay fixed expenses such as leasehold payments and administrative expenses. (http://www.investopedia.com/terms/g/grossmargin.asp)
2( (Total sales revenue - cost of goods sold) / total sales revenue) * 100
This number represents the proportion of each dollar of revenue that the company banks as gross profit. For example, if a company's gross margin for the most recent quarter was 35%, it would retain $0.35 from each dollar of revenue generated, to be put towards paying off general and administrative expenses and ultimately banked as net income. (http://www.investopedia.com/terms/g/grossmargin.asp)