BUS 400 Milestone One Guidelines and Rubric
Overview
Presenting a new idea for a product or service in just 5 to 10 minutes brings both challenges and opportunities. The first 30 seconds are crucial. If you fail to capture the audience’s attention right away, then their interest may fade, making it harder to communicate your key points and secure their buy-in. To succeed, presenters must clearly define the problem, propose a solution, and highlight the benefits of their idea. A strong, clear value proposition is essential. Without it, senior management may remain unconvinced.
Scenario
The moment is here—your opportunity to present your new project to senior management. The leadership team is attending their meeting located in another state. You have five minutes to deliver a remote pitch. Are you ready to confidently and clearly showcase the value, potential, and impact of your project? This moment is your chance to grab their attention, spark their interest, and demonstrate why your idea deserves their support.
Directions
Create an elevator pitch for your new product or service using your project outline as a guide.
Specifically, you must address the following rubric criteria:
- Introduction: Introduce your product or service.
- How It Fits: Determine how the product or service fits into the overall strategic plan and mission of the company.
- Speculate if the product or service fits within the capabilities of the company based on your research from previous modules. Use resources like GlobalData Explorer, Yahoo Finance, and investor relations pages within the company’s website.
- Justification: Justify your suggestion based on the numbers.
- What will be the revenue gain?
- Speculate on a Return on Investment (ROI) that justifies the project for investors and senior management.
- Enhancing the Mission: Explain how the new product or service enhances the company’s overall mission.
- Does it project profitability?
- Support your position with information and data from the company’s 10K. Use resources like GlobalData Explorer, Yahoo Finance, and investor relations pages within the company’s website.
What to Submit
To complete this project, you must submit a 1- to 3-page elevator pitch script in a Microsoft Word document using double spacing, one-inch margins, and 12-point Times New Roman font. Sources should be cited according to APA style.
AI Usage
If you use gen AI tools to support your work on this assignment, be sure to follow these AI usage guidelines. You must acknowledge your use of these tools in your work. Guidelines on how to cite AI tools can be found in this Shapiro Library guide.
Milestone One Rubric
| Criteria | Exceeds Expectations (100%) | Meets Expectations (85%) | Partially Meets Expectations (55%) | Does Not Meet Expectations (0%) | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Introduction | Exceeds expectations in an exceptionally clear, insightful, sophisticated, or creative manner | Introduces the product or service | Shows progress toward meeting expectations, but with errors or omissions; areas for improvement may include introduction that is missing components | Does not attempt criterion | 10 |
| How It Fits | Exceeds expectations in an exceptionally clear, insightful, sophisticated, or creative manner | Determines how the product or service fits into the overall strategic plan and mission of the company | Shows progress toward meeting expectations, but with errors or omissions; areas for improvement may include speculations that are cursory or not based on research | Does not attempt criterion | 25 |
| Justification | Exceeds expectations in an exceptionally clear, insightful, sophisticated, or creative manner | Justifies the suggestion based on the numbers | Shows progress toward meeting expectations, but with errors or omissions; areas for improvement may include justification that is cursory or missing key components | Does not attempt criterion | 25 |
| Enhancing the Mission | Exceeds expectations in an exceptionally clear, insightful, sophisticated, or creative manner | Explains how the new product or service enhances the company’s overall mission | Shows progress toward meeting expectations, but with errors or omissions; areas for improvement may include explanation that is incomplete or not based on research | Does not attempt criterion | 20 |
| Clear Communication | Exceeds expectations with an intentional use of language that promotes a thorough understanding | Consistently and effectively communicates in an organized way to a specific audience | Shows progress toward meeting expectations, but communication is inconsistent or ineffective in a way that negatively impacts understanding | Shows no evidence of consistent, effective, or organized communication | 10 |
| Citations and Attributions | Uses citations for ideas requiring attribution, with few or no minor errors | Uses citations for ideas requiring attribution, with consistent minor errors | Uses citations for ideas requiring attribution, with major errors | Does not use citations for ideas requiring attribution | 10 |
| Total: | 100% | ||||