Week Four Teacher Instructions
Week Four Teacher Instructions
Week Four: BUILD
Overview
This week the students will work on developing their idea further through prototyping and market research. The group will also start working on their Lean Business Plan.
Objectives
- Develop a prototype(s) and a market research strategy to fine tune the idea
- Establish the details of the potential student company for the lean business plan.
Teacher Preparation
- Review detailed instructions to become familiar with materials/activities
- Review videos and materials in advance.
- Ensure materials needed for prototyping are available for the students
- Review the Week Four Slideshow before class.
Agenda
- Recap and Expectations (5 min)
- Business Model Canvas (50 min)
- Prototyping and Market Research (60 minutes)
- Wrap-up (5 min)
Activities
1. Recap and Expectations (5 min)
• Recap what students learned last week and remind them of the expectations set out in week one.
Project the Week Four Slideshow and go through the slides as you go through each activity.
2. Business Model Canvas (50 min)
• Start this activity by having a discussion about why companies are successful. Are goals and strategy important? Why?
• Remind students of the SMART goals they completed last week. It's important for a business to set goals for themselves before they begin producing and selling their product or service.
• Explain that in order to be successful, a business must put some time into planning. Together they will complete a Business Model Canvas. The Business Model Canvas will give them the structure of a business plan and fundamentally delivers three things:
1. Focus: everyone will be on the same page
2. Flexibility: easy to tweak the model and try new things
3. Transparency: the team will have an easier time understanding the business model
• Just like any other business, tell them that ensuring that their product and company are successful requires a process of evaluation throughout their operations. Discuss the concept from lean business startup called Build-Measure-Learn.
In the Build step, businesses form their company, create their team, and make a product or service. In Measure, businesses measure the success of their company by asking themselves questions such as how many sales are being made? How efficient is production? How effective are our employees? By reviewing the answers they receive from these questions, businesses are able to evaluate their success and decide what needs to be done in the future to be more successful. This is the Learn stage. A successful company is one that is constantly re-evaluating itself. By following the Build-Measure-Learn model, businesses are able to adapt quicker and keep their customers happy!
Watch the
• Optional: students can complete their Business Model Canvas from week four materials using the template provided.
3. Prototyping & Market Research (60 min)
• The students will spend a large portion of this week developing and testing prototypes of their idea. They will then decide on a method to conduct market research and design this to be conducted at home. The provided videos outline a number of different methods that the students might use.
• Ensure the students have a sufficient prototype(s) to be able to conduct their market research as homework over the next week.
• Ensure that the students have developed a survey, interview questions, website or social media page, etc. through which to conduct their market research. Explain to them that they will be doing this throughout the next week and must bring their results to the next meeting.
• If time is an issue feel free to divide the students into committees to work on these projects simultaneously.
For more information on Prototyping, watch the
4. Wrap-Up (5 min)
• Have the group assign market-research tasks to individuals to report back on the following week
• Ask students to start reviewing the Lean Business Plan. This will be due to JA for submission for preliminary judging after Week 6.
