Step 2 of 5 · Intro to Marketing
How to play
The Founder’s Playbook — segments, brand, pricing, scoring
The Founder’s Playbook
Four rounds to launch a brand from nothing. The simulation rewards coherence — segment, archetype, price, message and channel that all point the same direction. Read this once before R1; refer back between rounds.
Pick one of three product categories in Round 1
Healthy Snack Bar
$1.49–$4.99
Indie Sneaker Brand
$40–$300
Indie Skincare Brand
$12–$120
The four-round arc
One decision class per round. Each round’s choices lock at submit and feed into the next round’s scoring.
Round 1
STP
Pick segment + product context. Write positioning.
Round 2
Product & Brand
Pick features. Name the brand. Choose archetype.
Round 3
Pricing
Set price + pricing strategy.
Round 4
Promotion & Place
Allocate IMC. Pick channels. Write promo message.
Coherence beats cleverness
The plans that score highest aren’t the ones with the cleverest single decision — they’re the ones whose segment, features, archetype, price, message, and channels all sound like they came from the same brand from R1 through R4. Premium pricing with mass-channel distribution is the most common student mistake — and the most expensive one.
Decisions lock at round end
The segment you pick in R1 constrains which archetype, price, and channel choices score in later rounds. Choose deliberately — you can’t walk it back.