Student Projects: From Customer Research to Maker Market
Students ages 10–13 do not begin Build Week by choosing a product from a list.
They begin with people.
Students interview parents and peers, looking for complaints, workarounds, repeated purchases and everyday tasks that are harder than they should be. They investigate those signals, compare what already exists and select an opportunity worth developing.
The idea then has to survive a business case.
Students work through product costs, pricing, revenue and margin. They use a $50 build budget, create a market-facing offer and present it at the Friday Maker Market.
Every visitor has cash. Every project competes for attention and purchases. Three prizes recognize the strongest sales results.
The final question is no longer whether someone likes the idea.
It is what they choose to buy.
From Friction to a Business Case
Build Week follows one research principle:
People first. Problem second. Product last.
Students begin with exploratory customer research.
At home, they lead a short family design-thinking exercise. Parents and caregivers are asked what their households buy repeatedly, where they buy it, what makes the purchase inconvenient and whether a student-run alternative could be useful.
Students also interview peers about what they spend money on, what frustrates them and what they would realistically consider trying.
The interviews produce opportunities for further investigation.
Students then compare existing products, prices, formats, reviews and availability. They look for repeated behaviour and ask whether the same pattern appears in more than one place.
The research connects directly to design thinking and human factor research and market research that follows the money and the problems.
Each opportunity is considered through three questions:
- Desirable: Does someone care about the problem or product?
- Feasible: Can the student source, make, explain and deliver it with the available time and $50 build budget?
- Viable: Can the proposed price cover the costs and leave a margin?
The selected idea then becomes a business case.
Students connect the product to:
- expected customers;
- product or material costs;
- retail price;
- expected unit volume;
- revenue;
- cost of goods sold;
- gross margin;
- operating expenses;
- and net profit.
The spreadsheet is not decoration for the final presentation. It helps determine what the student should build and sell.
That is where financial literacy becomes part of the build rather than a separate lesson.
From Business Case to Sell Sheet
Customers do not buy spreadsheets.
Students translate the decisions in their business cases into market-facing sell sheets.
Each sell sheet must answer:
- What is the product?
- Why should someone care?
- What does the customer receive?
- How does it help?
- What does it cost?
- What should the customer do next?
- Why should the customer believe the offer?
The operating sequence remains:
Design it. Build it. Price it. Test it.
Each step makes the student’s reasoning visible.
Three Projects That Earned the Sale
Printa
Imagine. Design. Print.
Printa turned access to 3D printing into a customer-facing service for custom gifts, school projects, hard-to-find parts and original objects.
Its business case connected product assortment, retail prices, expected volume, production costs and margin.
Printa generated the highest sales at Maker Market and received first place.
Boba Lab
Build your own Boba. Your way.
Boba Lab turned customization into the product. Customers selected a base drink and added tapioca pearls, strawberry pearls or rainbow jelly.
The team built a priced menu, customer incentives, a recognizable brand and a QR-based call to action.
Boba Lab finished second in Maker Market sales.
Bag Works
Get a year’s supply, delivered.
Bag Works turned a repeat household purchase into a delivery offer covering compostable, garbage and recycling bags.
Its business case examined package sizes, product costs, household demand, prices, bundles and margins.
Bag Works finished third in Maker Market sales.
Where the Business Case Meets the Customer
A survey records what someone says they might do.
Maker Market records what someone chooses when they have cash, several competing products and a limited number of purchases to make.
Each project arrives with research, a business case, a price and a market-facing offer. Customers then decide which ideas earn their attention and money.
The three sales prizes went to:
- Printa
- Boba Lab
- Bag Works
The ranking gave students evidence they could compare with their original assumptions.
They could ask:
- What did customers understand immediately?
- Which products and prices attracted the strongest response?
- What questions or objections appeared?
- Did people respond to the product, the price or the student story?
- Which parts of the offer did customers ignore?
- How did actual choices compare with the business case?
- What would need to change before the next test?
This is where design thinking and financial literacy meet.
The sale produces a result.
The student’s next decision produces the learning.