1. What is the need that each product addresses?

Overweight and obesity are the fifth leading risk for global deaths. Approximately 2 billion people in the world are overweight and around 550 million people are obese. This is way above the number of people living in China, the most populated country in the world. These people are more prone to most lethal diseases like cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and high blood pressure. In this urban world, the way of living has changed drastically. Like a coin has two sides, similarly our lives are certainly more comfortable but it has some negative effects as well. People are shifting to more sedentary jobs and physical inactivity. The increase in a high fat diet and the changing modes of transportation are the main causes of the dangerous obesity. Body Mass Index or BMI is a tool used to determine obesity. If BMI >= 25 then one is considered overweight and if BMI >=30, its the risk zone, obesity. The top most obese countries in the world are Mexico and United States of America. 67% Americans over age 20 are overweight and 33% are obese. On an average 500 million dollars are spent due to obesity related diseases in US alone. All these facts depicted demanded ways to eliminate obesity. Till 2007 Gastric weight loss surgery was considered the most effective treatment for this. The process shrinks the size of the patients stomach so that it fills up quickly and them a feeling of early satiation. But this has been classified as severely dangerous by American Medical Association. This led to the NEED of development of a non invasive device to fight against obesity and thus MINOVA was born. This small device was believed to have significant advantages over the bariatric surgery such as being cheap, fast, and most importantly less injurious. 2. What is it that the company will offer to address this need? Many mechanisms have been developed to control obesity but Minova was far ahead with many advantages. Firstly Its a very small device which was considered to be much safer than other non-invasive devices. Because of its size it reduced the risk of perforation in the esophagus, and its one-shot deployment, allowing the physician to complete the procedure without having to pass through the throat more than once. Secondly, as the process is completed the same day the cost of the procedure was reduced substantially. Its expected that this device would save upto $10000. Thirdly, with MInova, the patient would be able to leave the hospital same day unlike 2-4 days other process and the physicians could perform 2-4 times as many procedures in agiven time frame compared to first generation devices. Moreover as the device is inserted through the throat into the stomach, so it does not leave any scar or marks on the skin. 3. How will anyone make money from this business idea? Who exactly is going to sell it to whom? Who takes the product, who makes the product?

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4. What is the competing technology/solution right now? Every technology has many rivals. The major competing technology of Minova are first generation devices. These devices are already into existence since 3 years, so they pose a threat to Minova. Minova has some advantages but it can be a bit difficult to defeat the running technology. The potential future technology which are second generation device are in the early development phase. Supposedly, they are ought to have advanced technology, must be cheaper and also much safer. These technologies are a serious danger for the success of Minova. The other major successful competitor is Allergan. This multi-billion dollar company produced LAP-BAND device which was gaining popularity among bariatric surgeons, since its FDA approval in 2001. This device was much similar to MINOVA and charged a nominal amount. The only drawback is that its a surgery with som e obvious repercussions like it is minimally invasive and leaves a scar on the skin. 5. Can you estimate the size of the market for each? What is the overall market size, and how much of it do you think that each could capture , and why ? Also are these growing markets, and if so, by how much per year? According to data from the World Health Organization, around 2 billion people are overweight across the globe. This means almost a quarter world is overweight and 30% of the globe is overweight. Now that this product has been considered to be much safer compared with other first generation devices it has high potential to become the preferred choice for treating obesity. 6. How long is it going to take to really start the company, and how much money will it require to get it going? Minovateam have sent the product for FDA approval in 2007. So to the start the company the team would have to wait for at least 6 years, that is ideally the product would be in market by 2013. The calculated cost of bringing the device to market ranges from $50-$70 million. Although, the company might need to inject another sum for the operational work, which includes marketing, salaries of employees, rents and many more which may vary depending upon the company.

7. Would you invest in the company, and why? I would definitely invest in the company because obesity is the most common disease in the world. And observing the new generations lifestyle it is evident that the worst is yet to come. The numbers would multiply with time. And since there is

no definite time frame of the arrival of second generation devices, so Minova, being a safe, cheap and a fast technique is a promising technology. Looking at the amount of money which is spent on diseases related to obesity, even this lasts for a few years it has a potential of pull in business worth millions of dollars or may be more.