The following links and resources are provided to assist students as they progress through the textbook, Launching ECHO.

Lesson 1: Introduction to Business Plans

• Aquarium Services Example for high school student start-up
• Coffee Shop Example
• Convenience Store Example 
• Shaved Ice Beverage Example
• The following Google Doc is a template that you can download and use on your computer: Hand-Out 1-1: Financial Spreadsheet

Lesson 2: Business Description

• More on Value Propositions

Lesson 3: Industry & Market Analysis

• Market analysis and segmentation for a locksmith company 
• Market analysis summary for a pet photography business

Lesson 4:  Competitive Analysis

For more reading on competitive analysis and some examples, check out the links below.

• Competitive Analysis
• How to Do a Competitive Analysis in 5 Easy Steps
• A Competitive Analysis Example 
• Competitor Analysis Example #2 

Lesson 5: Marketing Plan

• Window cleaning service marketing plan 
• Restaurant marketing plan
• Stealth Marketing video on YouTube
• The Strategy of Stealth Marketing
• Stealth Marketing: When You’re Being Pitched and Don’t Even Know It! 
• 10 Best Stealth Marketing Campaigns

Guerilla Marketing:

• Guerilla Marketing Campaign 
• Strategy Behind Guerilla Marketing

Lesson 6:  Operations Plan

• How to use Excel to make flow charts:
• What is a flow chart and why is a flow chart?

Lesson 7:  Management Team & Organizational Structure

• Example of a convenience store management
• For a more sopshisticated discussion and sample organizational chart 
• How to create an organizational chart

Lesson 8:  Financial Plans

Financial plans are an essential part of your business plan and it’s vital to demonstrate your income and expenses appropriately. To get started, check out these sample financial plans from different types of businesses.

• Locksmith financials
• Pet photography business
• Steak restaurant business
• Specialty Gift business
• Here’s a website that will take you to a Breakeven Calculator

***Additional Document includes a spreadsheet created by Antonio Evans, UCLA MBA Volunteer

Lesson 9: Executive Summary

• How to Write an Executive Summary That Gets Your Business Plan Read
• Executive Summary Example

Lesson 10: The Pitch and Presentation

• The 10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint by Guy Kawasaki 
• Presentation Zen by Garr Reynolds

Additional Project ECHO Resources:

Ideation and Determining Your Value Proposition

Looking for more information? Check out what current Project ECHO teachers share with their students:

• Outliers: The story of Success by Malcom Gladwell [A journey through the world of the “outliers” the best, the brightest, the most famous, and the most successful].

• 30 Days to Launch! An Entrepreneurs Diary to Building A Billion-Dollar Business by Rick Steel [Launching a business may seem like no easy task. It can seem completely bewildering, overwhelming, almost impossible. Where do you even start? And once you start, what do you do next? With this remarkable book, the impossible is possible. If you have an idea, a spark of a dream, but you’re stalling on how to make it a reality, then this book will show you how to do so—one day at a time.]

• Entrepreneurship – Owning Your Own Future by Steve Mariotti [Student/ Teacher Text Book]
• The Lean Startup by Eric Viking [How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses
• Virtual Enterprise curriculum
• NFTE curriculum
• Career Solutions Publishing – free service that publishes 1-page career-related articles every Monday
• PMIEF – Project Management Institute Education Foundation: a digital badge offered to students ages 12-19 who have developed project management skills and knowledge.
• AdAge.com: Ad Age is a global source of news, intelligence and conversation for marketing and media communities
• Bloomberg Businessweek
• Liveplan: online business plans
• Harvard Business Review case studies