Problems for the Huskies

In an attempt to launch Hungry Huskies, we have come across quite a few problems. Since our last post, Robert and Conner were able to go to Costco and buy the inventory we needed to launch. The first problem we came across was on the issue of storage. Since we were denied access to the lockers, we decided to temporally store our inventory in Mrs. Starnes's cubicle. However, this plan failed because they saw us bringing in the snacks and told us food wasn't allowed to be stored anywhere but the Igloo. In a final attempt to store our snacks, Mrs. Starnes reached out to the Parent's Association to ask for access to the Igloo. Thankfully, they quickly approved our request and we were able to secure room in the Igloo to store our goods. We tried to make an announcement so we could launch sales but the student announcements at town meeting this week were both canceled for other speakers. Below is a picture of one of the flyers that we put around the school to make everyone aware that Hungry Huskies will be launching soon! Since we weren't able to launch sales this week, a goal our team has is to launch sales the week following our Thanksgiving break. I think although we have been faced with a lot of problems, we have worked hard to overcome them and should aim to continue to improve our efficiency and work ethic through lots of effort.

Pucker Up

Over the last week and a half Pucker Up has been establishing what we need to do as a company in order to start the creation of our product. The most important part of this week was when we bought the ingredients needed to make our product, this of course is essential to our process. We also began to work on the pricing of the product, and have established that in order to make a profit we must sell the lip balm at around three dollars a piece. This of course would have to be tested, because if no one buys the product because it costs too much, then we wouldn't make a profit anyway. We still have a lot of questions that we need to answer; for example, when will we produce the product? We also need to know where we are going to sell the product and how to effectively market it around us. One of our major obstacles as a group was that we were almost over our budget. To fix this we researched more suppliers and eventually found websites where the materials cost less. This week we also finished and presented our lean canvas, which lays out the foundation of our business. We hope that in the following weeks we are able to create our product and then the sell the first round.

Husky BuyPass - New Affiliate Marketing Program

This week we have come up with our company name - Husky BuyPass. In addition to the name, we have also purchased the domain huskybuypass.com and plan to host our website there when it is developed. We also presented our Lean Canvas and overall feel confident in our business so far. We believe one of the best parts of this service will be when people need to buy books for school, as we'll be able to make them easy to find and highlight the cheapest prices.

Future plans for next week are to:
-Find out what products people like to buy online.
-Build the website.

Flint Hill's Affiliate Marketing Business

Today during the class time, we had a meeting regarding the future of the business.  We have finished up our Lean Canvas business model and we feel confident that our business is ready to be developed. Next steps include creation of friendly and usable website that students and parents can access easily. This will hopefully help the Flint Hill Community as a whole.

It Begins

This semester, we are offering a Small Business Startup elective for the first time.  Students in this class (sophomores, juniors, and seniors) will form four business teams and attempt to create, run, pivot, and grow their businesses.  Flint Hill will provide a small pile of startup money to each team, and any profits the businesses earn will come back to the school.  The course will introduce students to essential business concepts and key life skills, and offer an authentic experience.

This class will operate with the pressures, uncertainties, and challenges of a real startup. Students as entrepreneurs are expected to challenge, question, and push back; they are in charge of their experiences and outcomes. This class is an incubator or lab, where books and lectures are tools but not absolutes or blueprints. Students will need to rely on creativity and enthusiasm to interpret the content and turn it into an actionable plan and micro business. The key content is listed below:

Stay tuned for updates on our journey.  As the students form teams and begin their businesses, they will document their process and progress on this blog.