Students in Rock Island High School's INCubator Entrepreneurship Class gave their MVP (minimum viable product) pitch to a group of judges. The judges are made up of business leaders in the community.

 

During the pitch, students explained to the judges their product, how they are going to test their product, why people will pay for their product, and asked for seed money.

 

In the next step, students will go out and build a prototype and test the demand. They will be meeting with manufacturers to see actual costs and to find out if they can find someone to manufacture their product.

 

The INCUbator Entrepreneurship Class is designed to get RIHS students excited about becoming entrepreneurs. Throughout the year students will learn what it is to be an entrepreneur, dig into all aspects of business and develop skills such as team building, problem-solving and creative and critical thinking.

 

This year there are ten student teams. 

 

Real entrepreneurs and industry experts serve as volunteer mentors. Earlier in the year, they were invited to come listen to the student's product pitches and were matched with a group to serve as a mentor. Throughout the year those mentors will help guide student teams through the process of developing hypotheses about a business concept, testing those hypotheses, adapting, and continually learning and improving.

This gives students the opportunity to practice giving pitches and getting feedback on their business ideas.

Students will develop their own product or service start-up and pitch it in a "Shark Tank" style to potential investors at the end of the year at the Final Pitch Night event.

Students leave the course having completed a Business Model Canvas, competitive analysis, financial model, minimum viable product, pitch deck, future communications plan, and a future funding plan.