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Day 1: Sales Pathway + Pitching Investors Setup

Lesson Overview
Time 50 minutes
Objectives Explore Sales careers in H&L; form Pitching Investors teams; choose a business idea and read investor profiles
TEKS d(1)(C), d(4)(B)
Deliverable Investor profile selection + business plan first draft
Materials Chromebooks, H&L accounts, H&L Workbook (Ch 5, pp. 81-86 Pitching Investors), printed team planner, projector

Warm-Up (5 min)

WARM-UP: Have you ever tried to convince someone to give you something, buy you something, lend you something, agree to a plan? What strategy did you use?

Take 4-5 student responses. Bridge to today: persuasion is sales. Sales is just the formal word for convincing people to take action. This week is about doing it well.

Activity 1: H&L Sales Pathway Tour (10 min)

Source: H&L Workbook Ch 5: Business, Marketing, and Finance (pp. 73-74)

Direct students to open H&L and explore the Marketing and Sales pathway within the Business, Marketing, and Finance cluster. The workbook (Ch 5, p. 74) confirms Marketing and Sales as a pathway: "Finding ways to tell people about products or services and encouraging them to buy."

[H&L PLATFORM] Students use the Hat Finder to browse Sales-specific Hats: Sales Manager, Account Executive, Retail Manager, Sales Representative, Inside Sales Specialist.

Quick salary check (5 min): Students look up Sales Manager on bls.gov/ooh/management/sales-managers.htm. The median pay nationally is around $135K, with the top 10% over $200K. Sales is one of the highest-paying business careers WITHOUT requiring a graduate degree.

The big idea: many people think sales is "annoying phone calls." Real sales is more like consulting, understanding what customers need and helping them solve a problem. The best salespeople are great listeners.

Facilitation Tip

Students often write off sales as a career because of the stereotype. Counter it directly: "Real sales is helping people solve problems they have. The 'annoying salesperson' stereotype is bad sales, and bad salespeople don't last. Good salespeople build long-term relationships." Repeat this until at least one student rethinks their assumption.

Activity 2: H&L "Pitching Investors" Project — Setup (30 min)

Source: H&L Workbook Ch 5, pp. 81-86, "Pitching Investors" (Career Lab)

Introduce the multi-day project using the workbook framing: "An entrepreneur is someone who starts and runs their own business. Many entrepreneurs need investors. Investing means putting money into a business with the hope of earning more money in return. Entrepreneurs must convince investors that their business idea is worth the investment!"

This is a 3-day team project: setup today, build slide deck tomorrow, deliver pitches Wednesday. The workbook walks through every step (Ch 5, pp. 81-86).

Step 1: Form Teams (3 min)

Form groups of 3-4 students. Each team will function as a startup company.

Step 2: Read the Investor Profiles (10 min)

The workbook presents three investor firms (Ch 5, pp. 82-83). Each team reads ALL THREE before choosing one to pitch:

  • Super Sports Ventures: Industry: Sports Tech, App Development. Investment range: $500K-$1M. Wants new sports apps with fresh fan-engagement ideas. Needs to see: Value Proposition, Marketing Plan, Tech Plan, Revenue Model, Budget.
  • Eden Culinary Group: Industry: Food. Investment range: $250K-$2M. Wants restaurants, food trucks, or snacks with a unique twist. Needs: Unique Concept, Market Opportunity, Business Model, Marketing & Growth.
  • Pawsitive Growth Capital: Industry: Pet Industry. Investment range: $100K-$3M. Wants new pet products, services, or subscription boxes. Needs: Unique Offering, Customer Acquisition Strategy, Profitability & Budget, Customer Insights.

Each team picks ONE investor to target based on which industry they are most excited about.

Step 3: Choose a Business Idea (5 min)

The team picks ONE option (matched to their investor):

  • Inventing a New Sports App: Designed for Super Sports Ventures
  • Starting a Food-Related Business: Restaurant, food truck, or new snack, for Eden Culinary Group
  • Opening a Pet-Related Business: Pet service, product, or subscription box, for Pawsitive Growth Capital

Step 4: Fill Out the Business Plan Chart (12 min)

The workbook (Ch 5, p. 84) provides a six-question business plan chart. Each team fills it in:

Question Answer
What is the name of your business?
What problem is your business trying to solve?
Who is your target audience (customers)?
How will you make money?
What is your distribution method? Online? Stores?
What key people do you need to hire and why?

This chart becomes the foundation of the Day 2 slide deck.

Facilitation Tip

Walk around with one prompt: "Tell me what your business does in 10 seconds." If the team can't, push them to clarify. This primes teams for Day 3 pitches, if the business can't be summarized in a sentence, the slide deck won't save it.

DOK 3: Why does each investor profile list SPECIFIC things they want to see? Why don't they all want the same information?

DELIVERABLE: Investor profile selected + business plan chart completed (one per team).

Exit Ticket (5 min)

EXIT TICKET (Mini-Case / Scenario Application) · Printable PDF:

Scenario: Another team in this class is pitching a dog-walking app to Super Sports Ventures. Super Sports only invests in SPORTS TECH. The team thinks "dogs = exercise = sports."

  1. Does this investor match this business idea? YES / NO

  2. ONE reason (use the investor profile from today):

  1. MY team's business name: _____

  2. MY team's investor choice: _____

  3. ONE "key person" my team needs to hire AND one job skill that person would bring (from the business plan chart):

Key hire: _____

Skill they bring: ____________

  1. Name ONE OTHER career where that same skill would also be useful (shows the skill is transferable):

(d(1)(C), d(4)(B))

Differentiation

  • Support: Pre-assign teams. Provide a partially-filled business plan chart with the business name and target audience pre-suggested for one team. Allow teams to focus on only 4 of the 6 questions if needed.
  • Extension: Teams write a 1-paragraph "elevator pitch" of their business in addition to the chart, 5-7 sentences that summarize everything.
  • ELL: Pair ESL students into mixed-language teams so they can contribute through ideas while bilingual peers handle the written chart. Pre-teach: Investor = Inversor, Business Plan = Plan de negocios, Distribution = Distribución, Customer = Cliente.