Your Challenge

As you kick off your Innovation Challenge, your first step will be defining your problem statement and developing a business plan.

Deliverables

The Small Business Administration defines a business plan as “the foundation of your business” and a way to think through the key elements of your corporation. You’ll use your business plan as a roadmap for how to structure, run, and grow your new business.

Corporations typically choose one of two common formats for business plans: traditional or lean startup. Traditional business plans are more common, and they go into a lot more detail for each section. Lean startup business plans focus more on summarizing the key elements of your plan.

For the purposes of this project, you will be developing a lean startup business plan that will inform your strategy over the next six weeks. Remember that this is week one, and we expect things to change! What you write in this business plan doesn’t have to stay the same. Your business plan will serve as a guide, but as you research, develop hypotheses, and iterate on your solutions, we expect parts of this business plan to change.

In your corporation tookit, you’ll find an example business plan provided by the Small Business Administration as well as a template you can use to create your own business plan. Use your “corporation time” to draft your business plan, get feedback from your coaches and mentors, and finalize it by the end of the week. In addition to the template, you will be submitting your official company logo this week.

Deadline and Submission

Reminder that your corporation’s business plan and logo is due on Friday, July 16 at 5pm. Submit a Word document or PDF in the Assignments & Submissions channel within your team; name the file: "Corporation Name - Business Plan - Team Challenge 1.

Scoring Rubric

0-40 points possible

• Did your corporation submit a completed business plan? (8 points)
• Were you clear in outlining the team and key roles? (10 points)
• Did you include 3 milestones / next steps? (10 points)
• How creative were your name and mission statement? (12 points)

Your Challenge

Every project begins with research. Use this week to research your problem statement, potential solutions, and target market.

Deliverables

Now that you have a better understanding of your target market, competitors and your solution, you will combine your learnings to create a Project Canvas that articulates your problem statement, your findings, key features of your solution and next steps.

Again, we are still early in the process, and we do expect things to change. Your Canvas should best articulate your ideas, as of now. As you gather feedback from your employer sponsors, coaches and mentors, you will continue to iterate on your solution over the next several weeks.

Deadline and Submission

Your corporation’s project canvas is due on Friday, July 23 at 5pm. Submit a Word document or PDF in the Assignments & Submissions channel within your team; name the file: "Corporation Name – Project Canvas - Team Challenge 2.

Scoring Rubric

0-40 points possible

• Is your project canvas fully complete? (8 points)
• Are your findings backed by research and data? Is this data cited in your Project Canvas? (12 points)
• Did you clearly outline your solution and its key features? (10 points)
• Did you provide clear next steps under planning? (10 points)

Your Challenge

Teams will be tasked with putting their research into action by brainstorming and formulating an initial framework of their solution.

Deliverables

For this challenge, you will need to provide a concrete framework of your solution. This can be in any form you choose and it should communicate:

• An initial concept of your design (this should convey how you will visually represent your solution)
• How you plan to build / develop it
• How it will address your problem statement

Here are a few examples of formats you can use for your framework:

• PowerPoint
• Sketch
• Website Wireframe
• Diagram
• Chart
• Video
  

In addition to this framework you’ll need to answer the following questions in a Word document:

1. Explain how your Minimum Viable Product addresses the problem statement
2. What 2-3 key components or features are needed to make this solution successful?
   
3. Provide three considerations you kept in mind when designing what your prototype will look like.

Deadline and Submission

Your corporation’s project framework is due on Friday, July 30 at 5pm. Submit a Word document or PDF in the Assignments & Submissions channel within your team; name the file: "Corporation Name – Framework - Team Challenge 3.

Scoring Rubric

0-40 points possible

• Does your framework clearly communicate your design thinking? (12 points)
• Does your Minimum Viable Product address the problem statement? (12 points)
• Did you provide three clear considerations when designing your solution? (16 points)

Your Challenge

Use the initial framework of your solution to develop your first prototype and get feedback from your employer sponsors.

Deliverables

By the end of week four, you should have your first Prototype developed, and you will be required to submit your Prototype as your challenge this week. If your Prototype is a physical object, you will need to submit a video file that shows us what your prototype looks like.

Along with your Prototype, you must also submit a Word document that includes a summary of how your prototype works, as well as three pieces of feedback you received on your project, and a one-paragraph explanation of how you will incorporate your feedback into your next version of your prototype.

Deadline and Submission

Your prototype is due on Friday, August 6 at 5pm. Submit a Word document or PDF in the Assignments & Submissions channel within your team; name the file: "Corporation Name – Prototype- Team Challenge 4.

Scoring Rubric

0-40 points possible

• Did you share a prototype that maps back to your problem statement? (8 points)
• Did you include a clear summary of how your prototype works? (10 points)
• Did you provide three pieces of feedback and explain how you will incorporate them into the next version of your prototype? (12 points)
• How creative is your solution? (10 points)

Your Challenge

Put your solution to the test! Get feedback and iterate to ensure it is fool-proof.

Deliverables

After a week of getting feedback on your solution and tying up loose ends, now it’s time to show us what you learned, and what you did with this information! For this week’s challenge, you’ll be tasked with creating a 3-5-minute video that explains:

• How you tested your solution
• What you learned
• How you incorporated your learnings into your prototype to develop your final product

Think of creative ways to present this iterative process in your video. Here are some ideas:

• Conduct an on-screen interview with your employer partner
• Include various photos of how you’ve made progress on your solution (maybe it’s different versions of your marketing materials, a website, an app, a business plan)
• Add in mini videos from various departments sharing what they’ve worked on and how it has changed
• Incorporate a visual whiteboard that shows your design progress.

Deadline and Submission

Your video is due on Friday, August 13 at 5pm. Submit a video file in either an .mp4 or .mov format in the Assignments & Submissions channel within your team: "Corporation Name – Pressure Testing - Team Challenge 5.

Scoring Rubric

0-40 points possible

• Did you submit a video that addresses the three questions listed in the assignment? (20 points)
• Did you clearly explain how your solution has evolved? (10 points)
• How creative was your video? (10 points)
• BONUS: Get 2 bonus points if you can get your employer sponsor or business coach on camera!

Your Challenge

Use what you've learned over the past six weeks to develop your pitch for next week's competition!

Deliverables

Your final challenge will be to submit your final presentation deck in PDF or Power Point format. In addition, you’ll need to include one final slide in the deck that includes three lessons your team has learned throughout the program.

Deadline and Submission

Your presentation is due on Friday, August 20 at 5pm. Submit your presentation in the Assignments & Submissions channel within your team; name the file: "Corporation Name – Pitch Presentation - Team Challenge 6.

Scoring Rubric

0-40 points possible

• Did you submit a presentation? (8 points)
• How clear and concise were your slides? (12 points)
• How creative was your presentation? (12 points)
• Did you include the three lessons and were they clear? (8 points)

Competition details will be available later in August...