Challenge Prompt: Build a small business in 6 hours

You are a group of entrepreneurial students who are excited to explore small business creation. You have four hours to think about what you might be interested to build, form a team, define your target market and customer, articulate their pain points, and come up with products and services that serve their needs. You will conduct primary market research where possible. You will conduct secondary market research to come up with an operating plan, including industry specific licenses and other legal and accounting considerations. You will develop a pricing model and come up with an approach towards long term financial sustainability.

You will have an assigned mentor who will help you make progress. You will also have access to MIT’s Jetpacks on Orbit.mit.edu, an AI tool that helps you work through the process of developing a new enterprise step by step using the Disciplined Entrepreneurship framework.

Requirements for your proposed small business

At least one team member must have the relevant skillset to deliver the product and service
The product and service can be developed with existing technologies
The small business should not incur significant startup cost. It should be boot-strappable with modest draws on savings accounts (e.g. “birthday money”). Alternatively, early operations can be supplemented by other sources of income.
The proposed small business must be testable in the market within the next 3-6 months, and launch-able within the next 6-12 months, with assets available to your team today.

Examples of small businesses that fit criteria

a photography business
a catering business
an AI-assisted software consulting company can be launched if there are software developers on the team

Startup tactics and small business modifications

You will apply standard startup tactics, including market segmentation and selection, market sizing, primary market research, go to market strategy, financials and more.

At the same time, you will take the unique circumstances of the small business you are proposing to start into consideration rather than naively apply tech startup tactics to your approach. For example, small businesses are not always innovation driven; the product and service may not be highly differentiated; and physical siting may be a much bigger consideration than on-line SaaS startups that do not have close ties to local communities.

Categories of small businesses to explore

Following are some possible categories of small businesses. There are many ways to categorize small businesses - this is meant to help you brainstorm and should not confine your creativity.

Community & education: e.g. food pantries, tutoring, neighborhood groups
Consumer services: e.g. haircut, dog walking, personal chef, home repairs
Crafts & hand made goods: e.g. toys, quilts, jewelry
Creative, marketing & digital services: e.g. caricature drawing; digital marketing; social media; photography
Fashion design: e.g. one-of-a-kind fashion, ethnic fabrics
Food and beverage: e.g. packaged snacks, imported coffee and tea, catering, food trucks
Health, wellness and fitness: e.g. fitness trainer, nutritionist, supplements
Professional services: e.g. UX designer, programmer, product management consulting, strategy consulting
Retail: e.g. speciality food stores, clothing boutiques, online marketplaces
Other