Business Idea Pitch

Project Description

Introduction
Your first project/major assignment for class is the Business Idea Pitch. Over the course of your time here at Purdue, you have certainly been asked to give a presentation or two in front of your classmates. And, you have surely had the opportunity to develop some ideas for possible businesses you might pursue upon graduation (or, you likely wouldn't be in this class). Project 2 is designed to put those skills and ideas to the test--to allow you to present your ideas in a succinct, cogent, and engaging manner.

Project Summary
For this individual assignment (there will be several group assignments and activities in the course), you are being asked to prepare and present an Elevator Pitch for your unique idea for a business, product, or service that you might consider pursuing upon graduation and entrance into the real world. You will pitch your idea to the entire class, including your instructor, where the audience will vote for the top five ideas/pitches in the class. Your pitches will also be video-taped, so that we (you) can watch them, analyze them, and improve on them (if needed) for future presentation/pitches. In the end, the Five winners of the Business Idea Elevator Pitch Competition will be project managers for the entire semester, up through the Business Plan Pitch, working in groups to develop their business idea. Make no mistake, this is a competition, and the rewards are great, as explicated below. This will be a fun, if not nerve-racking beginning to what I hope to be a great academic experience.

Project Goals

Writing in Context

• writing for a range of defined audiences and stakeholders;
• negotiating the ethical dimensions of workplace and/or business communication;
• representing one's business goals and innovative ideas persuasively, in written and oral forms.

Project Management

• Understand, develop and deploy various strategies for planning, researching, drafting, revising, and editing the important and necessary documents of entrepreneurship, including business plans, marketing materials, white papers, resumes, trademark applications, and grant proposals, both individually and collaboratively
• Select and use appropriate technologies that both effectively and ethically address professional situations and audiences.
• Build professional ethos through documentation and accountability.

Document Design
Make rhetorical design decisions about workplace documents commonly used by entrepreneurs, including

• understanding and adapting to genre conventions and audience expectations;

understanding and implementing design principles of format and layout;

• interpreting and arguing with design;
• drafting, researching, testing, and revising visual designs and information architecture.

Teamwork
Learn and apply strategies for successful teamwork and collaboration, such as

• working online with colleagues;
• determining individual and group roles and responsibilities;
• managing team conflicts constructively;
• responding constructively to peers' work
• soliciting and using peer feedback effectively;
• achieving team and business goals.

Research
Understand and use various research methods to produce professional documents, including

• analyzing professional contexts;
• locating, evaluating, and using print and online information selectively for particular audiences and purposes;
• triangulating sources of evidence;
• selecting appropriate primary research methods, such as interviews, observations, focus groups, and surveys to collect data;
• working ethically with research participants.

Technology
Use and evaluate the writing technologies frequently used in the workplace and for entrepreneurship, such as emailing, instant messaging, image editing, video editing, presentation design and delivery, HTML editing, Web browsing, content management, and desktop publishing technologies.

Deliverables

Your Business Idea Pitch
1. May be in any format you choose.
2. Less than (up to) two minutes.
3. Some areas of discussion include:

• Your product or service;
• Your market and its size;
• How you plan to make money;
• Your leadership team;
• Your competition;
• Your competitive advantage.

Stakes of Business Idea Pitch Competition
1. Five Winners
2. Project Managers for Remainder of Semester.
3. Required to create Job Announcements (needed positions) and hire "Employees"
4. Will lead team to the creation and presentation of a full Business Plan of your Idea

Rules of Business Idea Pitch Competition
1. All aspiring entrepreneurs (class members) must present
2. Must vote for the one best business idea
3. Cannot vote for yourself
4. Top eight vote-getters will present again to determine top five winners
5. Remainder of entrepreneurs will repeat rules 2 and 3, above.
6. You may not use any notes, note cards, etc. when presenting

Grading for Business Idea Pitch

This project is worth a total of 5% of your total course grade. For all students, regardless of making the final round (top eight), the presentations will be graded on 1) how well the idea is researched, 2) how well the presentation is put together and organized, 3) how thorough and convincing the presentation is, 4) and how professionally the information is presented. Remember, your ethos has as much to do with your garnering votes as does your idea.

So, at its heart, this project is a competition and a chance to show what you have to offer the world--or this class--as an aspiring entrepreneur. For Project 1, you are competing, in part, for what your position in the class will be for the remainder of the semester: Will you be a project manager and have the opportunity to develop your business idea? Or, will you be an employee and be asked to work as part of a team to develop another entrepreneur's business idea? Also, this is your first opportunity in the class to illustrate some of your skills as a future business owner and entrepreneur. How well do you research, organize information, utilize your resources, and present your ideas? Those that do the aforementioned the best are destined to win the competition. You will be graded not on whether or not you win the competition, but rather, how well you present your ideas. Finally, this project is an opportunity to improve on your presentation skills, which are very necessary for aspiring entrepreneurs and for this class.