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← Unit 2: Designing and Refining an Idea

BEM1O · Unit 2 test review

Designing and Refining an Idea: Test Review

Everything for the Unit 2 test on one page: the key facts from all 6 lessons, the mistakes that cost the most marks, and a practice test that points you back to the lessons you need.

Key facts

Generating Ideas

  • A business idea solves a problem or meets a need. Start by naming the problem.
  • A market need is something people want but cannot easily get. An opportunity is a need you can actually meet at a price people will pay.
  • Four brainstorming rules: defer judgement, go for quantity, build on others' ideas, set aside constraints.
  • A mind map puts one problem in the centre and branches out to related ideas.
  • Asking people of different ages, cultures and abilities gives you ideas you would not find alone.

Evaluating and Choosing an Idea

  • Criteria are the standards you use to judge ideas. Build them from your goals, interests, research and what businesses need.
  • Rate every criterion so that a higher number is always better (a cheap idea scores high on cost to start).
  • Simple score: add the ratings. Weighted score: multiply each rating by its weight as a decimal, then add.
  • Weights are percents that must add to 100%. A weighted score with 1 to 5 ratings is out of 5.
  • Pitch sentence pattern: 'For ___ who ___, our ___ is a ___ that ___.' Make it accurate, concise and compelling.

Prototypes and Storyboards

  • A prototype is an early, cheap, simple version of your idea, made to test it.
  • Cheap prototypes: sketch, paper model, storyboard, mock-up, sample batch, simple landing page.
  • A storyboard shows the customer's experience step by step, from problem to result.
  • Ask open questions, avoid leading questions, and observe what people actually do.
  • Record feedback in a table and look for patterns before changing the design.

Impacts and Stakeholders

  • An impact is an effect your business has on people or the world, positive or negative.
  • Four kinds: social (people), economic (money and jobs), environmental (nature and waste), ethical (fairness and honesty).
  • A stakeholder is anyone who affects or is affected by the business: customers, family, school, suppliers, community, environment.
  • Stakeholders have different perspectives, and their wants can clash (low price vs profit).
  • An impact table lists positive effects, negative effects and an action to improve each impact.

Making a Simple Budget

  • Start-up costs are paid once, before the first sale. Cost per item is paid for every item made.
  • Revenue = price × number sold.
  • Total costs = start-up costs + (cost per item × number sold).
  • Profit = revenue − total costs. A negative profit is a loss.
  • Number to sell to cover start-up = start-up costs ÷ (price − cost per item). Always round up.

Solving Problems and Refining the Idea

  • Refining means making careful changes to improve an idea, based on evidence.
  • Six steps: define the problem, find causes, brainstorm solutions, choose, try it, check results.
  • Define problems with numbers when you can, and ask 'why?' more than once to find the real cause.
  • Use feedback and your budget to refine for economic success (price, costs, sales).
  • Also refine for social, environmental and ethical outcomes, even if it costs a little profit.

Where marks get lost

  • Judging ideas while brainstorming ('that's dumb'), which makes people stop sharing. (Generating Ideas)
  • Stopping after three or four ideas. The first ideas are usually the most obvious ones. (Generating Ideas)
  • Starting with a product you like instead of a problem people have. If nobody needs it, nobody buys it. (Generating Ideas)
  • Asking only friends who are just like you, so you miss what other people need. (Generating Ideas)
  • Mixing up an idea with an opportunity. An idea is only an opportunity if you can really offer it and people will pay. (Generating Ideas)
  • Scoring cost to start so that 5 means expensive, which makes the cheapest idea look the worst. (Evaluating and Choosing an Idea)
  • Using weights that do not add to 100%, so the weighted score is not out of 5. (Evaluating and Choosing an Idea)
  • Multiplying by the weight as a whole number (30 × 4 = 120) instead of a decimal (0.30 × 4 = 1.20). (Evaluating and Choosing an Idea)
  • Picking criteria after you already know which idea you want, so the table just confirms your favourite. (Evaluating and Choosing an Idea)
  • Writing a pitch that overpromises ('the best stickers in the world'). Compelling is good, but it must also be accurate. (Evaluating and Choosing an Idea)
  • Spending a lot on a 'perfect' first version instead of a cheap prototype, so changes become expensive. (Prototypes and Storyboards)
  • Testing only with friends, who often say nice things to be kind. (Prototypes and Storyboards)
  • Asking leading questions like 'You love it, right?' and treating 'yes' as real proof. (Prototypes and Storyboards)
  • Listening to what people say but not watching what they do with the product. (Prototypes and Storyboards)
  • Not writing feedback down, then forgetting which problems came up most often. (Prototypes and Storyboards)
  • Only thinking about economic impact (profit) and forgetting social, environmental and ethical impacts. (Impacts and Stakeholders)
  • Mixing up social and ethical: social is about people's lives and feelings; ethical is about acting fairly and honestly. (Impacts and Stakeholders)
  • Forgetting quiet stakeholders like family, the school and the environment. (Impacts and Stakeholders)
  • Thinking a business must have zero negative impacts. The goal is to notice them and reduce them. (Impacts and Stakeholders)
  • Copying a famous character or logo onto products because 'everyone does it'. (Impacts and Stakeholders)
  • Forgetting the start-up costs and only subtracting the cost per item, which makes profit look too big. (Making a Simple Budget)
  • Multiplying start-up costs by the number sold. Start-up costs are paid only once. (Making a Simple Budget)
  • Rounding down the number to sell (32 instead of 33), which leaves you a little short. (Making a Simple Budget)
  • Calling revenue 'profit'. Revenue is all the money in; profit is what is left after costs. (Making a Simple Budget)
  • Seeing a loss in the budget and giving up, instead of changing the price, costs or sales plan. (Making a Simple Budget)
  • Defining the problem vaguely ('sales are bad'), so you cannot tell later whether your fix worked. (Solving Problems and Refining the Idea)
  • Jumping straight to a solution without finding the cause. (Solving Problems and Refining the Idea)
  • Changing many things at once, so you cannot tell which change helped. (Solving Problems and Refining the Idea)
  • Never checking results after trying a fix. (Solving Problems and Refining the Idea)
  • Only refining for profit and ignoring social, environmental and ethical outcomes. (Solving Problems and Refining the Idea)

Practice test

24 questions from across the unit. Each one shows the lesson it comes from.

  1. Generating Ideas
    1
    What is the best place to start when looking for a business idea?
  2. Generating Ideas
    2
    Match each brainstorming rule to what it sounds like.
    Defer judgement
    Go for quantity
    Build on others' ideas
    Set aside constraints
  3. Generating Ideas
    3
    Priya asks her grandmother, a younger brother and a classmate with low vision about her sticker idea. Why?
  4. Generating Ideas
    4
    Which is an opportunity for a Grade 9 student, not just an idea?
  5. Evaluating and Choosing an Idea
    5
    An idea is rated demand 3, cost to start 5, skills 4. Using a simple scoring table, what is its total?
  6. Evaluating and Choosing an Idea
    6
    A team uses four criteria. Three weights are 40%, 25% and 20%. What must the fourth weight be, in percent?
  7. Evaluating and Choosing an Idea
    7
    Match each part of the pitch pattern to the Stick With It sentence.
    For ___
    who ___
    our ___
    that ___
  8. Evaluating and Choosing an Idea
    8
    Which pitch sentence is the most accurate, concise and compelling?
  9. Prototypes and Storyboards
    9
    What is the main reason to build a cheap prototype first?
  10. Prototypes and Storyboards
    10
    Which is an open question?
  11. Prototypes and Storyboards
    11
    What do you call a comic-strip set of pictures showing a customer's experience step by step?
  12. Prototypes and Storyboards
    12
    Why should you observe testers, not just listen?
  13. Impacts and Stakeholders
    13
    Match each impact type to an example from Stick With It.
    Social
    Economic
    Environmental
    Ethical
  14. Impacts and Stakeholders
    14
    Selling stickers with a famous cartoon character, without permission, is mainly a problem of which impact?
  15. Impacts and Stakeholders
    15
    Customers want the lowest price. The owners need a profit. What is this an example of?
  16. Impacts and Stakeholders
    16
    Put the steps for building an impact table in order.
    1. 1Think about each stakeholder's perspective
    2. 2Write an action to improve each impact
    3. 3Write positive and negative effects for each impact type
    4. 4List your stakeholders
  17. Making a Simple Budget
    17
    Stick With It sells 45 stickers at $3.00 each. What is the revenue, to the nearest cent?
    $
  18. Making a Simple Budget
    18
    A bracelet sells for $2.50 and costs $1.00 to make. Start-up costs are $70. How many bracelets must be sold to cover the start-up costs? (Give a whole number.)
  19. Making a Simple Budget
    19
    Match each Stick With It cost to its type.
    Cash box
    Printing each sticker
    Display board and sign
    Paper sleeve for each sticker
  20. Making a Simple Budget
    20
    Put the steps for finding profit in order.
    1. 1Find the cost of items: cost per item × number sold
    2. 2Find profit: revenue − total costs
    3. 3Find total costs: start-up + cost of items
    4. 4Find revenue: price × number sold
  21. Solving Problems and Refining the Idea
    21
    Put the problem-solving steps in order.
    1. 1Try it
    2. 2Choose a solution
    3. 3Check the results
    4. 4Define the problem
    5. 5Find the causes
    6. 6Brainstorm solutions
  22. Solving Problems and Refining the Idea
    22
    A bundle of 3 stickers sells for $7.50. Each sticker costs $1.00 to make. How much does each bundle leave after its own costs, to the nearest cent?
    $
  23. Solving Problems and Refining the Idea
    23
    Match each refinement to the outcome it mainly improves.
    Paper sleeves instead of plastic
    A 3-sticker bundle deal
    High-contrast name stickers
    Original art, credited and paid
  24. Solving Problems and Refining the Idea
    24
    What word means giving up a little of one thing, like profit, to get more of another, like less waste?

Endless drill

Fresh numbers every time, for the calculation questions in this unit.

Endless drillnew numbers every time

Generating a problem…

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