Business for a Sustainable Future

How do I pitch, run, and grow my own business or initiative?  What skills, support, and resources do I need? 

Given what we know now about the business and entrepreneurial landscape, how can you set out to begin solving these problems on your own? This lesson will test your creativity and teamwork. Here we will take a deep dive into developing and pitching an innovative business venture. You will learn how to plan your business journey, how to anticipate the support you’ll need to grow, and how to pitch your business. This lesson will be heavily practical whereas the previous two were a mix of theory and practice. This one is for all the marbles!

By completing this lesson, you will:   

• Anticipate and plan next steps for testing the model of your venture.
• Build a plan to get the support your initiative needs to grow, including skills, connections, and funding.
• Practice pitching your business: iteratively craft a compelling pitch for investors, and get feedback along the way.

Pre-Reading

We’ll start the lesson by considering what support you might need as you start to grow.  How to find a mentor for your startup offers some practical tips on one of the most crucial pieces: finding great mentors. 

Being able to create a compelling pitch to explain what your organization does, and get others on board, is an essential skill. For an introduction to pitching, explore:

• Five top tips to create a compelling pitch deck 
• How to Nail the Pitch: 17 Storytelling Tips for Startups

You can also download this lesson as a PDF or Microsoft Word document below: