How this works
Four things to know, then you are off.
- Turn over your cards. A town to help, two opportunities to choose between, and one bylaw your business has to build around.
- Invent something. Talk it out as a team, then fill in the Business Blueprint.
- Expect a twist. Partway through, your facilitator will tell you to hit Draw Wildcard. Something changes. Adapt it, don’t start over.
- Pitch it. Tell the room what you built. One to three minutes. Then we talk about how it played.
A few things that help. Pick the stranger opportunity, it is usually more fun to solve. Name one specific person you are helping rather than “everyone”. And treat the bylaw as the thing that makes you different from the copycat down the road, not an obstacle to dodge.
Only one person per team needs this open. That person shares their screen so the rest can see. Everyone talks, one person types. Your work saves itself as you go, and there are no wrong answers.
What are you calling yourselves?
This goes on your pitch deck and your printout, so make it good.
This part opens after the Idea Storm
Head to Build: ten ideas on the board, star your best three, circle the one you are taking forward. Then everything from here on appears.
Your town
Tap each card to turn it over. This is your community, everything you build has to work here.
Your opportunities
Choose one of these to pursue.
Which one are you taking on?
Read both, talk it over, then commit to one. Read more opens a page about the real-world problem behind the card, which is worth a look before you decide. Choosing what not to do is half of running a business, and you can change your mind later.
Your bylaw
One business rule you have to build around.
Wildcard
Face down until your facilitator says so. Don’t peek.
Idea Storm
Before you build anything, get the ideas out. All of them, including the daft ones.
Pick your opportunity first
Scroll up and commit to one of your two Opportunity cards. Then the storm begins.
- No bad ideas
- Quantity over quality
- Build on each other
- Wild is welcome
- 10 to 20 minutes
The rest opens once you commit
Ten ideas on the board, star your best three, then circle the one you are taking forward. Your Blueprint, your logo and everything after it appear the moment you do.
Your Business Blueprint
Fill this in as you build. It becomes the script for your pitch.
Draw your logo
Every business needs a look. Scribble one, it goes straight into your pitch deck.
Use a finger, a mouse, or a stylus. It saves as you draw.
Get ready to pitch
Two minutes, to the whole room. Say it so a stranger would get it.
- Your town, and the problem you chose. One sentence each.
- Your business name and what it does. If they only remember one line, this is it.
- Who your customer is. One specific person beats “everyone.”
- How it makes money. Who pays, for what.
- What the Bylaw and the Wildcard did to it. That's the part the room wants to hear.
Your slides are built from the Blueprint. Anything you haven't filled in shows up blank, so finish that first.
Aha! Moment
Turn this over after the pitches, not before.
Finished pitching?
Head to the wrap-up for your certificate, your pitch deck and everything else to take with you.
Or grab your files without leaving this page:
Make it easier to read
Saved on this device. Dark mode is the moon button in the header.
Run a session
Set the session up here, then hand each table its QR code. Every phone that scans it starts with these settings and its own town.
Confidence-sensitive removes Saboteur, Negative Reviews and Nobody Wants Your Idea from every team's Wildcard draw. Nobody is told.
One QR per table. Print this page, or show it on the projector and let tables scan. Each code deals a different town.
Call the Wildcard about two-thirds through Build. The cue fills the screen; every table flips at the same moment.
Two minutes each. Score as they go; totals sort themselves.
Leaderboard
Ask each team to tap Share link and send it to you. Paste the links below, one per line.
Thanks for playing
You took a town that didn't exist and built something real for the people in it. That is genuinely how it starts.
Go be awesome.
Take your certificate
Print it, or save it as a PDF to keep.
Take your pitch deck
A ready-made PowerPoint built from everything you wrote.
Tell people what you built
Here is a summary you can copy. Edit it however you like first.
Check with your teacher or facilitator before posting anything. Keep it to your business and your team name, never anyone's full name, school or photo.
Now go and do it somewhere real
Every actual town has a problem like the one you just solved, and most of them are still waiting for somebody to notice. You do not need permission, a degree, or a finished plan. You need to spot something broken and start building. That is all any founder has ever done.
Be the person who has a go. Fix the small thing. Ask the awkward question. Start before you feel ready.
Awesomeville isn't real. What you build next can be.
Go be awesome.