Lesson Plan: SWOT Analysis

SWOT Analysis
LEVEL: INTRODUCTORY | GRADES: 9-12 | LENGTH: 50 MINUTES
Lesson Overview

Starting from this lesson, students will explore tools and frameworks to help them conduct
fundamental analysis. This lesson will help students look at specific investing choices. Why might we
invest in one company and not another? Throughout the lesson, students will learn how to evaluate
companies, industries and products using a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and
threats) analysis.

Background Knowledge for Teachers

The two main methods of analysis when conducting investment research are fundamental and
technical. This competition curriculum will only focus on fundamental analysis at this point, as it is
used most often for stocks. Fundamental analysis is a method of measuring a security’s intrinsic value
by examining related economic and financial factors. SWOT is a strategic-analysis framework used to
identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. It allows students to get a qualitative
snapshot of companies that interest them. You will often hear the terms qualitative and quantitative
research or analysis related to stock evaluation. Think of qualitative analysis as the non-quantifiable
information you can find about a company, like its leadership choices, strategic alliances and other
corporate decisions and operations. All of these contribute to the strength and challenges facing a
company. Quantitative analysis refers to the numbers found in company reports, such as those on the
balance sheet. Together, they provide deep insight into potential investment choices.

INSIDE THE COMPETITION

Use SWOT to conduct qualitative industry/company analysis. The competition requires students to use
both qualitative and quantitative analysis to understand and evaluate the value of the companies in
which they choose to invest.
MATERIALS
Provided: Diremo – “A Student Startup Builds E-commerce on the Blockchain” Article (page 6), Minvest
– “The Minvest Mission to Empower Gen Z Investors” Article (page 12), Student Worksheet (page 5)
Not Provided: Whiteboard, four different colored post-it notes

STUDENT VOICES
Introduce a peer perspective on buying stock by having students read How to Own a Piece of Your
Favorite Brand, a Wharton Global Youth student essay by Ari B. “From Adidas apparel to the latest
iPhone, teens love to associate with the top brands...imagine profiting from these sales?”

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Learning Objectives

At the end of this lesson, students will be able to:

 Define the four tenets of SWOT

 Use SWOT framework to analyze industries and companies
 Evaluate stock choices on a qualitative level

Glossary Terms

Watch how Wharton faculty define and use the glossary terms presented to this lesson:

 Company
 Industry

Lesson Plan

Engage | 5 min

COMPANIES FROM THE WATCH LIST

Have students explain, in their own words, the relationship between risk and return, as well as the
relationship between risk and portfolio management. It will be helpful to have students thinking about
portfolios as we move through this lesson.

Ask students to bring up the stock watch list they created from the previous lesson “Research and
Analysis 1: Research Strategies for New Investors”. Which specific companies might they consider
investing in? Throughout this exercise, encourage students to provide rationale for their decisions.
Why did they pick that company? Does their choice make sense in terms of the client’s goals and
interests?

Definitions | 5 min

SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats

If you have time, review our article on SWOT for a quick overview of the topic. Teachers can also
review this before class to familiarize themselves with the concept. Write out the acronym and its
accompanying components on a chalkboard or dry-erase board. Because the four tenets are
somewhat intuitive, encourage students to provide definitions. Eventually, you should come up with
something similar to these definitions:

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 • Strengths refer to those things that a company does well; in particular, strengths refer to
sources of competitive advantage — positive attributes that set one company apart from its
competitors. This might include things like customer service, good products, a strong brand,
etc.
• Weaknesses refer to those areas where a company is lacking in comparison to its
competitors. These are often the opposite of strengths: bad customer service, bad brand
recognition (or poor reputation), unstable leadership.
• Opportunities refer to external, or environmental factors that can help the business. For
example, independent of a company’s strengths or weaknesses, opportunities might exist for
growth in the industry. There might be a shift in consumer preferences, or a change in industry
regulation, all of which could benefit a company in the long run.
• Threats are external factors that could hurt a company’s prospects. The current economic
downturn that prevents people from spending or buying expensive items, for instance, might
be a threat to companies that sell luxury goods. A startup business that is gaining traction in
an industry might also be a threat.

Activity Practice | 20 min

SWOT ANALYSIS FOR DIREMO OR MINVEST

Each of these companies have been featured on the Future of the Business World Podcast:

• Diremo - A Student Startup Builds E-commerce on the Blockchain

• Minvest - The Minvest Mission to Empower Gen Z Investors

Activity:

1. Briefly explain the two companies and what they do (1 minute).

2. As a class, choose one company to perform a SWOT analysis on as a class (30 sec).
3. Read the article of choice as a class (12 minutes).
4. Draw the four quadrants of SWOT on the white board.
5. Give students four different colors of post-it notes and have them write down their ideas for
each quadrant for the company and post them on the whiteboard.
6. Then select four volunteers to group similar ideas in each quadrant and present the class’s
findings.
7. Review as a class.

Extend:

If students want to practice their SWOT analysis skills, encourage them to listen to the other podcast
episode and conduct a SWOT analysis for optional homework:

• Read/listen to the podcast and conduct your own SWOT analysis based on your personal
knowledge, as well as the information in the article.

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 Practice | 15 min

SWOT ANALYSIS FOR A COMPANY ON THE WATCH LIST

Break the class into competition groups or small groups of four. This is where you give them the
space to apply SWOT analysis to their own investment strategy.

1. Give groups two minutes to select a company from one of the team member’s watch lists to
do a SWOT analysis.
2. Give groups 10 minutes to conduct the SWOT analysis for that company. Students can use
the worksheet on page 5.
3. Ask 3-4 groups to each present a 1-minute brief on their SWOT analysis.

Reflect | 5 min

CONNECT PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT WITH SWOT

Ask students to give some thought about whether or not SWOT helps them select companies that fit
into their investment strategy. What about the client’s interests and preferences? For example, if the
client is active in environmentally friendly initiatives, would you still select a company that has been
cited for pollution?

Takeaways | 2 min

SWOT is a useful analysis on a qualitative level, but it should not be the only tool helping investors
make informed choices. Deeper analysis is encouraged!

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 Lesson Plan: SWOT Analysis

Student Worksheet

SWOT Analysis

Selected company:

Strengths Weaknesses

Opportunities Threats

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 Lesson Plan: SWOT Analysis

Diremo Article
Written by Diana Drake

Wharton Global Youth Program: Hello and Welcome to Future of the Business World, the podcast
featuring teenage entrepreneurs from around the world. I’m Diana Drake, managing editor of the
Wharton Global Youth Program at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.

One of the best ways we introduce high school students to business and finance education at Wharton
Global Youth is through on-campus, online and on-site programs. These experiences give us the
opportunity to meet students, as well as draw on the Wharton School community to explore challenging
and emerging business concepts and industries.

Today’s guests are a great intersection of these purposes. They learned with us on Wharton’s
Philadelphia campus – so we got to meet them in person — AND they are innovators in the emerging
crypto industry with a business that harnesses the power of blockchain.

Vincenzo Francia, a senior from the British School of Milan who attended our Essentials of Finance
program, and Daniel de Beer, a senior at the American School in London and one of our Leadership in
the Business World students, are here to talk about their startup Diremo. Diremo is a platform where you
can buy and sell physical products on blockchain and Web3.

Vincenzo and Daniel, it’s great to have you on Future of the Business World! This emerging world of
finance gives us so much to talk about, and I’m excited to better understand your brand of e-commerce
on the blockchain.

You call Diremo the Amazon of Crypto. Can you tell us more about that? Vincenzo, why don’t we start
with you.

Vincenzo Francia: Yes, of course. We are essentially building the Amazon of Crypto. And what do we
mean [by that]? We’re creating a platform – a marketplace – that enables you to buy and sell physical
products using [cryptocurrency]. We currently have over 60,000 products from over 200 shops and sell
anything from Taylor Swift’s latest album to car parts for your new car.

Wharton Global Youth: How has the world responded to your Web3 idea? Are you successfully
raising capital to grow your business?

Vincenzo: Web3 is one of the most liquid sectors right now in the venture capital space. I would say that
our project has received very good traction from a bunch of folks, including industry leaders such as
Sequoia Capital, Y Combinator and many respected business angel investors across the globe.

Wharton Global Youth: Daniel, do you want to add to that?

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Daniel de Beer: Sure. The biggest response we’ve gotten is that we’ve seen that shops want to leverage
Web3 and crypto. And how can they do that right now? With payment processers like Coinbase and
BitPay. We can be so much more than that. We can provide them with these Web3-specific features,
such as NFT receipts, so when their users buy a product on our platform, they receive an NFT as a
receipt and they have that ownership card. There are endless use cases. We have seen that shops are
responding very well to our idea because they’ve been wanting a Web3-specific shopping experience
and that’s exactly what we are. And that is what the [Venture Capitalists] have seen too. We just got on
a call with Sequoia [Capital] today and we’ve seen a lot of interest. Both shops and VCs think that it’s a
great idea.

Wharton Global Youth: You got on a call with Sequoia? Wow. That sounds impressive. What did you
talk about? Are they going to be supporting you financially?

Daniel: We’re still in talks with them and negotiating. We mainly talked about the technical side,
everything from the currencies we’re going to be accepting, the blockchain that we’re going to be using
and the onramp and offramp of customers – moving people from using their normal currencies to crypto.
And how we can effectively help users make that transition. Our vision for the company is that everyone
in a couple of years is going to be using crypto and they’re not even going to be realizing it, because
whatever currency they pay with will be powered by the blockchain. That’s what we discussed with
Sequoia and our visions are very aligned.

Wharton Global Youth: Vincenzo, how did it feel to be on a call with one of these big venture capital
firms?

Vincenzo: I’d say there’s great amount of pressure to that. A call like that can change your future and
the future of your startup. I think as a team we handled it responsibly and well. I’m happy and I know
that my cofounders are also happy with how the call went. Overall, a positive start with Sequoia.

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Daniel de Beer and Vincenzo Francia on Wharton’s Philadelphia campus.

Wharton Global Youth: You two are from different schools, even different countries. What sparked
the idea for Diremo and how did you form your partnership and broader team? What strengths do you
each bring to the startup?

Daniel: This idea originally came from Vincenzo when he was running his sneaker resale business in
Italy. He saw that people wanted to start buying with crypto and he didn’t have the technical perspective
to go ahead with it. So, he and Gabriel had a mutual friend that connected them. Gabriel is our other co-
founder who lives in Boston. I knew Gabriel because he went to my school in London before moving to
Boston. He’s the software engineer. I was really good with hardware engineering, which is why we got
along so well. So while he was writing code, I was building computers. When Vincenzo called up
Gabriel, he got me into the project too. That’s where the idea was sparked. Why limit the idea to
sneakers? Why not create an entire marketplace for this? Why not bring Web3 to every single industry
instead of just luxury items or sneakers. Since then, we’ve been building Diremo.

Wharton Global Youth: Do you have an actual prototype built? Is it functioning as a business? I’ve
seen your pitch deck and that you are talking to VC firms. How far along has the idea evolved?

Vincenzo: We have an MVP [Minimum Viable Product] launched currently, which enables you to buy
and sell physical goods using crypto. It’s very simple to buy. You just go on a product and you can buy
anything you want on our website. Currently not all Web3-implemented features are ready. We’re
planning on launching them later this year, as well as our new revamp of our site. That’s going to bring
many added functionalities as well as a much more seamless and minimalistic design to make user
experience the best possible.

Wharton Global Youth: Amazon for crypto sounds like an idea that others might jump on board with
or might be creating something very similar. I’m curious how crowded the market is?

Daniel: There are competitors that are trying to bring crypto to marketplaces. But they don’t have the
same perspective as us. We originally started competing with these people. For example, Coinbase or
BitPay let people pay with crypto on Amazon or eBay. So, our marketplace wasn’t able to compete with
BitPay or Coinbase. They were able to just integrate flawlessly with giant current marketplaces. We
changed our business model to integrate more of these features that Amazon or eBay can’t use, such as
NFT receipts or redeemables, things like that. Now we are seeing the market get crowded with more and
more people wanting to bring crypto to products. But we don’t want to bring crypto to products. We
want to bring Web3 and blockchain. There’s a difference between companies that want to use
cryptocurrencies – for example, bitcoin and ethereum – and us that want to use blockchain – for
example, polygon. Polygon is a chain that can be used to transact any kind of cryptocurrency. We
believe in the technology behind it, rather than bitcoin and ethereum. When these big cryptocurrencies
fall, we won’t necessarily be as impacted since we are invested in the technology behind it.

Wharton Global Youth: I want to break down a little bit of the language of business here and
understand, for some of us newbies, things like NFT receipts. Can you explain it in more detail. What is
that exactly?

Vincenzo: NFT receipts are the future of your conventional receipt that you get after you buy something
at the supermarket. We’re essentially removing that physical piece of paper with no actual value and

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giving it value and putting it under the form of a smart contract. We’re essentially putting the transaction
on the blockchain, allowing it to always be there and removing risk of potential fraud.

Wharton Global Youth: You underscore that it is becoming easier to integrate with the Web3
ecosystem. Are we advancing toward broader acceptance of business on the blockchain? How would
you respond to the skeptics out there? Or even to the fearful who are intimidated by the development of
an entirely new financial system?

Daniel: I think that it’s very reasonable to be skeptical of cryptocurrency and blockchain. But, in the
end, we do believe it’s inevitable that our entire world is going to be shifting to the chain. Our banking
system is highly flawed. There are so many inefficiencies and transaction fees, hidden fees that they
don’t even tell you about. Yet they’re necessary for these banks to run. With blockchains such as
Polygon there are no transaction fees when we transport ethereum, for example, from one wallet to
another. We cannot say that for bank transfers. There are always fees and inefficiencies. When
businesses and more shops start realizing that we can save time and money they are going to naturally
want to move to blockchain in whatever way, shape or form. We are positioning ourselves well right
now for us to be the shopping experience. When a company wants to sell on the chain they’re going to
look to us because we are going to have the technology ready for them. That’s the position that we’re
going for.

Wharton Global Youth: I see this vision clearly. When will this be a reality for you?

Daniel: To be frank, we don’t know. But we are estimating within two years. Within two years there is
going to be an explosion and everyone will be using the blockchain. And Diremo.

Wharton Global Youth: Vincenzo, how will you measure success with your startup?

Vincenzo: That is a very difficult question to answer. I would say there are two big factors that allow me
to measure success: the amount of users that are happy with our product and to which we provided
advantages to their everyday transactions, and the amount of people we were able to help with Diremo.

Wharton Global Youth: You both had unique experiences with us this summer in our Essentials of
Finance and Leadership in the Business World programs. When you’re so passionate about a startup and
you have that entrepreneurial energy, how does it fit into the experience? How did Diremo factor into
your learning experiences two and three weeks this summer? Did you share your startup with your
classmates and instructors? Was there curiosity about what you’re trying to build?

Vincenzo: Whenever we are learning, we think about how we can apply the knowledge we’re learning
to our startup and how we can make it better and scale it further. In my case the Essentials of Finance
course had a wide range of different topics, including some elements of entrepreneurship and scaling
companies, balance sheets, and much more. I’d say that every time, every topic, every lecture, I was
thinking how can I apply this to my personal use case in Diremo and what can we do better to optimize
our company and scale further.

Daniel: In my case in the Leadership in the Business World program, the most applicable field that we
learned about was operations – not specifically for Diremo, but for the shops we’re going to be
powering. It was very useful to learn how they run their operations and how we can fit into those
operations. So, in the supply chain, if we want to have these NFT redeemables, where you trade around

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an NFT and at any point you can cash in that NFT, that means that the shop has to have inventory,
which will increase their inventory costs. That’s just something for us to think about – handling the shop
lower rations. Also, learning from the peers around me. There were countless other startups within my
program, so [I appreciated] learning from them and inspiring others.

Wharton Global Youth: One of the questions I like to ask all our guests on Future of the Business
World is if you could change one thing in the world, what would it be?

Daniel: Going along with the theme of our youth and entrepreneurship, one big trend I see is that I see
these brilliant minds who are hungry for whatever they can get their hands on. And they dedicate their
drive and passion towards these arbitrary goals that we as a society have set upon ourselves. For
example, just putting their entire effort into getting into a specific college or to create an organization
that they’re going to drop off as soon as they leave high school. I think that something that should be
instilled in all of us in our education is using our power and our drive for good and that is going to make
change. I don’t think we have to start that in college or after college. I think we can start that from the
day we are born — doing what we are passionate about and making sure it has a good impact on others.

Vincenzo: On my end, a change I’d like to see in the world is similar to Daniel’s in the world of
education. I’d like to see fairer possibilities for everyone across the globe into succeeding in life. There
are smart minds and smart people all across the globe, and very often depending on your geographical
location you might have disadvantages in comparison to other people. Bridging that gap in years to
come is incredibly important for the next generation of people our age.

Wharton Global Youth: Okay guys, let’s wrap up with our lightning round. We’ll have some fun with
these questions.

Daniel, what was the last thing you bought with crypto?

Daniel: It was a board game.

Wharton Global Youth: Vincenzo, an NFT you wish you had?

Vincenzo: World of Women NFT.

Wharton Global Youth: If not crypto, your new startup would be in what industry?

Daniel: Metabolics.

Wharton Global Youth: Vincenzo, same question?

Vincenzo: Either environmental sustainability or fintech.

Wharton Global Youth: Daniel, what is the next thing you’re excited to learn that you don’t yet
understand?

Daniel: Consumer psychology.

Wharton Global Youth: Vincenzo, something about you that would surprise us?

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Vincenzo: My hair doesn’t get wet in a pool.

Wharton Global Youth: Daniel, you are the new host of a business-themed talk show. Who is your
first guest and why?

Daniel: I’d have on Peter Thiel, the founder of Paypal and Palantir. He started his journey in
entrepreneurship very young, he has a very good perspective and he wants to inspire the next generation
of entrepreneurs.

Wharton Global Youth: Vincenzo, same question. Who is your first guest and why?

Vincenzo: Mr. Steve Jobs. Steve Jobs has always been an inspiration to me and when I was younger the
dream was to be Apple CEO. Steve Jobs has always been an inspirational, motivational driver for me.

Wharton Global Youth: Thank you both for joining us today on Future of the Business World and I
wish you luck with your startup.

Conversation Starters

What is Diremo? How is it different than just using cryptocurrency like bitcoin to pay for something on
Amazon?

Do you agree with Daniel and Vincenzo that we will all be paying with cryptocurrency in two years?
Why or why not?

What don’t you understand about the future of finance? Do you find it intimidating or intriguing? Both?

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 Lesson Plan: SWOT Analysis

Minvest Article
Written by Diana Drake

Wharton Global Youth Program: Hello and welcome to Future of the Business World, the podcast
featuring teen innovators from across the globe. I’m Diana Drake with the Wharton Global Youth
Program at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. Wharton Global Youth introduces high
school students to business and finance education, through on campus and online summer programs, as
well as competitions and content. Part of our regularly published content is this podcast, where we get to
learn from some fascinating young innovators.

Today, we welcome Arjun Setty and Raaga Kodali, high school students from Virginia who have been
building a new finance platform for aspiring Gen Z investors. Arjun and Raaga, it’s great to have you on
Future of the Business World. Why don’t you both tell us a little bit about yourselves?

Arjun Setty: Of course. I’m Arjun Setty. I’m a high school junior at Potomac Falls High School and the
Academies of Loudoun. The Academies of Loudoun is a Magnet school in Loudoun County, Virginia.
So right near the [Washington] D.C. metropolitan area. And I am the CEO of Minvest.

Raaga Kodali: Hi everyone. My name is Raaga Kodali. I am also a junior. I attend the Academies of
Loudoun and Briar Woods High School, again in that D.C. metropolitan area. And I’m currently the
Chief Operating Officer of Minvest. It is an honor to be here today.

Bi Nguyen, Arjun Setty and Raaga Kodali showcase Minvest.

Wharton Global Youth: We’re very happy to have you both. As I was preparing for our discussion, I
realized that in the 30 published episodes of Future of the Business World, we have yet to dedicate an
entire conversation to investing. As you may know, Wharton Global Youth Program runs a successful
investment competition each year that engages thousands of high school students around the world. So,
we have an immediate audience for today’s conversation — and then some. And we have seen the faces

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and heard the voices; lots of students have investing on their minds. So, I’m excited to get started. Arjun,
at least part of your interest in the financial markets began while you studied with us in the Wharton Pre-
baccalaureate Program. Can you tell us a little bit more about that?

Arjun: Last fall, I enrolled in Finance 0001, with Professor [Gizem] Saka. And really this provided me
with a deeper level of insight into finance and economics. Now, this course didn’t really focus too much
on investing per se, it really focused a lot more on macroeconomic movements. And while I didn’t really
realize it as I started this course, it helped me understand how these large macroeconomic movements
that we see right now, like inflation, or maybe the housing market taking off, how they all derived from
the collective choices that we make as individuals. And that made me understand the importance of
understanding not only these large macroeconomic trends, but also microeconomics and the financial
choices that we make as consumers at the smaller scale.

Wharton Global Youth: So, let’s connect the dots then. The name of your startup is Minvest, which
you describe as a digital platform that simplifies, personalizes and accelerates the investing-research
process for young investors. Tell us more.

Arjun: Minvest is an investing-research platform, made by Gen Z for Gen Z. And what we aim to do is
make investing research quick, easy and accessible for young individuals. This derives from the
problems that we faced. In the beginning of my sophomore year, for instance, I had just started
investing, and I was totally lost. When I went out there, I realized that a lot of finance and investing
platforms really haven’t been built with Gen Z in mind, even though there’s so many people out there
that are very interested in actually investing. I discussed this with Raaga, and Bi [Nguyen], my other two
cofounders. And we realized that we shared this same problem with each other. We went out there and
we actually interviewed over 57 people. And this confirmed our findings. People want to invest, but they
simply can’t, because of three main barriers that we found: the lack of time, a fear of risk, and limited
education.

Minvest addresses all three of these problems individually. For instance, we took care of the lack of time
by creating something called the One Minute Market, where users can learn about and decide on the
stock in under one minute. We also focused on addressing the fear of risk by offering a fully
personalized interface where users can make their investments based on their financial goals, needs and
preferences. And finally, we tried to address this limited education and fill that gap by offering real-time
investor education in the form of bite-sized content, so that it’s easy and fun to learn about investing.

What really drove us to pursue this idea was something that I learned in Professor Saka’s course. In a
time with rampant income inequality, I think the number is around 64% of Americans living paycheck
to paycheck, all three of us wanted to ensure that our generation is well equipped to take control of their
financial future. That kind of mission and seeing these problems that our generation faced, really
inspired us to go ahead and create Minvest to solve these problems.

Wharton Global Youth: Raaga, are you also an investor?

Raaga: I’ve been investing since sophomore year, when me, Arjun and Bi talked about our problems. I
went out and started experimenting on my own. And I’m actually a part of the Briar Woods High School
Wharton Investing Club. And so, we participated in the [Wharton Global High School Investment
Competition] this past year. it was an incredible experience, and really helped me understand investing
and the strategies and all the analysis that go into it from a deeper level.

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Wharton Global Youth: Excellent. Well, it’s nice to hear that we’re also contributing to that piece of
education that you both feel is missing for Gen Z to be prepared in the investing market. Raaja, let’s stay
with you for a minute. There’s a company or a group called Modak. And it’s been fundamental to the
development of your startup from simply an idea to an actual venture. Can you tell me what Modak is
and how it has inspired you through mentoring and ultimately grant money?

Raaga. For context, Modak Makers is a company that supports teenage entrepreneurs. They help
budding entrepreneurs develop their ideas and make them into realities. And they host a yearly pitch
competition where a lot of these teenage entrepreneurs from across the world come together for the
chance to compete to potentially win some grant money, and earn a mentorship from the Silicon Valley
experts that run Modak. And so, with Minvest we actually [advanced through] two rounds of
competition to ultimately win the Modak Makers pitch competition. Along with this, we had worked
with the Silicon Valley mentors, especially the CEO of Modak. His name is Madhu Yalamarthi. He was
an incredible mentor, friend and just provided super important guidance for us throughout the process.
And with his help, we turned our idea into a reality. We were also awarded a $6,000 grant to kickstart
our MVP [Minimum Viable Product], and to make all of our ideas come into something tangible.

“The very risky and short-term investing mindset is actually the exact reason why so many people don’t
invest.” – Arjun Setty, Co-founder, Minvest

Wharton Global Youth: That CEO mentorship sounds great. Can you tell us a little bit more about it?
What about it was particularly impactful?

Raaga: One particular story comes to mind when I think about the relationship we were able to develop
with the CEO. For one of the first meetings that we were talking to him, we were sharing some of the
problems that Arjun had mentioned earlier. We were sharing those problems we had found, and how we
felt they impacted Gen Z. He directly told us that they were not specific enough and that we didn’t dig
deep enough. He advised us to start using something called the “Five Why’s” approach, where you start
off with a high-level problem and you ask why five different times until you’re really whittled down to
the core issues causing those problems for whoever’s facing them. With that, we went out, we conducted
a lot more interviews, and we were able to come back to him with a lot more research and with a much
deeper analysis of all the problems we were trying to solve. A really crucial part of any startup is your
problem development and we were able to really enhance and dig deeper into it with his guidance and
with all the support he provided. [It has] definitely been a crucial relationship that has helped Minvest
kickstart as a startup, and we are very grateful for him and his help.

Wharton Global Youth: As a startup you are a team of 15, but I noticed that actually includes more
than 10 interns. Can you talk about how this internship model has helped to propel your startup and
deepen the knowledge and skills needed to grow?

Raaga: After we developed our solution, and we were getting ready to kickstart our MVP, the team took
a step back and [said]: Okay, we don’t have the best graphic design, we don’t have the best development
skills in the world. We realized that these were some areas that we really needed help with in order to
make all the ideas with Minvest come into reality — something we could actually test and share with
others. One thing about the Academies of Loudoun, which is the school where we all attend, is that they
have specialty career pathway programs for students. There are career pathways in computer science,
career pathways in graphic design, all these areas that we needed some assistance with. And so, we
leveraged the resources around us and started an internship program through the Academies of Loudoun,

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where we worked with other high school interns that we found within the school. And that team has
today grown to over 10 interns for development, graphic design and marketing. With all their help, our
ultimate goal was to create our beta version and launch it. And so, our beta version, as we’ll talk about
later on today, was launched on February 18, [2023]. We couldn’t have gotten there without the support
and help of our interns.

Wharton Global Youth: Yeah, I’m excited to talk about the beta version. First, though, I want to
clarify that MVP is minimum viable product, correct? We like to throw a lot of acronyms out there
sometimes in business. And I just wanted to mention what that was all about. So, you are currently beta
testing the initial version of your platform and you want to improve your product-market fit. I want to
know why is this step so critical, this beta testing step? And what have you learned so far about your
market?

Arjun: I think with beta testing, the importance of it not only stems from how important it is for startups
to iterate when developing their products, but also from one of our core beliefs. From the onset, we
really wanted to have a customer-oriented approach to developing our product, Minvest. And what this
beta testing and this rapid iteration allows us to do is to put a version out there, see what the market
likes, see what they dislike, and see what they want to add. And then for our development team to go
ahead and add those features to the platform. We use something called the Agile process. Every version
that we put out is super lean, super minimal. And what we focus on doing is rapidly changing and
adapting to the wants and needs of our market.

Right now, with this first beta version, we haven’t necessarily released every feature that we want to
have out there, we’ve put forward almost like a blank canvas with the most basic features. We’re trying
to experiment with this. It’s almost like the scientific method, if you will, to see what sticks, what
doesn’t, and what we can add. This rapid iteration is what we’re trying to focus on right now. And one
thing that this beta testing process has allowed us to see is how high the demand for investor education
really is. Everyone we’ve talked to, and the people that we’ve sent out our beta version to, have really
liked the approach that we’re taking to this investor education. How we’re promoting it in more bite-
sized content that is quick and easy to understand. And I think that really stems from the fact that people
talk about investing like it’s a very obscure topic. People are really curious about it and want to see it
conveyed and explained in a no-frills sort of way.

Wharton Global Youth: I want to drill down for a minute on one aspect of what you’re offering on
your platform. You say that you can learn about and decide on a stock in less than one minute. And
when I think about that, it really flies in the face of our [Wharton Global High School] investment
competition mission, which is to steer students away from risky short-term investing decisions, and help
them see the value of analysis and long-term investing. I’m wondering, what are your thoughts on the
rise of apps like Robin Hood and the get -rich-quick mindset, especially in Gen Z? How do you address
this through Minvest?

Arjun: I think it’s really interesting that you mentioned this, since the very risky and short-term
investing mindset is actually the exact reason why so many people don’t invest. In fact, it makes me
think of one of the interviews [I had with a student] earlier. I said, what’s the first thing that comes to
your mind when you hear the word investing. They said, numbers flying all over the screen, and people
making trades super quickly and lines flying everywhere. Obviously, there are a lot of things wrong with
that answer. But one thing that it really highlights is how the short-term investing mindset has almost
been a poison that’s preventing so many people from investing. So, what we do is address this problem

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through the One Minute Market and personalization. The One Minute Market actually does foster long-
term investing. It simply just allows the users to learn about and decide on a stock in under one minute.
And this stock can be held for as long as possible. In fact, it is enhanced by the personalization that we
offer. It takes the user’s preferences into account and provides them with investing options that match
their financial goals and their preferences. For instance, if you’re someone who’s very low risk, then [it
would] recommend stocks with something called a lower beta to you, which are just lower risk stocks.
So we do foster this long-term-investing outlook. We just make sure that doing long-term investing and
making investing decisions is as easy as possible for our users.

Wharton Global Youth: I’m curious. You’ve been getting to know your market a little bit better. And
what have you learned about Gen Z-inspired trends in investing? We hear so much about ESG and
socially responsible investing. I’m wondering how will today’s youth influence the market?

Arjun: So again, Minvest is by Gen Z for Gen Z. So, a lot of the features that we have are taking
advantage of some of these Gen Z-driven investing trends. And I think ESG is a big one. In fact, in our
interviews, one person mentioned how the lack of corporate social responsibility was one of the reasons
why they don’t invest. [They] don’t want to support a company that’s destroying the environment. We
got a similar notion from other people that we interviewed. In our demo, we introduced a feature that
gave the ESG score and indicated whether the company had a high ESG rating, or a low one.

Wharton Global Youth: Arjun, I’m going to stop you and just say, we have one of these lovely
acronyms that is finding its way into our conversation, I just want to explain that ESG [stands for]
environmental, social and governance factors. And it really is looking at [making investment decisions]
through that lens. And how socially responsible companies are. So, you continue with your answer.

Arjun: I think it’s great that you define ESG, because it encapsulates not only the environment aspect,
but also the social and the governance aspect. I know a lot of people are looking at diversity, equity and
inclusion in companies. And ESG really encapsulates that. Another huge [trend] that we’re looking to
capitalize on is AI and natural-language processing, especially with the more qualitative analysis of
stocks. To be fair, finance is not just about the numbers, there’s so many other personal dynamics that
play into finance. So, really looking at the qualitative analysis and 10-K statements, for example, or the
company’s press releases. In the future, we’re actually dedicating a lot more resources to see how we
can incorporate some of this emerging technology into our product; to see how we can make investing
more personal and really incorporate these other aspects.

Wharton Global Youth: Raaga will know from having competed in the Wharton Global High School
investment Competition, that we really do stress that balance of qualitative and quantitative research. So,
that’s very good to hear. What is the future of Minvest? Are you all dedicated to this? Or is it merely a
passion project? Where do you see it going in the future?

Raaga: One thing I will say is that when we first created Minvest, never in our wildest dreams would we
have guessed that it would have taken off the way that it has and that we would genuinely be able to turn
this product from an idea to reality and learn all the crucial lessons we have. Although it did start off as a
passion project, at this point, we have acquired just so much validation from those in our market that
they want to see a product like this come to the market. They want a tool that can help them get into
investing to take control of their financial future. And so today, with our beta testing, we are working to
keep receiving more and more validation, to ultimately find an investor someday that is willing to fund
the development of Minvest. The overall goal with this is to find that investor, make it professionally

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developed, and hopefully release on the App Store and make this available to the public. One really
important thing we’ve realized is that our mission truly has the potential to impact the lives of millions
of young individuals across the country. And so, we’re determined to keep building Minvest and to keep
tailoring it to the needs of this generation.

Wharton Global Youth: Wonderful. So let’s wrap up with our lightning round. Why don’t you both
answer these questions? The first one is: [What is] the next thing you hope to learn that you don’t yet
know?

Arjun: The intersection between entrepreneurship and finance, especially with regards to venture
capital. Seeing how finance can be used as a tool to in a sense help entrepreneurs and help the
development of new ideas, and allow us to solve problems using business.

Raaga: For me, something I’m really passionate about learning now is how the world of business and
law intersect. Legal studies is the career path that I plan on pursuing that I’m really passionate about.
And so, with this sort of background, and entrepreneurship and finance, it would be interesting to see
how all three of those worlds collide in the professional world.

Wharton Global Youth: All right, next lightning round question. Raaga, why don’t you go first.
Something about you that would surprise us?

Raaga: Well, I am really tall. I’m six feet tall. And I’m an athlete. I play soccer and basketball. So, I
think a lot of people wouldn’t necessarily expect that. But that’s always a fun surprise when I meet new
people.

Arjun: kind of sticking with the whole tall athlete theme: I’m a member of my high school’s varsity ice
hockey team. So again, a lot of people get surprised when I say that.

Wharton Global Youth: I’m not surprised. It sounds great. All right. Last question. You’re starting a
business-themed talk show? Who is your first guest and why?

Arjun: I’m to keep the focus here on finance, because I know that’s what I’m really interested in. [My
choice would be] Burton Malkiel. I really love reading his book (A Random Walk Down Wall Street).
And it was really one of the first thing that taught me about the actual nitty gritty of investing and what
it means to be a good and practical investor in the long run. So such a big inspiration for me, and he
would definitely be the first person I put on the podcast.

Raaga: And for me, someone that I have just looked up to these past few years is Adam Grant. I know
he does work with the Wharton School, and I would have him on the podcast because I read his book
Think Again and it completely changed my perspective on the approach to life, work and how all of that
intersects. I think it would be amazing to potentially meet him someday. I mean, if that somehow
happened, that’d be incredible. That would be my first guest on a potential talk show.

Wharton Global Youth: Thank you both for joining us on Future of the Business World.

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Conversation Starters

Arjun Setty and Raaga Kodali learn from Madhu Yalamarthi about the “Five Why’s” approach. What is
this and why is it essential to product and startup development?

List three examples from this article that illustrate how these young entrepreneurs have problem solved
to create a better Minvest platform. How have they been strategic in their approach?

Are you a Gen Z investor? What are your thoughts about Minvest? Would you use it? What are your
personal barriers to investing that you would hope to address? Share your ideas in the comment section
of this article.

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