Prior to beginning work on this discussion review Chapters 5 and 6 in the text, and explore How to Make a YouTube Video (Links to an external site.) . You may also wish to view the optional video How to Make a Paper Airplane That Flies Far (~101 Ft) – Best Paper Planes in the World (Links to an external site.) . Rocket pitches or elevator pitches are often the first opportunities for an entrepreneur to convince potential investors that they have an idea that represents a profitable opportunity. This is particularly true in the early stages of a venture before the entrepreneur has a viable product, and he or she has to convince potential stakeholders of the vision and potential of the idea. Entrepreneurs often think that their idea is the most important aspect of the pitch, but venture capitalists are more apt to consider such things as the entrepreneur’s ability to articulate his or her venture as most critical to their investment decisions. The objectives for this interactivity are to practice pitching new concepts, to understand the importance of pitch versus idea, and to simulate prototype development and feasibility testing. You are to design and create a new paper airplane capable of keeping one U.S. dollar in coins aloft for as long and as far as possible. To validate your design, you will make a video recording of your airplane in flight. You will then present a pitch on why your airplane should be considered as a potential investment. You will also create an Apester (Links to an external site.) poll to determine the level of “investor†interest in your product. Complete the following steps: Using a single sheet of standard size (8.5 x 11) paper of any weight, design and construct an airplane. Your design must be capable of transporting one dollars’ worth of coins in any number or denomination. You may not use any other materials such as cardboard or wood to construct the plane. After you have tested your design, and have determined that the plane is capable of transporting the cargo of coins in flight, take your plane to an open area to conduct the actual demonstration flights. You may not simply crumble the paper into a ball, as this would create a projectile rather than an aerodynamically sensitive aircraft-based design. The design must resemble that of a winged aircraft, not a UFO! You will conduct demonstration flights to show the capabilities of your airplane’s design. You may make as many throws as you like, but select the top three flights for your post. You may want to recruit someone to assist you in completing the demonstration flights. Using a stopwatch and a tape measure, record the flight time and distance for each of your throws. You may adjust the design of your plane after each demonstration flight as desired. Record video each of the flights, and save the recordings of your three best flights for posting to the discussion forum. Record a three- to five-minute pitch in a podcast that articulates the performance of your product and its merits as a potential investment opportunity. Record your podcast with Audacity (Links to an external site.) . Audacity (Links to an external site.) provides the means to record and share a link for For assistance, consult the Audacity Development Manual (Links to an external site.) . Using Apester, (Links to an external site.) create a poll that poses the question: “Would you invest $1000 in this product?†(Review this short YouTube video on Creating a Poll (Links to an external site.) ). Post the following to the Interactivity 2: Airplane Design & Pitch discussion forum by Day 5: A brief summary of your experiences in designing and testing your airplane. Include a summary of the flight time and distance measurements for your three flights. A link to your pitch. A link to your video recordings. A link to your Apester (Links to an external site.) poll.
