PaintWring 
February 19, 2018 
 
 
 
 

  

 
Paintwring 
Executive Summary 
 
 
 
 
Company Background  
 
Business Description: PaintWring is a 
partnership company and our business is a small 
scale manufacturer with a focus on retail because 
we make our own products, which is then sold in 
stores and online.  
 
Business Model:  One unit of sale is a single 
paint brush with an aesthetic outside plastic 
packaging. Our production of product requires 
the assembly of each paintbrush part. We 
determine the price depending on the cost of 
goods per unit. The paint brush will be delivered 
through mail.  
 
Mission Statement: 
To promote creativity for young individuals to 
cultivate novel and interesting ideas. 
 
 
 
   1. 
 
  
 
PaintWring 
February 19, 2018 
 
 
 
 

Market Opportunity 
 
Opportunity :  
 
The opportunity we found was that there are many paint brushes that are not durable and are often 
very difficult and messy to wash or clean. We wanted to make a brush that was never seen on the 
market before and is unique in this aspect.   
 
Target Market : 
 
Our target market are the adults or parents who would like their children to learn to paint and express 
their creative sides. They would be 30-50 years old men and women who are part of the middle or 
upper middle class and have children that are 3-15 years old. We chose 3-15 year old children because 
this is the age range where the children explore their interests and likes. 
 
Industry Overview : 
 
The office supplies excluding paper manufacturing industry’s revenue is worth 3 billion dollars and 
the projected growth is 0.4%. 
 
Market Research :  
 
We saw this as a business opportunity because in this industry, there has not been any new 
innovations that have customers excited about the product recently. Our product is unique and this is 
a great market that people would be willing to spend a little extra money on to experiment because 
there is no other competitor that has a product like ours. 
 
Leadership 
 
Qualifications:   
 
We are both part of the student body at our high school, where we help plan events and fundraise 
money for our school. We have money handling experience where we work with an accountant to 
count and deposit money. Both of us are also enrolled in the Business Academy offered at our school, 
in which we learned about the functions of a business in a globalized economy, the principles of 
finance, and basics ethics and entrepreneurship to maintain a business. With these experiences, we 
believe we will be able to start this business and make it successful. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

   2. 
 
  
 
PaintWring 
February 19, 2018 
 
 
 
 

Paintwring 
Business Plan 
Do you, uh, paint? 
 
1. OPPORTUNITY RECOGNITION & BUSINESS STRUCTURE 
1.1 Business Opportunity 
 
Painters have this struggle of thoroughly cleaning paint brushes due to the difficulties in dried 
paint. We saw this situation as an opportunity because cleaning paint brushes are very 
inconvenient and messy. Personally, we have had this problem of trying to dry the brushes, 
but our hands would get dirty from the dirty paint water. We did not know of a better solution 
to clean the brushes until now! As people who enjoy watercoloring, we thought it would be 
interesting to have a paintbrush that can be easily wringed out with a button twisting 
technology.  
 
The problem we found was that all of paint brushes are hard to clean which lead to constant 
dirty brushes with dried paint left on it. It is a hassle to wash the brushes and the process is 
often very messy. In the end, there is always a need to buy new brushes because the old ones 
are ruined from improper cleaning. 
 
Our business solves the problem because it is a paintbrush that is able to wring itself by the 
click of a button. It is easy to use and not a hassle to clean. Our brush can be used for a longer 
period of time than the normal brushes because it is cleaned properly, every time. This 
innovation would make the cleaning process more efficient and mess free.  
 
1.2 Type of Business 
  
We are a small scale manufacturer with a particular focus on retail business. We chose this 
business type because it was the most reasonable, since we have to hand make the brushes 
and sell our product through multiple channels, such as online store or in craft stores. We are 
not making bulk amounts, and we are not a service.  
 
 
1.3 Type of Business Ownership 
 
We are a partnership. We chose this business ownership because it was the most reasonable 
decision and we both contributed to the idea of a modified paintbrush. There is also two of us 
and we plan on being a small, local business.  
 

   3. 
 
  
 
PaintWring 
February 19, 2018 
 
 
 
 
It makes sense because we are a local business, which doesn’t require us to be a large scale 
company. We also only have two people working on the business, which is an advantage 
because it is much easier to work together to form stronger ideas than working individually.   
 
1.4 Mission Statement 
 
Our mission statement is “To promote creativity for young individuals to cultivate novel and 
interesting ideas.” We want to promote more creativity and divergent thinking in the world of 
addiction of phones and drugs. We want children to learn from a young age that they are able 
to use art as an outlet for any problems.  
 
1.5 Social Responsibility 
 
Our business would be socially responsible by donating paint brushes to elementary schools, 
to make younger children be aware and tap into their creativity. We can also use our profits 
for organizations that plant trees to better the community and the earth as a whole.   
 
With 10% of our profits, we will donate PaintWring brushes to elementary and middle schools 
in underrepresented neighborhoods as a stepping stone to promote creativity in their 
communities. We also want to give our time to volunteer work with children to help them 
learn about creativity found in art.  
 
1.6 Qualifications 
 
As people who use watercolor and acrylic paint, we have been using the Pentel Aquash 
Paintbrush. It is difficult to control the water on the brush because it gets heavy on the brush, 
which affects the outcome of the painting. There is also a hassle to repetitively dry the brush 
and then start painting. Under the entrepreneurial mindset, we are comfort with risk and 
have the creativity and innovative skills. We are part of student government at our school 
where we have cash handling and event planning experience. We took a class for Ethics in 
business and currently taking a class in Entrepreneurship. 
 
SWOT Analysis:  
Strength: We have an innovative idea that may change the way people paint.  
Weaknesses: The technology of our brush may not be feasible to our capacity; also may be 
hard to implement the brush ourselves. 
Opportunity:  We can easily advertise and expand our business through direct mail, social 
media and pop up stores.  
Threats:  The office supply industry is huge, which means there are many paint brush 
competitors, such as Crayola, and Pental. 
 

   4. 
 
  
 
PaintWring 
February 19, 2018 
 
 
 
 
Our team will need to become more comfortable with risk, which means being aware that our 
business can either go in debt or become very successful. Throughout this process, we will 
acquire skills regarding how to step out of our comfort zone more as well and starting this 
business is a step towards the right direction.  
 
 
2. MARKET RESEARCH 
2.1 Market Research 
 
Our business belongs to the office supply excluding paper manufacturing industry. Our 
business fits within this industry because it is a art supply that is under the stationary 
description.  
 
The size of the industry is 14 billion. The industry’s trend is going downward because the 
production of these products are very cheap so companies sell them at more competitive 
prices. 
 
According to the Market Analysis which we found using the population of San Francisco and 
30-50 year old men and women, the size of our potential target market is about 171,697 
people, based off of survey and the population in San Francisco. We found the most recent 
census in San Francisco, which was 870,887 people. We then narrowed the population in San 
Francisco based off of men and women aged 30-50 to meet our target market. From our 
survey results, about 64% of people are interested in learning more about and buying our 
brush. 
 
We found the most recent 2010 population count in San Francisco based off of age groups 
and location. We took a survey with parents that have children asking questions related to 
their children’s ages, personalities, and if they would be willing to spend money on a paint 
brush like ours. and found that 64% of 268,277 are men and women aged 30-50 will be 
interested in buying our brush.  
 
 
 
 
2.2 Target Market 
 
Demographics: 
 
We found that the upper middle class are more likely to buy our product due to their excess 
income. They will typically be ages 30- 50 year old males and females because we found that 
this is the age range in which people have children at the age where they are exploring their 
interests. Both males and females will buy our product because it is not specified for a specific 
gender. 
 
   5. 
 
  
 
PaintWring 
February 19, 2018 
 
 
 
 
Geographics:  
 
From our research we found that our target market would be living in urban cities like San 
Francisco and domestically. We will start out in San Francisco and the Bay Area first before 
expanding. This is because most people living in San Francisco/ Bay Area with children are 
busy working so they would need to find things for their children to do and stay entertained. 
 
 
Psychographics: 
 
Our target consumers are people who like to go to craft stores and consider art as a hobby. 
They believe that art is a way of expressing yourself and want their children or the kids to feel 
the same way. They will also be the people who like to try new things and paint as well and 
understand the problem we are trying to solve with this product. 
 
Buying Patterns: 
 
Our target consumers like to shop at art stores like Michaels and Joannes and frequently buys 
art supplies. They also like to try new products and find what the best are and tell their 
friends. They also like to take recommendations from their friends on which products work 
well.  
 
2.3 Competitors 
 
One of our direct competitors are Pental because they sell a lot of different types of brushes 
including water brushes, brush pens, and colored brushes. Their product that is the most 
similar to ours is the water brush, which is a brush that is shaped like a pen and you add 
water to use. You squeeze the handle to release water out to use on ink. The pricing of the 
pentel aqua water brush is $7.10.  
 
Another direct competitor is the Big Paint brushes by Crayola, which has different sizes and 
color paint brushes. However, they are mass manufactured, which means the quality of the 
brush is cheaper. The bristles are round and softer than Pentel. The pricing of these brushes 
are cheaper, on the market for $2.56 in 4 packs.  
 
Some of our indirect competitors are the pens that have a watercolor effect but are not paint 
brushes. One of these are the Mozart brush pen set. This is a brush pen that does not need 
water but still has the watercoloring effect. It has the same feature as our brush in terms of 
the brush tip being made out of nylon brushes, but each brush is one color and cannot be 
altered or mixed.  
 
 
 

   6. 
 
  
 
PaintWring 
February 19, 2018 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2.4 Competitive Advantage 
 
  Paintwring  Pental  Crayola 
Factor 1:  Long lasting paint  The brush is made  Simple and cheap 
  brush so the  out of soft plastic so  material for the 
Durability/ Long  consumer does not  once the consumer  brush so the brush 
lasting   have to constantly  presses too hard the  is ruined very 
  spend money on  brush would break  easily.  
new brushes that  easily.   
are bad quality.   
 
Factor 2:  Our paint brush is  The brush is only  The consumer 
  hassle and mess  one color but mess  would have to use 
Mess free  free. The consumer  free.   their hands to dry 
  does not need to get    the brush so the 
their hands wet  paint brush is very 
with the dirty water.  messy. 
   
Factor 3:   The design of our  Innovative  Basic brush that is 
  paint brush is new  technology but the  seen everywhere on 
Innovative  and has not been  consumer would  the market and is 
Technology  seen on the market  have to buy a whole  very cheap to make 
  before.  new brush to use  and sold cheaply. 
  different color.   
 
- The design of out brush (has a grip) 
- The click or twistable technology of the brush  
- Nylon tips (easy, more smooth tips for usage) 
 
2.5 Business Growth 
 
There has been an increase of a DIY, or Do it Yourself trend which can provide extra growth 
because our product can be used to promote more create projects. For example, there has 
been a recent trend in bullet journaling and coloring based on its aesthetics. Our paint brush 
can be used in bullet journaling, which can expand the uses of our brush.  
 

   7. 
 
  
 
PaintWring 
February 19, 2018 
 
 
 
 
To further grow our business, we will reach out to other local businesses and collaborate with 
them. For example, we can work with a local craft stores or bookstores to promote their 
products if they, in turn promote ours. This way, we may be able to gain consumers who are 
loyal and understand us from the start of our business.  
 
 
2.6 Challenges 
 
A lot of items are cheaply manufactured, which may rear consumers to buy the cheaper 
product than to try out our brush.  
 
Barriers to starting this business include lack of money for startup investments or lack of 
experience in this small business field, and the legality relating to our business. Pursuing 
higher education can help us understand and talk to professionals who knows what is best for 
our company and can help us improve. 
 
3. FINANCIAL INFORMATION & OPERATIONS 
3.1 Definition of One Unit 
 
One unit of sale is one single paintbrush. A customer will be buying a paintbrush that has the 
ability to wring out dirty water or paint with a twistable button on the end of the brush. The 
bristles are nylon which is good for fine tip painting. There will also be a very aesthetically 
pleasing packaging to appeal to consumers.  
 
3.2 Production/Delivery Process 
 
Description of Process Steps 
1. Buying the materials in bulk to create our product 
2. Assemble the product  
3. Package the product and prepare it for shipment 
4. Collect order from our consumers through an online website 
5. Send the product to the consumer 
6. Follow up by sending a email message to our consumers to fill out a survey to 
better improve our business 
 
 
3.3 Variable Expenses 
 
 
Materials 
Bulk  Quantity  Cost per 
Material Description  Bulk Price 
Quantity  per Unit  Unit 
Plastic Barrel  $145.00  1050  1   $0.14 

   8. 
 
  
 
PaintWring 
February 19, 2018 
 
 
 
 

Metal Spiral Worm  $11.99  10  1  $1.20 

Nylon Tips  $6.99  30  1  $0.23 
Gorilla Glue  $3.99  1  5 drops  $0.08 
Tips/Ring  $36.90  100  1  $0.37 
Plastic Button  $2.00  24  1  $0.08 
Total Material Costs per Unit  $2.10 
 
Labor 
Cost of Labor per Hour  Time (in hrs) to make one  Total Labor Costs per 
unit  Unit 
$14  0.08 hours  $1.12 
 
COGS/COSS 
Material Costs  Labor Costs  TOTAL COGS/COSS 
$2.10  $1.12  $3.22 
 
 
3.4 Economics of One Unit 
 
Selling Price per Unit      $6.00 
Variable Expenses per Unit       
Costs of Goods Sold       
Materials   $2.10      
Labor   $1.12     
Total Cost of Goods Sold    $3.22    
Other Variable Expenses       
Commission   $0      
Packaging   $0.40     
Other  $0     
Total Other Variable Expenses    $ 0.40   
Total Variable Expenses      $3.62  
Contribution Margin per Unit       $2.78  
 
 
 
3.5 Fixed Expenses for  One Month 
 
Expense Type  Monthly  Explanation 
Cost 
Insurance  $42  The average cost of General Liability Insurance 
for small businesses is $500 a year. 
   9. 
 
  
 
PaintWring 
February 19, 2018 
 
 
 
 

Salary  $0  Paying the workers by the hour not by salary and 
the labor is already calculated in the Cost per Unit 
(COGS) 
Advertising  $35  We will be using direct mail advertising which is 
only $0.05 per household and we plan to send out 
300 a month to our target customers. An extra 20 
dollars will be added for pay per click advertising 
on online ad platforms.  
Interest  $0  We will not be taking any loans out for our 
  business. 
Depreciation  $16.67  We will owning a laptop that costs $1,000 and we 
would use it for about 5 years. 
Utilities  $0  We will not be paying any utilities bills because 
we will be working out of our parent’s home and 
will only be needing to pay rent. 
Rent  $800  We will provide rent for our parents to allow us to 
run our business in their home. 
 
Other Fixed  $25  We will be needing a website to sell our products 
Expenses  from which costs about $10 a month and we will 
be collecting money through credit cards online 
so we will have to pay the $10 fee to use the credit 
cards in our company. 
Total Fixed  $  918.67 
Expenses 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
   10. 
 
  
 
PaintWring 
February 19, 2018 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
3.6 Income Statement for  First Year  of Operations 
 
A  REVENUE   selling price  × units sold      $27,300 
B  Gross Sales  selling price  × units sold  $27,300     
C  Sales Returns  selling price  x units returned  $360     
D  Net Sales  B  – C      $26,940 
  VARIABLE EXPENSES        
  Costs of Goods Sold       
E  Materials   cost of materials  × units sold  $5,9857     
F  Labor   cost of labor  × units sold  $3,192     
Total Cost of Goods  E  + F 
G    $9,177   
Sold 
Other Variable 
       
Expenses 
H  Commission   cost of commission  × units sold  $0     
I  Packaging   cost of packaging  × units sold  $1,140      
J  Other  cost of other costs  × units sold  $0     
Total Other Variable  H  + I  + J
K      $1,140   
Expenses 
Total Variable 
L  G  + L      $10,317 
Expenses 
         
CONTRIBUTION 
M  D  – L      $16,623 
MARGIN  
         
FIXED OPERATING 
       
EXPENSES  
N  Insurance  cost of insurance  × 12 months  $500     
O  Salaries  cost of salaries  × 12 months  $0     
P  Advertising  cost of advertising  × 12 months  $420     
Q  Interest  cost of interest  × 12 months  $0     
cost of depreciation  × 12 
R  Depreciation  months 
$200.04     
S  Utilities  cost of utilities  × 12 months  $0     
T  Rent  cost of rent  × 12 months  $9,600     

   11. 
 
  
 
PaintWring 
February 19, 2018 
 
 
 
 

U  Other fixed expenses  cost of other  × 12 months  $300     

V  Total Expenses  N  + O  + P  + Q  + R  + S  + T  + U      $11,020.04 
         
W  PRE­TAX PROFIT   M  – V       $5,602.96 
X  Taxes (15%)  W  × 0.15      $840.44 
         
Y  NET PROFIT   W  – X       $4,762.52 
 
 
3.7 Start­up Investment 
 
Item  Why Needed  Vendor  Cost 
Samples   Used to give out to  PaintWring  $644 
  promote and attract 
customers 
Printer  We need to print labels  Walmart  $40 
  for the packaging 
Laptop  To purchase materials &  Apple  $1,000 
research about our 
target market 
Patent  We do not want our  Patent Auction  $5,000 
  intellectual property of 
this new technology to 
be copied. 
Total Start­up Expenditures  $6,684 
Emergency Fund (1/2  of startup expenditures)    $3,342 
Reserve for Fixed Expenses (covers 3 months of fixed expenses)  $2,706 
Total Startup Investment  $12,732 
 
We are able to afford $3,000 of this start-up investment by ourselves; the money will comes 
from the money we have saved up from doing entry level jobs and allowances we have 
collected over the years. 
 
We will need to finance $8,232 of the start-up investment. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
3.8 Financial Ratios 

   12. 
 
  
 
PaintWring 
February 19, 2018 
 
 
 
 
 
Return on Sales (ROS): 
 
Annual Net Profit  $4,762.52    0.17 =   
  $0.17 
Total Annual Sales  $27,300  =  17%  ≈ 
 
Return on Investment (ROI):  
 
Annual Net Profit  $4,762.52 
     
Total Startup    $12,732  $0.37 
=  37%  ≈ 
Investment 
 
Breakeven Units (Monthly) :  
 
Fixed Monthly   
   
Expenses    $918.67  330.46  331 units 
=  ≈ 
Contribution Margin  $2.78 
 
4. MARKETING & SALES 
4.1 Marketing Plan 
 
Our target customers are parents or people with children that want to give the opportunity to 
their children in order explore their creative sides. We want to use people to market our 
business through social media where we try to connect with parents looking for new activities 
for their children. 
 
Benefits of our product makes it easier to clean art materials because our product wrings the 
water out of the brush itself without it being a hassle or a mess. There is a cool technology on 
the brush which makes it interesting when water or paint is being wrung out.  
 
We will sell our product through an online website that we will create to collect the orders of 
consumers. We also want to sell the brush through small local craft stores that can afford 
promoting our product.  
 
We determine the price depending on the cost of goods (COGS) per unit, also considering the 
labor costs and delivery costs.  
 
 
4.2 Promotion 
 
We will use social media, direct mail, flyers in local businesses and community places, pay per 
click advertising, and 10 day trials. We will use the social media platform Instagram to 
advertise. This would be perfect because we will target young mothers who use instagram to 
share updates of their children and would be willing to buy the paint brush once they see how 
   13. 
 
  
 
PaintWring 
February 19, 2018 
 
 
 
 
well our paint brush works from our posts. Direct mail will be effective because it is 
convenient for the consumer and because our flyer is appealing, they would want to know 
more and go to our website. Having flyers in local business and community places will help 
because it shows that we help support local businesses and many families visit community 
places to let their children play. We will do pay per click advertising because we will only be 
paying for people who click on our business and they would be trafficked towards our website. 
Lastly, we would use 10 day trials because once the consumer receives the brush to use for 
free, they would most likely keep it because they would forget to return it or are too lazy and 
end up keeping and purchasing our product. 
 
Some visual merchandising we will do as part of our promotional strategies include drawing 
and pictures of our paintbrush and appealing colors that would persuade people to want to 
use our product and make art. This will be effective because it will show that if they bought 
our paintbrush that they would be able to paint like in the flyer as well. 
 
Some publicity and public relations we will include as part of our promotional strategies 
including using social media and using Instagram accounts that many parents follow that 
they trust and will buy our product. We will also try to reach out to popular artist or artists 
with talent but is not well known yet and offer them our paint brushes to promote and their 
followers will buy our product because one of their favorite artists use it as well. 
 
Some sales promotions we will include as part of our promotional strategies include the 10 
day free trial. This form of sales promotion will be effective for reaching our target market 
because the consumers will not be afraid to buy the brush online just because they are afraid 
they won’t like it and cannot return it. Our ten day free trial is effective because many people 
will be too lazy or forget and miss the 10 day mark and end up paying for the paintbrush and 
keeping it. 
 
 
4.3 Sales Methods 
 
Our personal selling strategy is to form a bond with our customers. Since we are promoting 
creativity, we will also give bonus inspirational ideas for the consumer.  
We want to utilize pop up events and samples to attract more long term customers. We also 
plan to collaborate with any youtubers who can promote us or Insider Inventions to promote 
our product.  
 
4.4 Sales Estimates 
 
Since we will be the ones manufacturing the brushes, we believe we could sell around 4,550 
units in the first year.  
 
The maximum amounts of units we could physically make would be about 500 units. 

   14. 
 
  
 
PaintWring 
February 19, 2018 
 
 
 
 
In a month, we could deliver about 300 units through shipping, which takes about 2-3 days 
for lighter packages.  
 
We will need to sell about 151 units to be able to cover our fixed expenses every month. 
We can sell at least 10,000 units if we are able to market well enough to catch the attention of 
10,000 people.  
 
 
Monthly Projected Sales Estimates 
Month  Units  Gross Revenue 

January  300 units  $1,800 

February   300 units  $1,800 

March  400 units  $2,400 

April  300 units  $1,800 

May  300 units  $1,800 

June  450 units  $2,700 

July  450 units  $2,700 

August  450 units  $2,700 

September  450 units  $2,700 

October  300 units  $1,800 

November  400 units  $2,400 

December  450 units  $2,700 

Annual Totals  4,550 units  Total Annual Revenue: $27,300 

 
 
Sales may fluctuate over the holidays, since our product can be gifted as presents. From the 
first quarter to the third quarters, sales will be changing from 300-450 units per month. From 
January to May, we predict a sale of 300 units since there is nothing seasonal that may affect 
the increase in the purchase of paint brushes. However, in March, we predicted 400 units 
because there may be an increase in sales due to spring break. We predict higher sales over 
the summer months up to the start of school, June to September, since it is more likely that 
children need activities to be occupied and buy school supplies.  

   15. 
 
  
 
PaintWring 
February 19, 2018 
 
 
 
 
 

   16.