Day 3: Pitching Investors — Build the Business Plan
Lesson Overview
| Time | 50 minutes |
| Objectives | Read the H&L "Pitching Investors" Career Lab scenario; choose a business opportunity (sports app, food business, or pet business); read the matching investor profile; build a business plan outline and draft pitch slides |
| TEKS | d(3)(I) |
| Deliverable | Business plan outline + draft pitch slides (3-5 slides on chart paper or in Google Slides) |
| Materials | H&L Workbook Ch 5 (pp. 80-83), printed Investor Profile cards (Super Sports Ventures, Eden Culinary Group, Pawsitive Growth Capital), chart paper or Google Slides, markers |
Warm-Up (5 min)
WARM-UP: An investor is someone who gives you money for your business, but they don't give it for free. What do they want in return?
Take 3-4 student responses. Surface: investors want a piece of the business (equity), or they want their money back plus extra (return on investment). Bridge: today students prepare a real pitch to convince investors to fund their business.
Activity 1: Set the Scenario + Pick a Business (10 min)
Source: H&L Workbook Ch 5, pp. 80-81, "Pitching Investors" (Career Lab activity)
Read aloud the workbook background (Ch 5, p. 81): An entrepreneur is someone who starts and runs their own business. Many entrepreneurs need investors to fund their growth. Investors put money into a business hoping to earn more in return. Entrepreneurs must convince investors that their idea is worth the investment.
Project the 3 business opportunity choices from the workbook (Ch 5, p. 81):
- Inventing a New Sports App: A sports app that makes the world of sports more engaging for fans and players
- Starting a Food-Related Business: A unique restaurant, food truck, or new snack
- Opening a Pet-Related Business: A new pet service, product, or subscription box
Group students into teams of 3-4. Each team picks ONE business idea. They write their team name, business name, and chosen category at the top of their chart paper.
Facilitation Tip
Encourage variety, try to get at least one team in each of the three categories. If too many teams pick the same category, ask one team to pick a different one.
Activity 2: Read the Investor Profile (10 min)
Source: H&L Workbook Ch 5, pp. 82-83, "Step 1: Read the Investors' Profiles"
Distribute the investor profile card that matches each team's business choice. The H&L workbook (Ch 5, pp. 82-83) describes 3 investors:
- Super Sports Ventures: Investment range $500K-$1M. Wants sports apps that offer something new (real-time data, fan engagement, athlete tools). Needs to see: value proposition, marketing plan, technology plan, revenue model, budget.
- Eden Culinary Group: Investment range $250K-$2M. Wants food businesses with a fresh concept (unique restaurant, food truck, new snack). Needs to see: unique concept, market opportunity, business model, marketing & growth plan.
- Pawsitive Growth Capital: Investment range $100K-$3M. Wants pet products and services for pet owners. (Workbook profile continues; teams should read the full profile.)
Each team reads their investor profile carefully and underlines:
- The investor's investment range (how much money they give)
- What the investor wants to see (the criteria your pitch must hit)
Activity 3: Build the Business Plan Outline + Pitch Slides (22 min)
Source: H&L Workbook Ch 5, pp. 81-82, Business plan and pitch deck
Each team builds a 5-section business plan outline AND a draft pitch deck (chart paper version or Google Slides). The 5 sections come from the investor's "what they need to see" requirements:
| Section | What to Include |
|---|---|
| 1. Value Proposition | What makes your business different? Why will customers choose YOU? |
| 2. Target Market | Who is your customer? Be specific (age, location, lifestyle) |
| 3. Product/Tech Plan | How does your product work? (For sports apps, what tech does it use?) |
| 4. Revenue Model | How do you make money? (Subscriptions, ads, retail, partnerships?) |
| 5. Budget Ask | How much money are you asking the investor for, and what will you spend it on? |
Teams draft each section on chart paper (one slide per section) or in a Google Slides deck. The drafts are rough, they polish tomorrow before the actual pitch.
Facilitation Tip
Watch for teams that get stuck on section 4 (Revenue Model). It's the most abstract one for middle schoolers. Help them with concrete examples: "If your subscription box is $20 and 1,000 people sign up, that's $20,000 a month in revenue."
DOK 4: Why do investors care about the REVENUE MODEL more than the cool product features? What does this tell you about how businesses really make money?
Exit Ticket (3 min)
EXIT TICKET (Comparison Matrix) · Printable PDF:
Fill in the matrix for your team's business plan and match it to what your chosen investor wants.
| Business Plan Section | What OUR plan says (one phrase) | What the INVESTOR wants to see (from their profile card) |
|---|---|---|
| Value Proposition | ||
| Target Market | ||
| Revenue Model | ||
| Budget Ask |
Bottom line: Which ROW of our plan is the STRONGEST match to what our investor wants, and why will THIS row convince them to fund us? (d(3)(I))
Submit your team's business plan outline with this ticket.
Differentiation
- Support: Provide a pre-printed business plan template with the 5 section headers and 1-2 sentence prompts under each.
- Extension: Calculate a 1-year revenue projection: if you get 50 customers in month 1, 100 in month 2, 200 in month 3, etc., what's your year-end revenue?
- ELL: Pre-teach: Investor = Inversor/a, Pitch = Presentación, Revenue = Ingresos, Budget = Presupuesto. Bilingual business plan template. The pitch can be delivered in English, Spanish, or bilingual tomorrow.