Grades 6-12 · Free
My Big Idea
Your students pick problems they actually care about, build businesses around them, and pitch to a room of judges. You run the workshops; we supply the materials and the coaching, and we host the competition.
Location is not a limitation
To show students in rural places that location is not a limitation. Great minds come out of small towns as readily as big cities, and the point is to find the ones who have that spark and hand them the tools while they are still in school.
Who can take part
- Open to students in grades 6-12
- Public, private and homeschool students are all welcome
- No business experience needed — curiosity is the entry requirement
- Runs in participating Upper Cumberland counties
How it ends
With the My Big Idea Pitch Competition, which we put on. Teams present what they have built to a panel of judges, in front of family, friends and the public, for prizes and recognition. It is the part students remember, and for a lot of them it is the first time they have stood up and defended an idea of their own.
What it costs
Nothing — not to the school and not to the student. The materials, the coaching and the competition are all covered. The program has always been funded by grants, sponsors and donors rather than by schools.
How the work splits
We bring
- The workbook — one for every student, theirs to keep
- Coaching for whoever is leading it, so nobody teaches this cold
- The My Big Idea Pitch Competition at the end, hosted by us
- Judges, prizes and an audience for the finale
You bring
- Runs the workshops with your own students, on your own timetable
- Picks the teacher or club leader who fits it best
- Gets teams to the competition
You do not need an entrepreneurship background to lead it. The workbook is written to be picked up by a teacher who has never run anything like this, and Tiffany will coach you through it.
What students actually do
- 01
Imagine
Start with what you already care about, then go looking for problems worth solving.
Students inventory their own passions, pet peeves, fears and the things they would change about the world, then hunt for problems and unmet needs across three scopes — home and school, their community, and the wider world. They pick the one they care most about, draw the actual person living with that problem, and brainstorm as a group.
- 02
Identify
Work out what you are good at, then build a team around it.
Role descriptions written for teenagers rather than MBA students — do you manage the big picture, do you make spreadsheets for fun, are you the one people listen to. Students find where they fit, form teams, and write a team summary: who they are, what they are passionate about, the problem they are solving, and a motto.
- 03
Innovate
Turn the idea into a business model on one page.
This is where the My Big Idea Canvas comes in — the Business Model Canvas rewritten for a first-timer. Customer, alternatives, solution, minimum viable product, value proposition, distribution, costs, marketing, milestones. Students are sent out to ask real people how they solve the problem today, and are taught to want the negative answers.
- 04
Introduce
Learn to tell the story, then tell it to a room.
Ten slides, twenty minutes, thirty-point font — and a list of what not to do that includes reading your own slides. Students practice the pitch, then present to a panel of judges at the finale in front of family, friends and the public.
One page, nine questions
The spine of the program is the My Big Idea Canvas — the Business Model Canvas rewritten so a thirteen-year-old can fill it in without a glossary. Same nine questions a founder answers in our adult bootcamp, asked in plain language.
Problem
What problem are you solving?
Customer
Who needs your help? (get specific)
Alternatives
How do customers and companies address this problem now?
Solution
What are the base features that solve it? (minimum viable product)
Value proposition
Provide a snapshot of your solution
Marketing
How will you get customers' attention?
Distribution
How and where will customers buy it?
Team
Which skill sets and roles are crucial?
Milestones & metrics
What will you use to measure success?
The shape of it
Imagination needs engagement and envisioning alternatives. Creativity needs motivation and experimentation. Innovation needs focusing and reframing. Entrepreneurship needs persistence and inspiring others. The workbook builds on the Invention Cycle from Tina Seelig, Stanford Technology Ventures Program.
It has been doing this a while
Spring 2017
Launched across nine counties. More than 400 students saw the material, nearly 100 finished the full program, and three finale events awarded over $2,000.
Fall 2017
Grand finale in Cookeville on 11 November, open to the public.
Spring 2018
Fourth round in a year, held at the Tennessee Tech School of Business. Around 80 students from six high schools; seven teams pitched. The winning Big Idea was a video game controller for disabled players, from a Jackson County High School team.
By spring 2018
Over 600 students had been through the program in their schools.
Counties it has run in
Putnam, White, Jackson, Macon, Van Buren — among others. If your county is not on that list, that is a reason to get in touch rather than a reason not to.
Support has come from
LaunchTN, First Volunteer Bank, Tennessee Tech, Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development, Highlands Economic Partnership, Area Chambers of Commerce, UT Extension offices, and local private donors.
Teachers and principals
Tell us your school, the grade levels, roughly how many students and the term you are thinking about. Tiffany Anton runs this one and will come and talk it through with you — there is no application, and nothing to fill in beyond an email.