Affordable, easily distributed emergency shelters are often in short supply during an emergency, such as a natural disaster or hiking incident. There has been an increase in the need for disaster-planning products, including personal temporary shelters, to ensure a timely response to an event (1). Disasters also have a significant impact on the environment(2) that furthers the damage of the actual event and the subsequent waste. Plastics and inorganic materials are the primary material used in emergency materials for their lightweight feature but further increase the long-term impact of disasters and personal incidents.

“Increasing incidents of natural and anthropogenic hazards globally have led to a rise in the procurement of necessary equipment and response vehicles by the concerned government agencies. There are many incidents in recent times where inadequacy of equipment has caused delays in mitigating the damages. Learning from the past, many countries have increased the necessary disaster response equipment at disposal.”
–Mordor Intelligence on the Emergency Disaster and Response Market"

Made from biodegradable cornstarch-based polylactic acid (PLA), Büt Camp offers a simple-to-use single-person temporary shelter to provide small comfort during stressful situations. Products are designed to be highly visible and come in red, orange, and bright green and to decrease waste caused by emergency and disaster situations.

Manually inflatable channels take little time to inflate and provide a structural canopy to create a small personal tent with an additional add-on screen attached with biodegradable adhesive tape and PLA fiber string ties.

Büt Camp is unique because it is an inexpensive and biodegradable option for temporary shelter and is perfect for emergency planning and response. With multiple patents pending, Büt Camp is designed and produced sustainably and responsibly.

Research into the cost of PLA indicated an affordable $0.15/gram, and at five (5) yards per tent, production costs are low enough to produce in bulk (3).

Total Tent COGS: $8.50/unit

Target Customer

Büt Camp itself is designed to be easily usable by anyone in need of a temporary shelter. The target audience varies from adult individuals wishing to have a contingency shelter plan, individuals whose occupations require additional emergency response equipment, and larger groups that plan for and implement disaster recovery responses.

Competitors

Competitor 1: Emergency and Disaster Response

Companies selling disaster recovery and emergency preparedness products are primary competitors for Büt Camp. These companies specialize in products built for emergency response, including the niche of shelter and temporary shelter. Large organizations like EMT Safety (1) and Ali Med (2) provide a range of response kits and materials from emergency shelters, first aid, and rescue equipment. Companies like Inhabitat3 (Image 1) and Grainger (4) (Image 2) provide emergency shelters. Examples are shown in Image 1 and Image 2, designed explicitly for disasters and emergencies. Covid-19 has revealed that there are significant gaps in emergency response planning (5). As shown in Figure 1, the Emergency and Disaster Response market shows a slight increase over the next four (4) years as disaster planning groups at local, regional, national, and global levels continue to improve and increase preparation measures.

Competitor 2: Camping Equipment

Companies selling camping equipment are another primary competitor for Büt Camp Inc. Büt Camp is categorized as a tent and therefore as camping equipment. Although we are not competing with companies selling traditional camping equipment, we compete with specific products and uses.

For example, REI SOL Thermal Bivy (Image 3) provides a method to limit exposure to the elements and is reasonably portable. Additionally, products like the Sneaker Shelter prototype (Image 4) is a floor-less, single-person, portable shelter that zips together and worn on shoes that come with the product.

Production

Compost Bag China (CBC) is our manufacturer and expert in PLA film.

CBC creates several sheets of PLA film. The top of which is two sheets heat-stamped together in a pattern to create an air channel to allow for inflation of the tent.

A screen and floor are also produced with the same material. The floor is heat-sealed to the top portion of the tent, and the screen is kept separate until the customer constructs it in the field. The screen adheres to the tent’s opening via a mild tacky glue strip on one side of the opening and two ties on the other side. The ties are strips of PLA hardened to allow for tying and untying.

The cost per tent to manufacture is $8.50/unit.

Quality Control

QC is performed by our Chinese liaison ODM Group as part of our contract with them. ODM works directly with the manufacturer to hold to ISO Standards1 and ASTM Standards (2) for durability, functionality as a tent, and biodegradability of the PLA film and finished product.

ODM Group is our direct contact for:

Representative office in Zhuha

Product sourcing

QC reporting

Inventory

No raw materials are kept on hand. All material is sourced through ODM Group and sent directly to the manufacturer in China, Compost Bag China.

$85,000 (10,000 units) are kept on hand in a rented storage facility.

We keep roughly two (2) months of inventory on hand.

Though there is no seasonal activity at the moment, we anticipate future seasonal bumps in sales during:

Hurricane season on the East Coast of the U.S - June 1 - November 303

Fire season in California - June-April

(2 Seasons overlapping)

The lead time for ordering more inventory is 45 days.

Suppliers & Partners

ODM Group
Hung Chu Bldg, Jida Jiuzhou Avenue
Shuhai 519015, China

Chinese Manufacturer Liaison Compost Bag China (CBC)
Shandong Province, China

CBC requires payment upfront for order volumes of our size, and delivery is made after inspection via shipping container.

Due to COVID-19, customs has been slower to receive shipments, but we don’t foresee significant delays in time to receipt, except in the months of January/February during the Chinese Lunar New Year.

Notes:

International Organizations of Standards. (2020). 5912:2020 Camping tents — Requirements and test methods (ISO Standard No. 72895). Retrieved from https://www.iso.org/standard/72895.html

2. ASTM Standard D6400 - 19, “Standard Specification for Labeling of Plastics Designed to be Aerobically Composted in Municipal or Industrial Facilities. “ ASTM International, West. Conshohocken, PA,.2019, DOI: 10.1520/D6400-19. Retrieved from https://www.astm.org/Standards/D6400.htm

3. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. (n.d.) “Tropical Cyclone Climatology.” National Hurricane Center and Central Pacific Hurricane Center. Retrieved from https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/climo/

4. Yufang, J. et. al.(2015). “Identification of two distinct fire regimes in Southern California: implications for economic impact and future change.” Environmental Research Letters, 10(9). Retrieved from https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/10/9/094005

Büt Camp has a unique position in the market as a currently unrealized product for temporary, portable, biodegradable, emergency shelters. We provide an entirely different product from our primary competitors because we want to supplement disaster and survival planning, not replace products in the current market.

We also strive for sustainable methods in production and use a material that is firmly becoming a viable option for replacing traditional fabrics with a biodegradable material in temporary use cases. Our target markets already exist, and the projection for those markets previously discussed shows an evident growth and desire from consumers for products.

Supplementary: Not a Replacement

Büt Camp supplements disaster response and contingency planning and is not a replacement for more robust shelter. The nature of PLAs and it’s exposure to the environment for prolonged periods makes the Büt Camp emergency tent a 1-2 day maximum emergency shelter.

Büt Camp allows diversification of individual contingency planning and an option for fast and easily distributed emergency shelters on a large scale.

Material Costs

Pricing

Expenses and Operating Capital

Financial Plan

Notes

1. Based on general quote for General Liability Insurance from Hartford Insurance. Referenced here https://www.thehartford.com/general-liability-insurance/business-insurance-startups/general-liability

2. Office space rental from Gather Workspaces in Richmond. Referenced here https://workatgather.com/location/scotts-addition/?utm_source=gmb

3. Richmond Mini Storage price for a 10’x30’ storage unit. Referenced from https://minipricestorage.com/map-location/4300-w-broad-street-richmond-virginia/

4. Based on previous experience obtaining Articles of Incorporation and for bookkeeping and corporate taxes completed.

5. Virginia State Corporation Commission Fee. Referenced from https://www.scc.virginia.gov/ and the B Corporation Annual Certification fee. Referenced from https://bcorporation.net/certification

6. Website hosting through Github and Netlify. Pro accounts for 2 members added up to yearly costs. Referenced from https://github.com/pricing and https://www.netlify.com/pricing/

7. City of Richmond Finance Department. Referenced from https://www.rva.gov/finance/business and based on 2020 gross receipts.

1. EMT Safety: https://www.emssafetyservices.com/learn-about-our-products/disaster-supplies/

2. Ali Med: https://www.alimed.com/emergency-preparedness/

3. Inhabitat Accordion reCover Shelter: https://inhabitat.com/matthew-malone-recovery-shelter/13957/

4. Grainger Inflatable Emergency Shelter: https://www.grainger.com/product/FSI-Inflatable-Emergency-Shelter-38F303

5. Mordor Intelligence. (n.d.) Emergency and disaster response market - growth, trends, Covid-19 impact, and forecasts (2021 - 2026). Retrieved from https://www.mordorintelligence.com/industry-reports/emergency-and-disaster-response-market

6. REI SOL Thermal Bivy: https://www.rei.com/product/813513/sol-thermal-bivy 

7. Sibling Sneaker Shelter: https://www.treehugger.com/shoes-hide-portable-shelter-sibling-4855159 

8. Mordor Intelligence. (n.d.) Camping equipment - market - growth, trends, Covid-19 impact, and forecasts (2021 - 2026). Retrieved from  https://www.mordorintelligence.com/industry-reports/camping-equipment-market