Getting down to business

When I'd last written about the team of 10-graders that I'm mentoring on entrepreneurship through BUILD (read my posts here and here), they were re-visiting their business plan as their world-view and team had changed over the summer. They were frantically re-doing their presentation as they had to pitch to a VC (a real one!) in order to get the few hundred dollars of 'seed funds' they would need to get their idea off the ground.

There was a bunch of writing to do - presentations, business plan, even team bios, and these students were stressed as they had to do it all on top of their regular school work (remember, they are in this program because they need all the help they can get to stay in school). My co-mentor and I were dismayed by their lack of enthusiasm - it seemed that they were just going through the motions and had lost their excitement, and we were hoping it would come back.

It sure did! All it took was practicing their 'elevator pitch' while meeting and greeting at a 'mock-tail' party and pitching to a VC who showed real interest and asked relevant questions. The team was floating after the presentation - they were thrilled that they could field questions on pricing and market surveys entirely on their own. And yes, they got their seed funds - this is modeled after the real world, but is a much more sheltered one after all, propped by generous donations.

Now that they're getting down to business, not just creating PowerPoints, the excitement is palpable, and they're very much fired up as in my 'fire in the belly' post. They're nervous, they have tons of questions, but they don't think they can fail - in fact, they believe they have already won, which is the most empowering feeling a teenager could have.

As someone who's cares about education, I'm happy to see how starting a business brings so much to these under-resourced teens: they're motivated to stay in school, they experience supportive relationships with successful adults who care, and they build the confidence they need to aspire to college and get there. As an entrepreneur, I'm thrilled that they're learning the fundamentals of business now and know that they will not be scared to start one if they had a mind to do so in the future. And the fact that I get to participate in this, however minor my role, is the scrumptious icing on the proverbial cake.