Business
Advanced
60 mins
Teacher/Student led
Learning Goals
Learning Outcomes
+65 XP
What you need:
Chromebook/Laptop/PC or iPad/Tablet
IWB/Projector/Large Screen

Teamwork and Your First Pitch Draft

Draft a two-minute pitch for your mini-business using the six-section arc: hook, problem, solution, customer, business model, ask. Give peer feedback on a classmate's pitch and revise your own based on their suggestions.

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    1 - Getting Started

    Illustration for Getting StartedYou're seven weeks into your mini-business. You've chosen your idea, met your customer, costed it, branded it, and worked out how it makes money. Now comes the part that decides whether anyone else will care: the pitch.

    The rule today

    In two weeks, you (or your team) will stand up and have two minutes to convince an audience that your mini-business is worth backing. Two minutes is shorter than you think. The average person speaks about 130 words per minute, so you have roughly 260 words to do six jobs: grab attention, name a problem, present your solution, name a customer, explain how it makes money, and make a clear ask.

    Today is your first draft. You'll see a worked example pitch for a fictional TY mini-business, draft your own pitch on your pitch outline below, rehearse it once with a cross-group partner, and walk out with at least three pieces of written feedback to act on before Pitch Day.

    Warm-up: picture this

    Imagine you have 30 seconds in a lift with someone who could buy your product, fund your business, or write about it. They ask: "What do you do?" Without writing anything down, say your answer out loud, right now, in one breath. How far did you get? Most people freeze, ramble, or stop after one sentence. That's exactly why pitches are structured.

    👇 Mark your steps as done as you complete them.

    +5 XP

    2 - What You'll Learn

    A pitch is a small piece of architecture. Skip a section and the whole thing wobbles. Read each concept below, then move to the worked example in the next step.

    Tip

    Skim this table now: it'll make full sense once you see the Lock In pitch in the next step. You can always come back if you get stuck later.

    ConceptWhy it mattersExample
    Elevator pitch — a short, structured ask, typically two minutes or less, designed to get the listener to a yes before they look awayTY enterprise judges, an investor at a county event, or a customer in front of your stall all give you roughly two minutes before they decide whether they care; rambling for four minutes loses every one of themPitches at the Local Enterprise Office's Student Enterprise events are timed to two minutes flat, with the mic cut at the bell. Drift over and the judges score you on what you managed to say, not what you meant to
    The 6-section arc — Hook → Problem → Solution → Customer → Business Model → Ask, in that exact orderIf you name the customer before naming the problem, the listener doesn't know why they should care about the customer; if you give the ask before the business model, they don't know what they're being asked forEvery line of the worked Lock In pitch in the next step maps to exactly one of the six sections, in order. You can listen and put up six fingers as each one lands
    Speaking parts — in a team pitch, the six sections are divided across speakers so every team member is heard; a solo student delivers the full two minutes themselvesOn Pitch Day every team member is expected to speak, so dividing parts in this lesson means no one freezes mid-Ask in two weeksA three-person team often splits 2-2-2 sections; the strongest closer usually takes the Ask, the strongest storyteller usually takes the Hook
    Constructive feedback — comments that include at least one specific suggestion, not only praise"That was great" tells the speaker nothing they can change; "your hook story is strong but the number in your problem is missing" tells them exactly what to fix in five minutes"Swap the order of your hook and customer line" is a suggestion. "Loved it!" is not. Both can appear in the same feedback, but at least one must be a suggestion
    Iteration — making at least one specific change to your pitch in response to feedback, and recording what you changed and whyA pitch you never edit is rarely the strongest version of itself; the second draft is almost always 30% sharper for the same minutes of work, and the change record is your evidence of growth—

    👇 Mark your steps as done as you complete them.

    +10 XP

    3 - See It in Action: the Lock in Pitch

    Illustration for See It in Action: The Lock In PitchBelow is a complete, worked, fictional pitch for a TY mini-business called Lock In: a team of TY students who design and sell A4 laminated one-page revision sheets to Junior Cycle students in their own school, the week before exams.

    Read it once straight through, then read it again with the six sections in mind. Each section is labelled, so you can see how it maps to the arc. After that, answer the two analysis prompts.

    The Lock In pitch: read it like the speaker is in front of you

    HOOK (15s, Speaker A) — Last June, my younger sister stayed up until three in the morning the night before her Junior Cycle Maths paper. She was scrolling through forty pages of notes she'd never have time to read. She failed three topics she actually knew.

    PROBLEM (25s, Speaker A) — Around 73,000 students sit the Junior Cycle examinations in Ireland each year, and most of them have the same problem the week before exams: too many notes, not enough time. They want a one-page summary they can actually read in the hour before they walk into the hall, but no one in their year is willing to make it.

    SOLUTION (25s, Speaker B) — Lock In is a laminated, A4 one-page revision sheet for each Junior Cycle subject. The formulas, the keywords, the dates, the diagrams: all on one page. Designed by Transition Year students who sat the same exam two years ago and remember exactly what they wish they'd had.

    CUSTOMER (20s, Speaker B) — Our customer is a 14- to 15-year-old Junior Cycle student in 3rd year. We surveyed 12 of them in our own school, and 11 said they'd buy a €2 revision sheet the week before exams. There are 180 third-year students in our school alone.

    BUSINESS MODEL (20s, Speaker C) — We sell the sheet for €2. Printing, laminating and design cost us 50 cent per sheet, so we make €1.50 per sale. If we sell 100 sheets in the week before exams, that's €150 in profit. We're starting with English, Maths and Irish: the three subjects everyone sits.

    ASK (15s, Speaker C) — We're asking for €30 from the TY enterprise fund to cover laminating sleeves and printer credit for our first 100 sheets. In return, we'll donate 10% of profits to the school library. Thanks.

    Word count: ~245 words, roughly 1 minute 55 seconds at normal speaking pace. Three speakers, two sections each.

    Tip

    Now answer the two analysis questions below. You don't need to write paragraphs, just sharp, specific observations. These observations are what you'll apply when you draft your own pitch in the next step.

    +15 XP

    4 - Draft Your 2-minute Pitch

    Now apply the six-section arc to your own mini-business: the one you've been building across this unit. Your Customer Persona tells you who the Customer section is about; your Budget Sheet has the numbers for the Business Model section; your 4Ps page has the message that becomes your Solution sentence.

    Before you write: the 3 numbers you'll need

    Have these to hand from your earlier portfolio pages (open them in another tab if you need to):

    1. Price per unit (from your Budget Sheet)
    2. Cost per unit (from your Budget Sheet) — together these give you profit per unit
    3. Survey count: how many customers you asked and how many said yes (from your Market Research Form)
    Tip

    If you can't find one of these numbers in 60 seconds, write [NUMBER] as a placeholder in your sentence and keep moving. You can fill it in for homework. The point today is to get a full draft, not a perfect one.

    Instructions

    • Fill in all six sections of the pitch outline below.
    • Keep each section to one to three sentences. The whole pitch should read in under two minutes when you say it out loud.
    • If you're in a team, write the speaker initials beside each section (e.g. "A", "B") so you can practise speaking parts. A 2-person team can split 3-3; a 3-person team often splits 2-2-2.
    • Use specific numbers wherever you have them: price from your Budget Sheet, customer count from your Market Research Form, profit per unit from your earlier break-even work.
    • Leave the reflection box at the bottom blank for now. Your partner will type their feedback into it in the next step, and you'll add your "what I changed and why" line afterwards.
    Note

    Your worksheet saves automatically as you type. You'll come back and edit it after feedback.

    My 2-Minute Pitch
    Six sections, two minutes, your own mini-business. Write the pitch the way you'd say it out loud: short sentences, specific numbers, one breath per section. If you don't have a number to hand, write [NUMBER] in square brackets and move on; you can fix it for homework. A full draft today beats a perfect quarter.
    Hook (about 15 seconds, ~30 words)
    One specific sentence that makes the listener look up from their phone. A short story, a vivid moment, a surprising number, or a bold claim. Avoid generic openings like "Hi, we're [Business Name]".
    e.g. Last June, my younger sister stayed up till 3am scrolling notes she'd never have time to read., Three out of four people in this room walked past a problem this morning without seeing it.
    Problem (about 25 seconds, ~50 words)
    Whose problem is this, and why does it hurt? Use a real number from your Market Research Form or a stat you can stand over. Don't describe your business yet: just the pain it answers.
    e.g. Around 73,000 students sit the Junior Cycle exams in Ireland each year, and most have too many notes and not enough time the week before exams., Half the GAA parents we surveyed said standing in the cold without anything hot to drink is the worst part of an under-14 match.
    Solution (about 25 seconds, ~50 words)
    What is the product or service, in one or two sentences? What makes it different from the alternative customers use today (pull from your Business Model Canvas)? Don't list everything: pick the one feature that matters most.
    e.g. Lock In is a laminated, A4 one-page revision sheet for each Junior Cycle subject, designed by TY students who sat the same exam two years ago., We brew hot chocolate at home and sell it from a flask cart at GAA matches for €2 a cup, ready before the first whistle.
    Customer (about 20 seconds, ~40 words)
    Who exactly is your customer? Use your Customer Persona. Include a number: how many of them did you survey, and how many said yes? How many of them exist in your school, club, or town?
    e.g. Our customer is a 14- to 15-year-old Junior Cycle student. We surveyed 12 of them and 11 said they'd buy a €2 sheet. There are 180 of them in our school alone., Cold parents at Saturday under-14 hurling matches. 8 of 10 we asked said they'd pay €2 for a hot drink they didn't have to leave the sideline for.
    Business Model
    How does it make money? What will they pay, and why?
    Ask (about 15 seconds, ~30 words)
    What are you asking the audience for at the end? An amount, a customer commitment, a meeting, a vote? Include a specific number and what it would be used for. Optional: something you offer in return.
    e.g. We're asking for €30 from the TY enterprise fund for sleeves and printer credit for our first 100 sheets, and we'll donate 10% of profits to the school library., We're asking each of you to spread the word at the next match, and to vote Yard Yarn at the Pitch Day showcase.
    +10 XP

    5 - Rehearse and Get Feedback

    Illustration for Rehearse and Get FeedbackA pitch you've never said out loud is not a pitch yet, it's a document. The next 10 minutes turn it into a pitch, and produce the written feedback you'll act on before Pitch Day.

    What you'll do, in order

    1. Pair up cross-group (2 minutes setup). When your teacher calls time, find a student or team working on a different mini-business. Cross-group matters: your own teammates already know your pitch. Solos pair with another solo or with a team; if the numbers don't divide cleanly, your teacher will sort you into a trio (two listening to one, then rotating) or pair you with the teacher as listener.
    2. Rehearsal (4 minutes, 2 minutes each). Sit side by side. Open your pitch outline on your screen. Deliver your pitch out loud while your partner reads along on your screen. Teams divide speaking parts: every team member must say something. Speak the whole pitch even if bits don't feel ready. Then swap: your partner pitches while you read along on their screen.
    3. Write feedback (4 minutes, 2 minutes each). Now slide your laptop over to your partner. They will type their at least 3 comments directly into the reflection box at the bottom of your pitch outline, with each comment starting with "Partner:" so you can tell them apart from your own notes later. At least one comment must be a concrete suggestion, not just praise. Then swap and you do the same: type your 3 comments into the reflection box at the bottom of their outline, prefixed with "Partner:". Aim your comments at the sections that need the most help, usually Hook, Problem, or Ask.

    What makes a comment useful

    • Specific: "the number in the Problem section is missing" is useful; "good" is not.
    • Actionable: "swap the order of Hook and Customer" is useful; "more energy" is not.
    • About the words on the page, not the speaker: "the Ask doesn't say what the €30 is for" is useful; "you seemed nervous" is not.
    Key point

    After the feedback exchange, go back to your own pitch outline above. Make at least one change in response to a Partner comment, then add one line at the bottom of the reflection (below your partner's comments) saying what you changed and why. That single recorded change is the evidence of iteration we'll come back to before Pitch Day.

    +15 XP

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