Kick-Starting Students’ Financial Competency Skills
Celebrate the entrepreneurial spirit in schools and equip students with financial literacy and entrepreneurship skills they can use to lean into life and unlock success beyond the classroom. Join Venture Valley and Discovery Education as we empower middle and high school students to embrace everyday business skills and become the boss of their own brand using financial and business basics explored in the Venture Valley game. Start honing students’ hustle today with hands-on digital resources aligned to ELA, Math, Business, and Financial Literacy standards.
Practice Makes Profit
VIDEO TOPIC SERIES
This video series introduces students to the many ways a business can evolve as entrepreneurs with a similar idea to develop their businesses in very different directions. Through videos and supporting materials, students investigate the attributes and characteristics of successful entrepreneurs. What opportunities do students see within their own community to market a new product or service? How can their passions and interests lead to an entrepreneurial venture?
WATCH THE VIDEO TOPIC SERIES
What’s a Venture?
Venture Valley is filled with new businesses, but what is a venture? “Venture” is another term for a business or speculation in which an individual (called an entrepreneur) takes a risk in the hope of making a profit. Like any great adventurer, entrepreneurs need to be equally prepared for great success or epic failure. Being comfortable taking risks is a key character trait of most entrepreneurs. Who knew that entrepreneurs and skydivers had so much in common?
Entrepreneurial Skills and Concepts
Whether building a business in Venture Valley or in the real world, students will need a firm grip on the fundamentals of financial competence to succeed.
Start-Up Costs
“You have to spend money to make money” or so the saying goes. Some businesses take more money to start than others. There are different ways to fund a startup, too—personal funds, loans, and more.
Competition
Understanding the competition can help an entrepreneur set their business apart from others. There are many ways to differentiate, including product or service characteristics, pricing, and quality.
Revenue
From the first dollar earned, revenue is generated through sales. Figuring out how to track revenue is an important early step for entrepreneurs, along with determining prices. If prices are set too high, revenue could suffer from low sales.
Expenses
Rent, wages, advertising, supplies, and equipment are all examples of expenses. Entrepreneurs need to think through all of their potential expenses—both fixed and variable—and learn which they can control.
Marketing
The best business idea does not mean much if no one knows about it. Marketing a business requires an understanding of the customer base and how the business solves a problem. Social media and word-of-mouth are great low-cost forms of marketing for new businesses.
Profit and Loss
Will a business succeed? When revenue is greater than expenses, the business makes a profit. If expenses are greater, they have a loss. Many new businesses take time to earn a profit which is one of the many risks entrepreneurs must be comfortable taking.
Venture Valley
Created by The Singleton Foundation, Winner of the 2023 Jump$tart Innovation Award, Venture Valley is an immersive multiplayer business-building game that gives students a fun outlet to practice entrepreneurship and personal financial skills, compete with friends in positive ways, and earn real-world prizes.
