Group Mentoring Leader Sahil Sharma Hosts Pirate’s Plank!
On Monday November 30, 2015, Sahil Sharma’s Group Mentoring Team was surprised with a Shark Tank-inspired “Pirate’s Plank” challenge: in only half an hour, two teams needed to come up with a name and business plan regarding the growth and expansion of their future restaurant chain. The winning team would be chosen by the “Pirates” – executives Barbara Callahan, Peter Goggi, and Patricia Haverland. To lend an interesting twist to the challenge, the Pirates also gave each team a unique obstacle they would need to plan for and adjust accordingly to. For Team One’s Italian restaurant, a garlic recall was implemented in the US. For Team Two, the issue of copyright arose in regards to their plan of showing movies on the walls of their restaurant.
Students present their ideas to executives during Sahil Sharma’s Pirate’s Plank! group mentoring session
Despite these obstacles, however, both teams presented excellent pitches to the Pirates and designed their restaurants to be both attractive and financially plausible. Everyone had a great time from the experiential task – and congratulations to Team Two’s restaurant, Mac’s, for winning the challenge!