Students will enter the project through a timed market simulation, analyze how rapid-growth choices create both profit and harm, and leave with a first-round revision plan that frames the venture challenge, historical comparison work, and stakeholder-centered decision-making for the next phase.

Students will analyze Gilded Age business tactics and stakeholder impacts, translate that research into measurable venture criteria and constraints, and produce a stakeholder-centered design brief with a preliminary growth strategy, risk assumptions, and candidate approaches for Phase 3 testing.

Students will compare venture concepts with a weighted decision matrix, select and justify a growth strategy, run measurable tests on a rapid prototype or operating plan, revise based on peer and performance data, and rehearse a Shark Tank pitch that connects venture choices to Gilded Age tactics and trade-offs.

Students will present their micro-venture results to an authentic audience, defend growth decisions with historical and financial evidence, respond to stakeholder questions, and close with a brief reflection on strategy, trade-offs, and team learning.