Opportunity

Look at what people already spend money on. Then narrow on three checks: ability to pay, a reachable group, feasibility by Sunday.

Justin Mares kept hearing about bone broth at his CrossFit gym and on paleo blogs, but couldn't buy it online, and it takes 20+ hours to make. Thousands searched for it every month; nobody sold it. Paleo eaters can pay, they read the same blogs, and it can be made: all three checks pass.

“Who is already paying for this, and where are ten of them together?”

The context first. Mikaila Ulmer, age four, Austin, 2009: stung by bees twice in one week, she went from scared to curious and learned that bees are in trouble and that a lot of our food depends on them. Then her great-grandmother Helen's 1940s cookbook turned up, with a flaxseed lemonade recipe — the same case in every city. Nobody's own business yet.

People already pay for lemonade. Who buys it, where are ten of them together, could a kid make it — and what could make people pick hers? Write every answer on the whiteboard; the guide steers but does not give the answer.

The reveal: she added honey to Great-Grandma Helen's recipe and gave part of every sale to saving bees; sold it first at Austin's Lemonade Day and a children's business fair; a pizza shop asked her to bottle it; then Whole Foods, and $60,000 from Daymond John on Shark Tank in 2015. People already bought lemonade; her story gave them a reason to buy hers. Name where the room was right and where it missed.

Nothing is printed. Read each line out loud with a quick example while it is on the screen; students fill in the same prompts in CofounderJr when laptops open.

• What my parents spend money on for work: __.
• What my parents spend money on for fun: __.
• What I and my friends spend money on for fun: __.
• Five to ten ideas, each one something people already pay for. Not fifty.
• Ability to pay: name the person with the money, not the person who thinks it is a nice idea.
• A reachable group: a clear niche who know each other, go to the same places or follow the same accounts. Hunters, not everyone.
• Feasibility: something you can deliver, or take payment for, by Sunday. No nanobots.

Five to ten ideas from the prompt list in CofounderJr, the top three through the three checks, and one picked and said out loud.

Save the work. When time is up, pick and move on to the share; the sprint is short on purpose.

Teach the feedback stems first — I like, I wish, what if, answered with “Thank you, tell me more.” Then one student per table shares the opportunity they picked and who pays for it, and a listener answers with one stem.

“I like… I wish… What if…” Name one specific change, with a reason.

Repeat what you heard. Make one small change or write it down as your next step.

Ask: “What can you do now, and what helped you learn it?” Give each partner a turn.

• Short: one sentence.
• Specific: name the helpful action.
• Skill-based: say what skill it showed.

“Shout-out to Sam for being the customer who actually said no, so I could practise. That showed Teamwork and Leadership.”