Teacher guide · Unit 11 of 13
Entrepreneurship
Turning a problem someone has into a business that solves it for more than it costs.
- Lessons
- 5
- Reading
- 40 minutes
- Unit quiz
- 5 questions
- Class time
- 2 periods
Class time is a guide: 45-minute periods, with the lessons, the unit quiz and a discussion. Students can read lessons at home and take the quiz in class, or the other way round.
By the end of the unit, students can
- start from a real problem, and test whether people want a solution before building it
- describe common business models, and the numbers that decide whether one works
- write a clear positioning statement, and choose where to find customers
- explain the difference between growing and scaling, and what breaks first
- compare the ways to fund a business, and what each one gives up
The lessons
Each ends with a one-question check, and students who pass the unit quiz can go on to three optional stages of harder lessons, for bronze, silver and gold medals.
- 11.1Starting a business8 min
The most common reason startups fail is not competition or funding. Nobody needed it.
- 11.2Business models8 min
If it costs $200 to acquire a customer worth $150, no amount of scale fixes that.
- 11.3Marketing8 min
Trying to appeal to everyone produces messaging that lands with no one.
- 11.4Scaling8 min
Growth is more customers. Scaling is more customers without costs rising to match.
- 11.5Fundraising8 min
Most businesses should not raise money. That gets said least often.
New Jersey Standard 9.1
This unit goes beyond Standard 9.1: none of the state’s grade 12 expectations is mapped to it. See the full alignment for the units that teach them.
Questions for discussion
- “If it costs $200 to win a customer worth $150, no amount of scale fixes that.” Why not?
- Name a business near you that could be copied tomorrow, and one that couldn’t. What makes the difference?
- Lesson 11.5 says most businesses should not raise outside money. When does raising it make sense?