“LivePlan has been great to assist in-class curriculum, and it augments how I deliver that content.”

Creating a business plan for your own endeavor can be a challenge. But teaching college students to craft their own? Without the right tool, that's a big fail.

Useful business planning teaching tools have to balance effectiveness, efficiency, scalability, and ease of use. For Corey Pulido, teaching instructor in the Miller School of Entrepreneurship at East Carolina University's College of Business, he knew he found that balance when he found LivePlan.

Corey's been putting LivePlan to work in the classroom for over six years. Over 500 ECU business students have used LivePlan's pitch, forecast, and planning tools. Through LivePlan, Corey has been able to help them develop business plans and understand the nuts and bolts of transforming an idea into a plan they can make real.

“LivePlan really allows my students to focus on finding a lot of information,” says Corey. “They create a deliverable they are proud of.”

Hands–on experience turning business concepts into business plans

Corey came to LivePlan not only as an academic instructor but as an experienced entrepreneur.

“LivePlan really allows my students to focus on finding a lot of information”

Over the course of a dozen years, Corey completed his BSBA and MBA at ECU while working. In addition to his instruction duties, he operates three family businesses, from a property management company to a “non–profit animal sanctuary rescuing at–risk dogs,” which he runs with his wife. Outside of teaching and business, Corey serves on the Ayden, NC, Chamber of Commerce, mentors high school students, and judges business pitching competitions.

“After doing one internship at a small business, I was sold on the culture,” says Corey. “Once I realized I was an entrepreneur myself in real estate, I parlayed that into teaching a subject I was passionate about.”

An entrepreneur recognizes tools that can help other entrepreneurs

With his own track record of planning, starting, and running businesses, Corey understands the complex and daunting nature of entrepreneurship. Starting a business combines planning with being willing to learn from trial and error, making mistakes while ultimately moving in the right direction. A business plan can provide that sense of direction. Without it, an entrepreneur could be on the wrong track altogether.

When it came to finding tools that could help him most effectively use classroom time and give his students what they need for writing a business plan, LivePlan made sense. “Since it's a student–led project that runs the majority of the course, everything is dictated on the understanding of the tools I provide, including LivePlan.”

“Each year I discover more tools in LivePlan. LivePlan guides how I shape and deliver the class, and how I implement those newly discovered tools.”

Students can pick up LivePlan quickly, and they soon put its tools to work. Corey, too, continues to learn more about LivePlan and improve how he uses it in the classroom.

“Each year I discover more tools in LivePlan. LivePlan guides how I shape and deliver the class, and how I implement those newly discovered tools,” explains Corey. “Each year I dig deeper on what LivePlan has to offer.”

LivePlan helps Corey augment classroom discussions and set up students for success writing their business plans. From teaching concepts of barriers to entry to explaining how to conduct a SWOT analysis, Corey has also regularly given feedback to the LivePlan team so they can continue to refine and improve it as well.

Students also like Corey's approach, describing him as giving them “a good understanding of entrepreneurship” and providing “every opportunity to get really hands'on experience.”

LivePlan augments classroom discussions and helps students draft quality business plans

Drawing on his own experience writing, polishing, and judging business plans, Corey can relate best practices for effective writing. He then has his students go into LivePlan to put planning principles to work.

“I've seen, and created, both good and bad examples,” says Corey. “From this, I can give real–life feedback on how to tweak the plan to provide high quality.”

“By creating the template in LivePlan, and as long as I hit on all of the topics on the syllabus, I feel confident the students have taken something away and they will write high–quality plans.”

As the students work on their initial drafts, Corey works with them on thinking through what problems they are trying to solve for their target customers. They examine barriers to entry, such as competition, financing, supply chains, or regulations. Students can also run through SWOT analyses and review competitive benchmarks built with real-world industry data. From initial inspiration, each student can critically examine their concept for weak points and for how they can truly make the business grow and thrive. LivePlan helps them refine and strengthen their business idea into a viable plan.

“LivePlan has been great to assist in–class curriculum, and it augments how I deliver that content,” says Corey. “By creating the template in LivePlan, and as long as I hit on all of the topics on the syllabus, I feel confident the students have taken something away and they will write high–quality plans.”

LivePlan's comment sections are key to classroom instruction

Discussions continue not just in class, but inside of LivePlan as well. As students work in different aspects of LivePlan, they and Corey discuss revisions, note absent topics that need inclusion or highlight strong points of the plan.

“After students complete a section, I review it and give feedback, then they, in turn, describe the changes made back in comments,” explains Corey.

“After students complete a section, I review it and give feedback, then they, in turn, describe the changes made back in comments.”

Since the comments align with the areas where the students have already been working, they can more easily see how the feedback fits in with the changes they need to make. It more concretely connects the feedback with the course material being discussed. The efficiency both helps students progress on their projects, and helps Corey make the most of instruction time.

“From a teaching, grading, and communicating perspective, I love the comments,” says Corey. “I wish there was even more info that could be displayed.”

Built–in business plan examples help students develop their own

In addition to his own experience and expertise, Corey leverages the resources and references inside LivePlan, especially its library of business plan examples.

“LivePlan provides so many examples of business plans, not only in the section you're editing, but full plans you can pull up in the extra content,” he explains. “Examples help. If nothing else, they give a student confidence they are headed in the right direction, and then they take the lead.”

Business plan examples can also help students understand what sort of materials or content they need to include in their plan, depending on the type of business they are developing.

“I even use the examples from the plans to look at what other successful businesses have done,” says Corey, “and how they implemented certain ideas into their plans.”

“By the end of the semester, they are holding a complete product in their hand. They have created a plan, all online. What stands out to me is the excitement from true entrepreneurs.”

Pointing out these examples shows students that planning isn't just for the launch of a startup, but for evolving it into a thriving, profitable enterprise.

Those examples, though, can only be so useful. In order for students to write their business plans, they need to spend their time developing the plan, not figuring out the tool. From Corey's experience, ease of use is another way LivePlan helps him manage classroom time well. It also sets the students up for success.

“By the end of the semester, they are holding a complete product in their hand. They have created a plan, all online,” says Corey. “What stands out to me is the excitement from true entrepreneurs.”

Trial, error, and experience lead this instructor to use LivePlan to teach tomorrow's entrepreneurs

Just as there's no one way to develop a business idea, there's no one way to teach entrepreneurship in the classroom either. Throughout his teaching experience as ECU and as a business owner himself, Corey has understood that trying, failing forward, and trial and error are essential parts of making every class better. That also goes for the tools he puts to work with his students.

“LivePlan has been one of the better choices I made early. It's paid huge dividends in the delivery of the class and the outcome of the products.”

“I had tried and researched several tools,” says Corey. “LivePlan has been one of the better choices I made early. It's paid huge dividends in the delivery of the class and the outcome of the products.”