Students present business ideas ‘Shark Tank’ style

A triangle-shaped candy bar. A portable barber shop. A solar-powered phone case. A backpack/cooler combo.

These were four of the many ideas tossed into the “shark tank” at Chelsea High School on May 4. As part of teacher Clarissa Clark’s entrepreneurship classes, 11th and 12th grade students presented their business ideas to a panel of community members, including Mayor Tony Picklesimer, Shelby Baptist Medical Center CEO Mike Rickman, Butch Mayhew of Daxko and several others.

This is Clark’s first year of teaching the entrepreneurship class, and said that she wanted to find a way to connect her students and what they’re learning with the community. When she reached out to the community for panel participants, Clark said she initially expected three or so people to respond.

“It was overwhelming how many people were excited,” Clark said. They ended up with enough panelists to have two presentation rooms.

The presentations were done in the style of popular reality television show “Shark Tank,” during which entrepreneurs speak to a panel of potential investors, presenting their ideas, breaking down the cost and potential sales price and asking for potential investments. While the panel of “sharks” would not end the day actually investing money into these proposed companies, they did rate presentations based on four main categories — product, powerpoint or “Prezi” presentation, presentation and commercial.

Students were expected to be original with their business or product idea, well-prepared and persuasive in their presentation, and to have accurately calculated cost and pricing.

All year, students had been preparing for the presentations through “Shark Tank Fridays,” Clark said, where they would watch “Shark Tank” episodes, discuss the products and presentations, and learn more about business and investment.

“We’ve been practicing presentations all year long, so if you watch them, they’re more confident,” Clark said.

After giving a brief presentation and showing a pre-recorded “commercial” for their product, students responded to questions and suggestions from the panelists. Critiques ranged from the price being too high or low to not being able to physically see the product, and some product ideas were celebrated by the panelists for their originality and practical use.

The feedback is beneficial to students, Clark said, because it comes from people with a business background or other leadership position. In addition to preparing students who will participate in the upcoming Future Business Leaders of America competition, the “Shark Tank” exercise helped prepare students for outside of the business world, Clark said.

Students were encouraged to follow checklists to prevent procrastination on the project and told that even if they had a group member who was absent, that was not something they could use as an excuse in the real world.

“Your boss wants results,” Clark said, adding that a boss would not care that “my group member is absent and has our powerpoint." “I’ve been really tough love about it. … I’m trying to prepare them for college, for state competition.”

Students also had to be creative, confident and work on problem solving, which can be used in and outside of school.

“The skills that they’re learning are lifelong,” Clark said.