Business Canvas Project Explained | AP Business with Personal Finance #APBusiness

Hey business students, the best part of AP business with personal finance is that you get to create your own business. It's called the Business Canvas Project, but what exactly is in it and how is it different than a business plan or a business model? There's a lot of confusion. Do you have a business model? I am so happy that you asked me that, Michael, because I just happen to have a business model right here. Meet Starla, the new Blue Company business model for Farfetch'd. My ultimate review packet includes videos and resources that walk you through the Business Canvas project and here's a clip that will definitely help you out. The easiest way for me to explain what a Business Canvas is, is to explain what it's not. Entrepreneurs have a bunch of different tools they can use to communicate their plan. For example, they might have a business idea, a business model, a business canvas, a business pitch, or a business plan. They all sound the same, but they're all totally different because they serve a different purpose. A business idea is a one or two sentence statement that describes your business and the problem you solve. A business model has a little bit more. It's a few paragraphs with more details about your plan to create value, capture value, and compete in the market. A business canvas, the one that you're going to make, is a one to four page document that organizes and adds to your business model It's a visual blueprint that shows how the different pieces of your business fit together. I'll talk more about those pieces, just give me a second. A business pitch is a presentation designed to persuade partners, investors, or judges in a business competition. Think Shark Tank. That is a pitch. An undershirt that completely blocks underarm sweat. Now, eventually, you are going to be pitching your business idea, but that's not the primary goal of the Business Canvas project. Again, a business canvas project does not include a ton of detail and it's not designed to be given to a loan officer at a bank. You can't hand it over and say, please give me a business loan. That's what a business plan is for A business plan is a 20 or 40 page document that breaks down all the details and explains how your business will operate. So again, here's the summary. You're going to be making a business canvas. It's more than just coming up with a business idea or a business model, but less than creating a full business plan. So what does a business canvas actually include? To explain that, I want to use an analogy. A business canvas is like a banana split. Stay with me, I promise you it's gonna make sense. Making a banana split starts by choosing a good banana. That is your business idea. There's a bunch to choose from because there's a bunch of problems that people will gladly pay you to solve. Remember, when you're picking a business idea, focus on problems, not products. For more details about that, take a look at this video that's on YouTube. But this is by far the most important step in the entire project because you're going to be working with the same business idea throughout the entire school year. Make sure you have a good banana, a good business idea that makes sense. Okay, how about this one? Lasik for fingernails. You cut your fingernails once, you never have to cut them again. All we need is a complicated laser I have no idea how to build. Seems impossible. All right. Uh-oh, saw tweens. Salting is for tweens. Seems unnecessary. Now, just like a banana, your idea might look good on the outside, but to know if it's actually good, you have to peel it open and look inside. That's the idea of market research, validation, and hypothesis testing. You're going to do this really early in Unit 1 to make sure you have a good idea as opposed to an idea that just sounds good. Now, will you please consider investing in that toddler cologne I've been bugging you about? Tyler Cologne, baby, you smell good. Don't move forward with any idea until after you validate it. That means verifying with evidence that this problem exists and that people are willing to pay you to solve it. The worst thing you can do is pick a bad business idea, which is basically a gross, disgusting banana that's going to ruin your banana split. Did you put glitter in the laundry detergent? Oh, yeah. I'm experimenting with some new entrepreneurial ideas. That one's called Sparkle Suds. Dress loud. Will you stop putting glitter in everything? This is where you put glitter in the butter. Disco dairy. Spread the party No, that's not a good idea. That's terrible. Well, the target demographic isn't angry middle-aged nurses. Okay, now you have your banana. What goes on top? A business canvas has six components, like six different flavors of ice cream. As you learn more concepts and progress, you're going to add more and more scoops to your banana split. And in some cases, you'll go back and look at old scoops and add more stuff to them. And along the way, you're going to create things called deliverables that go in one of these six categories. Organization has to do with how your business is going to be organized. Operations has to do with how your business is going to create and deliver products or services. The customer component has to do with who you're trying to help. What specific people have these problems, needs, or wants, and what is your business going to do to help them? Product has to do with understanding and developing the products or services you're going to sell. Market is going to focus on your competitors and where you're going to find customers. And finance slash accounting is going to talk about how your business is going to make money, manage costs, and determine if it's profitable. So six different flavors. And on top of those, you're going to add some fun toppings. You'll create a logo, social media posts, business cards, advertising flyers, and other cool stuff. But the cherry on top is at the very end, you're going to pitch your business idea and share your business canvas. Don't freak out and worry about. I'll tell you about that right now. At the end, you'll be ready because you've done all the work. Okay, now real talk, zoom in, zoom in. We both know that you can use AI right now to make a business canvas for any business and it'll do it in like two minutes. It'll give you all the information about your market, it'll suggest a pricing strategy, it'll write your mission and vision statement, it'll do all the work, boom, done. Now, I know you hear your teacher say, if you cheat in school, you're just cheating yourself. In this case, it's totally true for two reasons. Number one, you're not gonna be able to pass the AP test. The college board doesn't want you to submit your business canvas. Instead, they're gonna ask you questions about the- So, what did you do and why, if you didn't do the work, you're not going to be able to answer those questions. Second, and more importantly, if you don't go through the process and you don't learn anything, then you can't start a business. Remember, making a business canvas is not the goal of this class. The goal is to give you the skills and the knowledge you need to create and grow a successful business. Now, I know this all seems like a lot right now, but don't worry, your teacher's gonna help you in class, and I'm gonna help you on YouTube. Plus, I have other resources that are gonna help you out step by step. Okay, that's it for an overview of the Business Canvas project. The next step is to look at a sample Business Canvas to see what's actually inside there. Here we go. Let's build your business.