While starting a business may seem daunting, it can also be extremely rewarding and fun. Research indicates that the start-up stage of a business is associated with higher levels of what we call eudaimonic well-being (meaning, purpose, engagement, self-acceptance, and a sense of freedom and vitality). Thus, working on starting your own business in class may be an opportunity to unleash your creative potential and pursue something that you find personally meaningful and impactful.
During the semester, you will work on developing your business idea in a group with several other students (I assign each one of your to a group of no more than 4 students). At the end of the semester, you will have to pitch your business idea by giving a short 15-20 min presentation (startup pitch) to your classmates.
My vision with this project is to help you put the foundation for a potential business that you can later pitch at Baylor's New Venture Competition (several students have done that in the past!) or continue developing as you go through the program.
The most promising ideas/projects will also be considered to continue their development in Baylor's business incubator.
Please note that there is no final exam for the course, so you can consider your pitch (and Power Point Deck, which you will have to submit together with your marketing package) your final exam.
A good starting point for your presentation is the following pitch deck template [download here], which highlights the main points you will need to include in your presentation.
Here is an example of a PPT presentation students have created in the past [example].
I will use the following pitch evaluation form when grading your work [download here].
Note on Validating Demand
One of the most important steps for every business is to validate demand for your product. The best way to do this is to create a minimum viable product (MVP) and start offering it to potential customers. There is no better way to validate your product than examining the market response.
Therefore, I encourage you to create an MVP and attempt to sell your product. Although, depending on your product, you may still be able to validate demand in various other ways (refer to the validation guide we covered earlier in the semester).
For example, you can validate demand, at least partially, by interviewing customers and suppliers (and you can do this virtually via Zoom or Facetime or over the phone) [guide on how to do interviews].
Here is an example of how students in a previous class validated their product [download PPTs].