3 ms·
Have them come up with an idea that they believe they can implement on their own, but with your guidance and advice. Something that will bring real money in the
by Scott_MacGregor 16y ago
Have them come up with an idea that they believe they can implement on their own, but with your guidance and advice. Something that will bring real money in the door quickly. Even if it is only $20, it is better than lofty goals that a high school person might not have the maturity to follow through on.
Do not let them try to build a Google competitor or something similar. It is unrealistic for them. Have them engage in some kind of e-commerce and use something like PayPal where there is a chance that money will actually come in the door. Have you local newspaper do a story on you and the class participants, maybe following their efforts over time in the Sunday edition.
Form groups of 5 students and have them come up with ideas that you put on a list. When you have 50 money making ideas on the list, break into groups of 2 and let them try to implement the ideas they think will work. If more than one group of 2 chooses the same idea, that is called market competition.
I think they need to learn to bunt, before learning how to hit home runs. If you think they will all hit home runs and work to make no money, I think they will be discouraged and it will be a negative experience for them. Probably not what you want.
Maybe some will discover that this industry is not for them and go on to own a restaurant in your town. I think that the lessons learned can be applied to any business.
I think you should include some examples of companies like Zappos that sells shoes as well as companies that develop and sell software or provide SAS.
Also instead of case studies (that’s a lot for kids to focus on and digest) do PowerPoint lectures and also "make them earn" the privilege of learning how to use PowerPoint to make a Pitch Deck on a special Saturday lecture at the end of the course. But of course they can all attend, it's just a ploy to get them to focus hard on the course work that you can dangle over them during the semester. The carrot works better than the stick.
Also, you should have one lecture about, accounting, taxes and legal entity formations where a CPA comes in and answers questions. Also explain what a Corporation is and why Delaware might be a good choice.
- LeBlanc 16y agoI agree about having the students create a real business venture instead of learning about theory. Theory is useful if you are experienced, but boring and uninformative if you are in high school. In high school I made $2000 building and repairing computers for people. This is something that HS students could easily do. Building an eCommerce site is another one. Doing web design for local businesses is also a great idea because most rural businesses have terrible web presence.
- noahc 16y agoI think your google point is spot on. I wanted to stay away from this and thought that the content creation route might help mitigate this. Would you agree that there are three types of online businesses: 1. Businesses that rely on engineering(twitter, Facebook, google). These are businesses that you for sure want to stay away from. 2. Businesses that are basically e-commerce. Zappos, Amazon, etc. This would be tough to do because of the need for inventory. 3. Content businesses lifehacker, wine library, etc. These are ideal because they require little/no capital and only hand work put in by the students. This handwork can then spread over 4 years and hopefully they have something at the end of 4 years to show for it. As far as home runs vs bunts and thinking they would all be successful, I'd be happy with 1% success rate. Thanks for the awesome input.
- Scott_MacGregor 16y agoI think spreading the work over 4 years is too long. I would focus on getting something workable together and online before halfway through the semester. Push them to stay up late and code and hit a deadline. They won't melt if they lose a little sleep. Then have them work on iterating the design and the business based on feedback from adult relatives who login to the sites. Also, maybe some of the students want to do e-commerce. Maybe you could offer them some flexibility in this area. Will the PTA flip out if you involve the students with selling wine? Maybe you could work a deal with some local business where the students websites act as a reseller but carry no inventory. Farm supplies, or something. The customers can be local, if the newspaper does a story on this it is free advertising. Maybe somebody's mom cans preserves or something. Be imaginative. It is just to learn and maybe make some money, not corner the market.