CSB Meets Shark Tank
You only have 15 minutes for this presentation. The last 12 weeks have been enduring. They have consisted of team meetings, research, interviews and game plans. What’s at stake? If your business plan wins, angel Investors will invest $100,000 in your company.
Your palms are sweaty, you review your flashcards for one last time, answer a few questions that come up before it’s time to present. It’s time to put your game face on, fix your tie one last time and press play on the PowerPoint.
The first day of Entrepreneurship class started with a simple statement: “At the end of the semester, one team will win $100,000 and earn an A.”
Our class was divided into teams; each one of us has something unique to contribute to the overall project. We were divided by our majors, presentation and organizational skills. After several weeks of hard work and industry research, we started filling out our business plan. At the end, our business plan consisted of 34 pages. It included an analysis of our business, from the location to the expected future cash flow.
A regular class consisted of discussing relevant business news that affected the market that day and week, with in-depth discussions on how the decisions that the business made in the past were affecting the current situation of the business and the market.
After the discussion, we had a guest speaker. Our guest speakers were successful entrepreneurs themselves, sharing insights and advice regarding their experiences in the entrepreneurship world. We had entrepreneurs from different industries, oil and gas, finance, real estate and restaurants. They shared insights on how they first started and the many mistakes made along the way. The entrepreneurs shared something in common: the risk and reward of following your gut feeling.
As the presentation starts, we provide a copy of our business plan to each angel investor. An angel investor has a calculator on hand and as we speak. He’s crunching the numbers. We present our logo and product and finalize our pitch. Just as on the show Shark Tank, the investors jump right in.
Before the presentation started, we divided the business plan into categories, each member was responsible for specializing in a part of the business plan. The sharks start bombarding us with questions, ranging from the real estate and location to the rest of the financing of the company. We were able to effectively answer each question and reassured the sharks that our company was worth investing on. Working as a team, we bounced off each other’s answers and added information to make the pitch more effectively. The 12 weeks of hard work and research pays off.
I loosen my tie a little as we walked back to our seats. The 15 minutes “inside the tank” are over. Each one of us gave each other a nod and the look of success. After working together for the last 12 weeks, “great job” we whispered. This semester we started with nothing and at the end, we had a complete business plan.
We had struggles along the way, doubting our initial company, changing direction in the middle of the semester, renaming the company multiple times, dealing with insurance, accounting, payroll and effectively creating a marketing plan. Our professor was there along the way, acting as consultant and guiding us through the whole process, asking us to take more risk, questioning our analysis and finding gaps in the business model. Through her experience and knowledge, she was our biggest advocate and supporter.
The Cameron School of Business experience is about “the risk and reward of following your gut feeling,” but with the knowledge and skills of a world class business school education.
I have experienced a real-world business education by analyzing business cases, working with teams, testing my knowledge and business skills with various projects, while also sharpening my presentation skills. My CSB experience has helped me deepen my drive, increase my knowledge, and sharpened my ambition. CSB has provided me with the confidence to achieve my goals and future ambitions.
My CSB experience is simply, like no other.
Jose Bolivar
Senior Finance Major