Unit 7, Lesson 7.11, pitch day. Print page 1 once per judge and hand it to them at the door. Print page 2 stapled into a packet, one packet per judge with the running order on the front. Print page 3, the audience scoring sheet, one per student. Print page 4, the award cards, on card stock and cut.
Page 1: The judge briefing (one page, send this two days ahead)
Thank you for coming
You are about to hear ten teams of middle school students pitch a business they built in seven class periods. They are not pretending. Their numbers are real numbers they calculated themselves. Their customers are real people they actually interviewed. Whatever they hand you, they made.
What they were taught
Every team's idea had to connect to at least one thing this course covered this year: food, money, family, home, clothing, or work. They found a real problem, generated twenty ideas, filtered them, interviewed three customers, calculated what one unit costs them to make and what they would charge, figured out how many they have to sell before they stop losing money, built something you can hold, and wrote a 60-second pitch in six parts:
- Hook (10 seconds): a question or a number.
- Problem (10 seconds): the problem, and who has it.
- Solution (15 seconds): what they make or do, and one differentiator.
- Who it is for (10 seconds): the customer, with a real quote from an interview.
- The money (10 seconds): unit cost, price, break-even.
- The ask (5 seconds): what they want, with a number.
Their poster has five panels in that same order: the problem, the solution, the customer, the numbers, the ask.
The format
60 seconds to pitch. 90 seconds of your questions. Then the next team. A student runs the timer and the timer is honored.
What we need from you, three things
- Score every team on the sheet. Four criteria, four levels. It takes about twenty seconds.
- Ask one question per team, inside the 90 seconds. One question. Not a speech. Three questions that work on any team:
- "What is your margin on one?"
- "Who already solves this problem, and why would somebody pick you?"
- "What is the first thing you would do with the money?"
- Say one specific true thing to each team before the next one starts. Ten seconds. Not "good job." Something you actually noticed.
Two things you should know
Your sheets are not the grade. The teacher scores these students on a rubric they have had in their hands since the first day of the project. Your sheets are read and they inform the score; they do not set it. So be honest.
Some students are delivering a written part read aloud by a teammate, or answering with a card in hand. That is a planned accommodation, not a mistake, and it is scored at full credit. If a student asks you to repeat a question, repeat it.
The awards
At the end you will pick four, one sentence each on why:
Most Useful. Best Numbers. Best Pitch. Most Likely To Actually Work.
The class also votes, and the two sets of winners are often different. That is a good thing and we say so out loud.
Page 2: Judge sheet (one per team, stapled into a packet)
Judge: ____________________ Team number: ______ Team: ____________________
Score
1 = not yet. 2 = starting. 3 = they did this. 4 = they did this well.
| Criterion | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The problem. I understood what problem this solves and who has it, inside the first 20 seconds. | ||||
| The numbers. They told me what one costs them, what they charge, and how many they have to sell to stop losing money, and the numbers made sense. | ||||
| The thing they made. There is a prototype or sample and I can tell what it is. | ||||
| The delivery. All three spoke, they finished inside 60 seconds, they looked up, and the ask was specific. |
Their answer to my question
My question was: _________________________________________________
They answered with (circle): a number | a real quote from a customer | a reason | a guess | "I don't know"
One specific true thing I will say to this team
Award nomination (circle any that apply)
Most Useful | Best Numbers | Best Pitch | Most Likely To Actually Work
Page 3: Audience scoring sheet
Name: ____________________________ Date: ______________ Period: ______
You are working the whole period. Score every team. This sheet is collected and it counts.
The running order and your scores
1 = not yet. 2 = starting. 3 = they did this. 4 = they did this well.
| # | Team or idea | Problem was clear | Numbers made sense | There is a real prototype | Delivery: all three spoke, on time, looked up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | |||||
| 2 | |||||
| 3 | |||||
| 4 | |||||
| 5 | |||||
| 6 | |||||
| 7 | |||||
| 8 | |||||
| 9 | |||||
| 10 |
Do not score your own team. Write "ours" in the row.
One thing I learned from watching somebody else
My four award votes
| Award | My vote | Why (one phrase) |
|---|---|---|
| Most Useful (I would actually use this) | ||
| Best Numbers (the money made the most sense) | ||
| Best Pitch (60 seconds, clear, I looked up) | ||
| Most Likely To Actually Work (this could really happen) |
One vote, defended with evidence
I voted ______________ for ______________ because they said ___________
Page 4: Award cards
Print on card stock. Cut on the lines. Fill in the team name by hand and hand them to the judges to announce.
MOST USEFUL
FACS Shark Tank
Awarded to: ______________________________
For: ______________________________________
Something a real person would actually use.
Date: ____________ Judge: ____________________
BEST NUMBERS
FACS Shark Tank
Awarded to: ______________________________
For: ______________________________________
The money made sense. Every number had a reason behind it.
Date: ____________ Judge: ____________________
BEST PITCH
FACS Shark Tank
Awarded to: ______________________________
For: ______________________________________
Sixty seconds. Six parts. Nobody looked at the floor.
Date: ____________ Judge: ____________________
MOST LIKELY TO ACTUALLY WORK
FACS Shark Tank
Awarded to: ______________________________
For: ______________________________________
This one could really happen.
Date: ____________ Judge: ____________________