Watch Out for Sharks!

Show slide 16 and give students the definition of a business plan from the slide: a document setting out a business’s future objectives and strategies for achieving them.

Tell the class that they are going to look at different businesses today, some successful and some failed. Direct them to think about the importance of a business plan as you transition to slide 17: The Coolest Cooler. Use the slide to share some of the features of this cooler and ask for volunteers to share what they would imagine paying for this multi-tasking cooler. Move to slide 18 and share that the selling price of the cooler was $200.

Repeat this for MoviePass using slides 19-20, for the Squatty Potty on slides 21-22, and the Sleep Styler on slides 23-24. Again the purpose of this activity is to help students see the importance of having a business plan, not how close they were to guessing the selling price of each product. Emphasize the steps taken that contributed to the success or failure of the business.

• Interesting Idea, Poor Execution: The Coolest Cooler was a really unique idea, but because the production cost far exceeded the selling price, the product could not make a profit.

• Money-Saving Idea, Poor Execution: The MoviePass was appealing to frequent moviegoers because they were able to save money at the theater, but this money-saving idea cost the company too much money. The idea was compelling enough for movie theaters to later create their own version of the MoviePass.

• Universal Idea, Solid Execution: The Squatty Potty is a simple, inexpensive design that appeals to a large audience because it helps a daily bodily function easier.

• Modified Idea, Solid Execution: The Sleep Styler is a twist on the traditional foam roller but creates a popular wavy hair styler that usually takes people 30 minutes or more to do.

After the discussion, show slide 25 and give each student a copy of the attached Business Plan Outline handout to begin the next step in the planning process. Have students use a device with internet access to find information on similar products or services (competitors) and other information to complete the handout. As students make decisions about how they want to market their product/service, have them circle their selections on the handout. They can choose as many as they can afford, but need to at least circle one. Similarly, students need to select a property for their business: online only, brick-and-mortar (store front), mobile (ex. food truck), or other. If students select “Other,” then they are expected to find the actual costs of renting or buying their space for a year including utility expenses, the costs of equipment to run their business, and the costs of any licenses or permits needed to run their business. Groups will also need to determine how many employees they plan to hire, including themselves, at the given rate of $50,000 per year plus a $500 health insurance plan per year.

During this exploration phase, students will likely be unsure of what they can afford. Encourage them to make notes of what questions they have after doing some online searching. They will finalize this outline during the Extend portion of the lesson.

Show slide 26 and introduce students to the basic elements of a business plan: business description, product or service description, market analysis, marketing strategy, operations plan, and financial plan.

Transition through slides 27-28 to help describe what should be included in business and product/service descriptions. Move to slide 29 to elaborate on the vocabulary: selling price and markup. Help students understand the difference between the price the item sells for compared to the cost of making the product and how this difference is known as the product’s markup.

Show slide 30 and remind students of verbal and algebraic models. The concept of writing verbal models is likely something students have not seen since middle school, so this may need to be introduced like a new topic. Let students know that they will be expected to write verbal and algebraic models as they work through this project.

After showing the relationship between the selling price, product cost, and markup using verbal and algebraic models, transition to slide 31 to introduce market analysis. Direct students’ attention to the top of the Business Plan Outline handout, where they found information about their competitors—this was them analyzing the market.

Show slide 32 and help students see what should be part of their marketing strategy. Help students understand what a target audience is. If time allows, ask for volunteers to share their target audience (from their Business Plan Outline) to help with having examples.

Display slide 33 and ask students how they would imagine promoting or advertising the products on the slide: PC-based survival game, children’s clothing store, and athletic shoe company. Then transition to slide 34 to display and ask the question: How are you going to make sure that your product or service sells? Ask for a few volunteers to share their ideas.

Move to slide 35 and introduce students to the concept: operations plan. This is the part of the business plan that focuses on what it will cost for a business to operate. Part of a plan is knowing what expenses are expected.

Display slide 36 and remind students that there are a lot of calculations involved in planning a business. And to have a successful business, one needs to have and understand the financial plan. Transition through slides 37-39 and introduce students to the vocabulary of profit, revenue, and expenses, which they likely already know. Emphasize to students the verbal models on the slides:

• (Profit) = (Revenue) – (Expenses)

• (Revenue) = (Selling Price)·(Number of Items)

• (Expenses) = (Fixed Costs) + (Variable Costs)

• (Expenses) = (Fixed Costs) + (Product Costs)­·(Number of Items)

Use slide 39 to show students some of the benefits of mathematical modeling: they can combine their verbal models and even take their verbal models and represent them algebraically. Ask for a few volunteers to share what they think is beneficial from these mathematical models.

Show slide 40 and introduce students to the vocabulary: break-even point. Then ask the class what this means for their (Profit) = (Revenue) – (Expenses) equation. Help students understand that the break-even point is the number of items they would need to sell for the profit to equal zero.

Have students use the remainder of the class period to work on their Business Plan Outline. Let students know that they’ll be given approximately 15 minutes during the following class period to finish.

Give each shark enough Pitch Rubric (for Sharks) documents so they each have one per group. Once class has started, let students know that they will be presenting their business pitches to the class and the sharks (visitors). Introduce your visitors to the class and let the students know that the visitors will be ranking their pitches.

Give students extra copies of the Pitch Rubric handout—the same handout that they used earlier—so they each have one per group. Consider printing two rubrics per page to save paper. Help students facilitate their pitches by displaying their presentations for everyone in the class to see. Have both visitors and non-presenting students evaluate each presentation with the rubric during each group’s business pitch.

Continue this process until every group has presented.

Once presentations are complete, congratulate your students for all of their hard work! Have students submit their Student Pitch slide decks and their Business Plan Outline handouts. Again, be clear with students about how you would like these materials to be submitted.