New Product Development (M5)

 "Innovation is seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought."

— Dr. Albert Szent-Györgyi

🕊️Welcome to the Peacebuilder Academy (PBA)

Every peacebuilder’s journey begins with a commitment — to yourself, your community, and to a more peaceful world. By the end of this short guide, you’ll know how to leverage the resources available to you, and begin shaping the change you want to see in the world.

🧰PBA Resources:

1. 🌐 Public Mind Maps

   1. Here at the Peacebuilder Academy (PBA), we use AYOA mind maps to guide your learning and save you time by providing visual notes for each lesson. Most public mind maps won’t require a login, but Pro features use AYOA templates that do require an AYOA account. (Note: Best viewed on Desktop)

2. 💬 Captions & Transcripts
   1. Our videos use the Descript platform, which lets you read and follow along with captions while you watch. Just click the chevrons (<<) in the upper right-hand corner of the video player to view the full transcript alongside the video. On mobile, rotate your screen horizontally for the best viewing and caption experience.
      1. ⏩Learn faster by increasing the video playback speed — up to 2x! 
3. 🔗 Lesson Links
   1. To help your learning and viewing experience, all lesson links are highlighted in green and will open in a new tab or window. You can also right-click any link to open it in a separate tab while keeping your place in the lesson.

📌 Deliverables

Deliverables are small, action-focused steps designed to help you apply what you’ve learned right away. They’re not tests — they’re practical checkpoints that move you from knowledge to action.

At the PBA, deliverables also double as real-world assets — notes, plans, and frameworks you create here can become working documents for your project, business, or product. Every lesson is intentionally designed to leave you with something usable, not just theoretical.

By the end of the course, you won’t just have learned — you’ll have built. You’ll walk away with a portfolio of project plans, business strategies, product outlines, and conflict resolution frameworks ready to launch, refine, or share.

📱 Navigation Tip

On mobile, tap the ☰ hamburger menu in the top right corner to open site navigation options (About, Courses, Community, Pricing, Login, etc.). You can also tap the Peacebuilder Academy logo or text logo at the top to return to the homepage.

💡 AI/Tool Tip:  Use ChatGPT or your PBA AI Companion (coming soon!) to brainstorm, refine, and expand your lesson deliverables. AI can help you design your product, shape your service, or clarify your vision into practical next steps.

💫 From conflict to clarity. From purpose to profit. Accelerate your journey with Pro.

Unlock the full Peacebuilder Academy experience — designed to help you resolve conflict with confidence, launch your mission-driven business, and earn income doing what matters.
✅ Personalized course tracking & gamified learning
✅ AI-powered agent support (coming soon!)
✅ Proven frameworks, templates, and real-world use cases
✅ Group coaching & community to guide your growth

🔓 Upgrade to Pro and turn your peacebuilding vision into lasting, profitable change.

“If you are not embarrassed by the first version of your product, you’ve launched too late.”

– Reid Hoffman

🚀 Welcome to New Product Development!

This module will guide you through the 8-step New Product Development (NPD) process, preparing you to design, test, and launch a product with confidence. The concepts and frameworks you mastered in Modules 1–4 will serve as your solid foundation — now it’s time to shift gears and think like a product manager.

In this lesson, we’ll introduce the 8-step NPD process and show how it aligns with Peter Drucker’s 7 Opportunity Areas for Innovation — a powerful lens for spotting and developing impactful ideas. As a peacebuilder, your goal isn’t just to bring a product to market — it’s to launch something that creates sustainable income and expands your capacity for positive change.

By the end of this module, you’ll be equipped with the mindset, tools, and strategies to move from concept to launch — and to do so in a way that advances your mission.

🧰Resources:

1. Use these interactive mind maps as your visual notes! (Note: Best Viewed on Desktop)
   Right click the links below and open the AYOA mind map in a new tab or window — no account or login required. It’s safe, free to use, and designed to help you follow along and review key concepts. 
   1. M5 Public Mind Map: New Product Development (NPD)
   2. The 8-Step NPD Process, Public Mind Map
   3. The 7 Opportunity Areas for Innovation to Emerge From, Public Mind Map 

📌 Deliverable

1. Choose one product idea for development, inspired by the 7 Opportunity Areas for Innovation and/or the United Nations' 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
   1. If you’ve completed Modules 1–4, build on the ideas you’ve already generated and carry them forward through each step of the NPD process.

💡 AI/Tool Tip: Speed up your progress with AI and no-code tools like ChatGPT and Lovable for brainstorming, prototyping, and market validation. 

💫 From conflict to clarity. From purpose to profit. Accelerate your journey with Pro.

Unlock the full Peacebuilder Academy experience — designed to help you resolve conflict with confidence, launch your mission-driven business, and earn income doing what matters.
✅ Personalized course tracking & gamified learning
✅ AI-powered agent support (coming soon!)
✅ Proven frameworks, templates, and real-world use cases
✅ Group coaching & community to guide your growth

🔓 Upgrade to Pro and turn your peacebuilding vision into lasting, profitable change.

“If at first, the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it.”

– Albert Einstein

💡 Welcome to Step 1: Idea Generation!

In this lesson, we begin the first stage of the New Product Development (NPD) process: Idea Generation. You’ll explore advanced brainstorming and ideation techniques to unlock fresh, impactful concepts for your venture.

We’ll look at how “positive accidents” can spark groundbreaking innovations, and examine the nature of creativity — where it comes from and how to channel it effectively into your product development.

You’ll also be introduced to the concept of circularity and how designing for reuse, regeneration, and sustainability can increase both the value and longevity of your product or service.

By the end of this lesson, you’ll have a toolkit of practical techniques to generate ideas that are not just creative, but aligned with your mission and capable of making a lasting impact.

🧰Resources:

1. Use these interactive mind maps as your visual notes! (Note: Best Viewed on Desktop)
   Right click the links below and open the AYOA mind map in a new tab or window — no account or login required. It’s safe, free to use, and designed to help you follow along and review key concepts. 
   1. M5 Public Mind Map: New Product Development (NPD)
2. (Video) IDEO Shopping Cart Challenge
   1. YouTube Link

📌 Deliverable

1. Generate a list of at least 5–10 potential product or service ideas using one or more brainstorming techniques from this lesson.
   1. Highlight at least one idea that incorporates circularity principles for added sustainability and impact.

💡 AI/Tool Tip: Speed up your progress with AI and no-code tools like ChatGPT and Lovable for brainstorming, prototyping, and market validation. 

💫 From conflict to clarity. From purpose to profit. Accelerate your journey with Pro.

Unlock the full Peacebuilder Academy experience — designed to help you resolve conflict with confidence, launch your mission-driven business, and earn income doing what matters.
✅ Personalized course tracking & gamified learning
✅ AI-powered agent support (coming soon!)
✅ Proven frameworks, templates, and real-world use cases
✅ Group coaching & community to guide your growth

🔓 Upgrade to Pro and turn your peacebuilding vision into lasting, profitable change.

“The power of imagination is the ultimate creative power. While knowledge defines all we currently know and understand, imagination points to all we might yet discover and create. Imagination is more important than knowledge.”

– Albert Einstein

🧭 Welcome to Step 1, Part 2: Ideation!

In this session, we continue exploring Step 1 of the New Product Development (NPD) process by focusing on how to shape ideas around the people who matter most — your customers. You’ll learn how to define customer personas that capture your ideal customer’s needs, behaviors, and motivations, using examples like Harvey Clark to guide you.

We’ll then explore Customer Journey Maps (CJM) to visualize the steps your customers take when interacting with your product or service, including a practical example for a podcasting microphone. This will help you better understand the decision-making process and optimize for perceived value from your customer’s perspective.

Finally, we’ll revisit brainstorming and facilitation techniques to uncover more ideas worth exploring, then subject them to opportunity analysis — using TAM, SAM, SOM from Module 4 and the R-W-W Framework — to answer the ultimate question: Is this worth building?

🧰Resources:

1. Use these interactive mind maps as your visual notes! (Note: Best Viewed on Desktop)
   Right click the links below and open the AYOA mind map in a new tab or window — no account or login required. It’s safe, free to use, and designed to help you follow along and review key concepts. 
   1. M5 Public Mind Map: New Product Development (NPD)
   2. Brainstorming Process, Public Mind Map
2. Customer Persona Example- Harvey Clark

   1. 🔒 Pro Exclusive

3. Customer Journey Map (CJM) for Podcasting Microphone
   

   1. 🔒 Pro Exclusive

📌 Deliverable

1. Create a draft Customer Persona for your ideal customer. You can use AI tools like ChatGPT to generate an initial draft, then refine it visually using templates or tools such as Uxpressia’s Persona Creator (suggested as a visual starting point — this program may be dated, but it’s useful for layout ideas).

2. Create a draft Customer Journey Map for your persona. Again, AI can help with the initial outline, which you can then format visually in your preferred tool (e.g., Uxpressia CJM for layout inspiration).

3. Conduct an opportunity analysis for one or more product ideas.

   • Apply TAM, SAM, SOM estimates.

   • Use the R-W-W Framework to evaluate feasibility and market potential.

💡 AI/Tool Tip: Use AI tools like ChatGPT to help draft customer personas, map journeys, and run quick market opportunity estimates before refining with your own research.

💫 Resolve conflict. Launch your impact business. Get paid to do good.

Pro gives you everything you need to learn faster, build smarter, and grow sustainably — with expert support, guided tools, and (Coming Soon) AI-powered peacebuilders by your side.

🔓 Upgrade to Pro to access every deliverable, download, tool, template, etc., and start turning your mission into impact and income.

“Every product, service, or solution starts with the same, simple process: idea generation (or concept development), but just as important is the process that follows: idea screening.”

— Qualtrics Experience Management

🔍 Welcome to Step 2: Idea Screening!

In this lesson, we move into the second stage of the New Product Development (NPD) process: Idea Screening. This is where you evaluate your list of potential product or feature ideas against defined criteria to identify the most promising opportunities.

Think of it as sifting through a treasure trove of possibilities to uncover the true gems — the ideas that both resonate deeply with your audience and align with your business objectives. We’ll explore proven filters and evaluation tools, including the Opportunity Checklist and the 4 Filters Framework, to help you quickly separate high-potential concepts from the rest.

By the end of this lesson, you’ll know how to screen any idea for maximum impact and profit potential, ensuring you focus your time and energy on the concepts that offer the greatest value for both your mission and your market.

🧰Resources:

1. Use this interactive mind map as your visual notes! (Note: Best Viewed on Desktop)
   Right click the link below and open the AYOA mind map in a new tab or window — no account or login required. It’s safe, free to use, and designed to help you follow along and review key concepts. 
   1. M5 Public Mind Map: New Product Development (NPD)
2. Opportunity Checklist
   

   1. 🔒 Pro Exclusive

3. Idea Screening Worksheet- 4 Filters
   

   1. 🔒 Pro Exclusive

📌 Deliverables

1. Complete the Idea Screening Worksheet for your chosen product idea.

2. Based on your analysis, decide whether to Go, No-Go, Hold, or Pivot.

   1. Document your reasoning so you can revisit and refine it as you progress through the NPD process.

💡 AI/Tool Tip: Use AI tools like ChatGPT to help score ideas against your criteria or brainstorm potential pivots. Templates like the Idea Screening Worksheet can also be reformatted in Google Sheets, Notion, or your preferred tool for easy iteration.

💫 Resolve conflict. Launch your impact business. Get paid to do good.

Pro gives you everything you need to learn faster, build smarter, and grow sustainably — with expert support, guided tools, and (Coming Soon) AI-powered peacebuilders by your side.

🔓 Upgrade to Pro to access every deliverable, download, tool, template, etc., and start turning your mission into impact and income.

“In the laboratory of innovation, concept development is our alchemy. We mix ideas, test hypotheses, and transform them into gold.”

- Unknown

🧪 Welcome to Step 3: Concept Development & Testing!

In this lesson, we continue the New Product Development (NPD) process by moving from ideas to tested concepts. You’ll learn how to refine your product or service into a clear, customer-focused concept — and validate it before investing significant time and resources.

We’ll explore how to create a User Experience Journey Map to visualize your customer’s purchasing journey and pinpoint key moments of pain, opportunity, and delight. You’ll also discover how to deepen your understanding of customer decision-making by:

• Running targeted surveys

• Building a Feature/Attribute Comparison List

• Conducting competitor analysis for your top three competitors

This holistic approach ensures you’re not just building a product — you’re designing a customer experience that maximizes perceived value and competitive advantage. Keep pushing forward, Peacebuilder — you’re on the brink of a breakthrough!

🧰Resources:

1. Use this interactive mind map as your visual notes! (Note: Best Viewed on Desktop)
   Right click the link below and open the AYOA mind map in a new tab or window — no account or login required. It’s safe, free to use, and designed to help you follow along and review key concepts. 
   1. M5 Public Mind Map: New Product Development (NPD)
2. User Story Map
   

   1. 🔒 Pro Exclusive

📌 Deliverables

1. Create or update your User Experience Journey Map.

   1. AI tools like ChatGPT can help you outline the steps before you refine them visually using a template (e.g., Uxpressia CJM Tool — optional, for layout inspiration).

2. Build a Feature/Attribute Comparison List for your product or service.

   1. Use survey research to identify your target audience’s top purchasing factors.

   2. Conduct a competitor analysis comparing your top three competitors on these factors.

💡 AI/Tool Tip: Use AI to draft survey questions, generate initial customer journey outlines, and compile competitor feature comparisons. This can save hours and give you a clearer starting point for refinement.

💫 From conflict to clarity. From purpose to profit. Accelerate your journey with Pro.

Unlock the full Peacebuilder Academy experience — designed to help you resolve conflict with confidence, launch your mission-driven business, and earn income doing what matters.
✅ Personalized course tracking & gamified learning
✅ AI-powered agent support (coming soon!)
✅ Proven frameworks, templates, and real-world use cases
✅ Group coaching & community to guide your growth

🔓 Upgrade to Pro and turn your peacebuilding vision into lasting, profitable change.

“There is only one winning strategy: It is to carefully define the target market and direct a superior offering to that target market.”

– Philip Kotler 

📣 Welcome to Step 4: Marketing Strategy Development!

Marketing is more than campaigns or tactics — it’s about understanding human desires, making strategic choices, and building genuine connections. In this lesson, we’ll take the audience insights you’ve gathered so far and apply them using the 4Ps of Marketing — Product, Price, Place, and Promotion — also known as the marketing mix.

By defining your marketing mix, you’ll uncover the factors that most influence your audience’s purchasing decisions. This clarity ensures your new product aligns with what your customers truly value while helping you save time, money, and energy by focusing resources where they’ll have the greatest impact.

Keep powering through, Peacebuilder — each step here sharpens your strategy and brings your product closer to launch.

🧰Resources:

1. Use this interactive mind map as your visual notes! (Note: Best Viewed on Desktop)
   Right click the link below and open the AYOA mind map in a new tab or window — no account or login required. It’s safe, free to use, and designed to help you follow along and review key concepts. 
   1. M5 Public Mind Map: New Product Development (NPD)

2. 4Ps of Marketing- Marketing Mix Worksheet

   1. 🔒 Pro Exclusive

📌 Deliverables

1.  Define your Marketing Mix by completing the 4Ps of Marketing for your product or service.

   1. Ensure each “P” aligns with your target audience’s values and your overall impact goals.

💡 AI/Tool Tip: Use AI tools like ChatGPT to brainstorm positioning statements, promotion ideas, and distribution channels for each of your 4Ps. Then refine with your own research to ensure accuracy and relevance.

💫 Resolve conflict. Launch your impact business. Get paid to do good.

Pro gives you everything you need to learn faster, build smarter, and grow sustainably — with expert support, guided tools, and (Coming Soon) AI-powered peacebuilders by your side.

🔓 Upgrade to Pro to access every deliverable, download, tool, template, etc., and start turning your mission into impact and income.

“Be stubborn on vision but flexible on details.”

– Jeff Bezos

📊 Welcome to Step 5: Business Analysis!

You’ve already built a strong foundation in business analysis back in Module 4 — now it’s time to go deeper. In this lesson, we’ll master financial model analysis, focusing on pro-forma analysis. This tool will help you turn your product idea (or any idea) into actionable financial projections.

You’ll learn how to calculate and interpret key ROI metrics, including Net Present Value (NPV) and Internal Rate of Return (IRR) — critical for evaluating a product’s financial viability and appeal.

This step also marks your entry into investor readiness. By the end of Module 5, you’ll be able to communicate your business proposition in financial terms that inspire confidence and attract investors, partners, and customers.

Take your time, Peacebuilder — this work lays the financial backbone of your impact-driven venture.

*Please note: We are currently addressing screen recording issues encountered from 18:14 - 26:34. 

🧰Resources:

1. Use this interactive mind map as your visual notes! (Note: Best Viewed on Desktop)
   Right click the link below and open the AYOA mind map in a new tab or window — no account or login required. It’s safe, free to use, and designed to help you follow along and review key concepts. 
   1. M5 Public Mind Map: New Product Development (NPD)

2. Affordable Housing Financial Model Example

   1. 🔒 Pro Exclusive

📌 Deliverables

1. Conduct a Pro-Forma Analysis for your product or service.

   1. Use your Module 4 startup budget as a starting point, adding projections for revenue, expenses, and ROI metrics.

   2. Apply the KISS principle — Keep it Simple, Silly! Refine as you gather more data.

💡 AI/Tool Tip: Use tools like ChatGPT or LiveFlow to help create and interpret your financial model quickly, then validate numbers with a trusted accountant or advisor.

💫 Resolve conflict. Launch your impact business. Get paid to do good.

Pro gives you everything you need to learn faster, build smarter, and grow sustainably — with expert support, guided tools, and (Coming Soon) AI-powered peacebuilders by your side.

🔓 Upgrade to Pro to access every deliverable, download, tool, template, etc., and start turning your mission into impact and income.

“No amount of tools can help a bad product. You have to remain genuine in your product development innovation and quality.”

— Kara Swisher

🛠️ Welcome to Step 6: Product Development!

By now, you’ve seen that product development is essentially project management in action — starting with an idea, analyzing its potential, breaking it into actionable tasks, estimating costs, and executing the plan.

At this stage of the 8-step New Product Development (NPD) process, you’ll likely be refining your project or company’s core documents and ensuring everything is aligned with your mission and market.

In this lesson, we’ll revisit the core principles of product development and the insights you’ve gained from earlier modules. This is your chance to update assumptions, refine your scope, and lock in the tasks that will deliver the greatest value to your customers and stakeholders.

Keep pushing forward, Peacebuilder — every refinement you make here brings you closer to launch and impact!

🧰Resources:

1. Use this interactive mind map as your visual notes! (Note: Best Viewed on Desktop)
   Right click the link below and open the AYOA mind map in a new tab or window — no account or login required. It’s safe, free to use, and designed to help you follow along and review key concepts. 
   1. M5 Public Mind Map: New Product Development (NPD)

2. Project Scope Statement, Canvas

   1. 🔒 Pro Exclusive

📌 Deliverables

1. Draft or update your Project Scope Statement (from Module 2), ensuring it reflects your current product vision, features, and constraints.

2. Break down development into clear, manageable tasks with timelines and responsible roles.

   1. Identify costs and resources needed for each task.

💡 AI/Tool Tip: Use ChatGPT, Trello, or AYOA to help break your scope into tasks, estimate time, and visualize your development roadmap.

💫 Resolve conflict. Launch your impact business. Get paid to do good.

Pro gives you everything you need to learn faster, build smarter, and grow sustainably — with expert support, guided tools, and (Coming Soon) AI-powered peacebuilders by your side.

🔓 Upgrade to Pro to access every deliverable, download, tool, template, etc., and start turning your mission into impact and income.

“The goal is to transform data into information, and information into insight.”

– Carly Fiorina

📊 Welcome to Step 7: Market Test

Market testing is where your idea steps out of theory and into the real world. This is your chance to measure how your target audience actually responds—turning raw data into actionable insights. Think of it as assembling a puzzle: each piece of feedback and data point shapes your strategy for what comes next.

In this lesson, we’ll build on the marketing principles from Modules 2–4 and layer in new, high-impact methods for audience engagement. You’ll design a focused market test—choosing the where, when, and how—and use it to gather data that will guide your next move: continue, adjust, or pivot.

By the end, you’ll have a practical plan rooted in the 4Ps of Marketing, market segmentation, and clear messaging that resonates with your ideal customer. Keep pushing forward, Peacebuilder—you’re now testing your vision against the real world and shaping it for maximum impact.

🧰Resources:

1. Use this interactive mind map as your visual notes! (Note: Best Viewed on Desktop)
   Right click the link below and open the AYOA mind map in a new tab or window — no account or login required. It’s safe, free to use, and designed to help you follow along and review key concepts. 
   1. M5 Public Mind Map: New Product Development (NPD)
2. Donald Miller's StoryBrand Brandscript
   1. storybrand.ai
3. 12-Word Offer Worksheet

   1. 🔒 Pro Exclusive

4. Market Segmentation Worksheet

   1. 🔒 Pro Exclusive

5. Key Success Factors by Product Archetype, Canvas

   1. 🔒 Pro Exclusive

6. Marketing Strategy Worksheet
   1. 🔒 Pro Exclusive

       

📌 Deliverables

1. Draft your StoryBrand Brandscript for clear, customer-focused messaging.

2. Conduct Market Segmentation Analysis

   1. Use the Market Segmentation Worksheet to help you identify your marketing STP (Segmentation, Targeting, Positioning).

3. Complete a Marketing Strategy Worksheet for your product, mapping your market test details.

💡 AI/Tool Tip: Accelerate your market testing with AI and no-code tools. Use ChatGPT to refine messaging, develop survey questions, and interpret results. Try Lovable, Kajabi, or similar platforms to create landing pages and gather sign-ups for validation—fast.

💫 Resolve conflict. Launch your impact business. Get paid to do good.

Pro gives you everything you need to learn faster, build smarter, and grow sustainably — with expert support, guided tools, and (Coming Soon) AI-powered peacebuilders by your side.

🔓 Upgrade to Pro to access every deliverable, download, tool, template, etc., and start turning your mission into impact and income.

“A design isn’t finished until someone is using it.”

- Brenda Laurel

🚀 Welcome to Step 8: Commercialization

Congratulations, Peacebuilder—you’ve reached the final step of the New Product Development (NPD) process! This is where your hard work takes flight, moving from concept to a fully launched product in the market.

In this lesson, we’ll cover the full scope of commercialization—from introducing your product to customers, to managing the logistics of delivery, to ensuring a smooth, successful rollout. You’ll also learn how to craft a pitch deck that captures attention, communicates your value, and meets investor expectations.

In the next lesson, we’ll analyze three real-world pitch decks, breaking down what works, what doesn’t, and how to present your ideas in a way that inspires confidence. You’ll also gain the ability to assess opportunities through an investor’s lens—an invaluable skill whether you’re seeking funding, partnerships, or team members.

By the end, you’ll have the tools to confidently launch your product and pitch your vision with clarity, impact, and purpose. Keep going, Peacebuilder—you’re ready to make your mark!

🧰Resources:

1. Use this interactive mind map as your visual notes! (Note: Best Viewed on Desktop)
   Right click the link below and open the AYOA mind map in a new tab or window — no account or login required. It’s safe, free to use, and designed to help you follow along and review key concepts. 
   1. M5 Public Mind Map: New Product Development (NPD)

📌 Deliverables

1. Outline your commercialization plan (launch strategy, logistics, distribution).

💡 AI/Tool Tip: Speed up your commercialization plan by using ChatGPT to outline your launch strategy, logistics steps, and distribution channels. For a visual roadmap, try tools like AYOA or Miro to map out timelines and workflows.

💫 From conflict to clarity. From purpose to profit. Accelerate your journey with Pro.

Unlock the full Peacebuilder Academy experience — designed to help you resolve conflict with confidence, launch your mission-driven business, and earn income doing what matters.
✅ Personalized course tracking & gamified learning
✅ AI-powered agent support (coming soon!)
✅ Proven frameworks, templates, and real-world use cases
✅ Group coaching & community to guide your growth

🔓 Upgrade to Pro and turn your peacebuilding vision into lasting, profitable change.

"A pitch deck isn’t a linear template; it’s a canvas for your company’s story. Think about your narrative before building the deck. Let your story guide the direction of your pitch."

- Kristian Andersen

🎯 Welcome to Fundraising — Pitch Decks & Investor Pitches 

Peacebuilder, it’s time to step into the spotlight and share your vision with the world. In this lesson, we’ll take a deep dive into three real-world pitch decks, each designed for a different purpose and audience:

• Nonprofit Donor Pitch → inspiring trust and securing mission-driven funding.

• Impact-Driven For-Profit Pitch (UrbaGro Case Study) → balancing profitability with purpose.

• Social Enterprise Pitch (Grassroot Peacebuilders Example) → framing community impact in a compelling business case.

By breaking down these examples, you’ll learn the critical components of a persuasive pitch, see how to adapt your narrative for donors, investors, and partners, and sharpen your ability to evaluate opportunities through an investor’s lens.

By the end of this lesson, you’ll not only understand what makes a pitch stand out—you’ll have templates you can adapt and the skills to ensure your deck evolves alongside your business vision.

🧰Resources:

1. Use this interactive mind map as your visual notes! (Note: Best Viewed on Desktop)
   Right click the link below and open the AYOA mind map in a new tab or window — no account or login required. It’s safe, free to use, and designed to help you follow along and review key concepts. 
   1. M5 Public Mind Map: New Product Development (NPD)
2. AI Pitch Deck Creator
   
   1. Beautiful.AI
3. Sample Read Me Pitch Deck with Instructions
   1. 🔒 Pro Exclusive
4. Nonprofit Organization (NPO) Pitch Deck Example
   1. 🔒 Pro Exclusive
5. UrbaGro Pitch Deck Example
   1. 🔒 Pro Exclusive
6. Investment Summary Example
   1. 🔒 Pro Exclusive

📌 Deliverables

1. Create your own 12-slide pitch deck tailored to your chosen audience.

2. Conduct your first pitch — to any group, in any setting.

   1. Focus on clarity, authenticity, and connection.

   2.  Adjust, pivot, and refine as you receive feedback.  

💡 AI/Tool Tip: Speed up your pitch deck creation with Beautiful.AI for smart, consistent slide design, and ChatGPT to draft clear talking points tailored to your audience.

💫 Resolve conflict. Launch your impact business. Get paid to do good.

Pro gives you everything you need to learn faster, build smarter, and grow sustainably — with expert support, guided tools, and (Coming Soon) AI-powered peacebuilders by your side.

🔓 Upgrade to Pro to access every deliverable, download, tool, template, etc., and start turning your mission into impact and income.

"The purpose of an elevator pitch is to describe a situation or solution so compelling that the person you're with wants to hear more even after the elevator ride is over."

- Seth Godin

🚀 Welcome to Lesson 12: Elevator Pitches & Lead Generation

It’s time to master one of the most important skills in sales and commercialization—capturing attention fast and turning it into opportunity.

In this two-part lesson, we’ll start with elevator pitches, learning how to distill your mission, product, or service into a short, compelling statement that opens doors. Then, we’ll take our first steps into sales funnels by focusing on lead generation—identifying and connecting with qualified prospects.

You’ll learn the MEPSS Framework (Marketing, Enrolling, Products, Systems, Self-Mastery), how to create effective Outreach Statements (ORSs), and how to apply consultative selling to make every conversation meaningful, moving prospects closer to their goals while creating win-win outcomes.

While a full sales module is coming soon, this lesson gives you the tools to simplify sales, stay authentic, and start generating momentum today.

*Please Note: We're addressing sync issues in the screen recorder between 03:30 - 20:55 and appreciate your patience. Please use the M5 and Elevator Pitch Mind Maps to follow along.

🧰Resources:

1. Use these interactive mind maps as your visual notes! (Note: Best Viewed on Desktop)
   Right click the links below and open the AYOA mind map in a new tab or window — no account or login required. It’s safe, free to use, and designed to help you follow along and review key concepts. 
   1. M5 Public Mind Map: New Product Development (NPD)
   2. Elevator Pitch, Mind Map
2. Elevator Statement Worksheet
   1. 🔒 Pro Exclusive
3. Elevator Pitch Worksheet
   1. 🔒 Pro Exclusive 
4. Outreach Statement (ORS) Invitation Example
   1. 🔒 Pro Exclusive
5. Welcome to "x" Group Example
   1. 🔒 Pro Exclusive 

📌 Deliverables

1. Create or Update your Elevator Pitch so it’s short, powerful, and impossible to forget.

2. Put it to work — connect with at least 3 qualified leads using your own Outreach Statement (ORS) and start real conversations.

💡 AI/Tool Tip: Draft and refine your elevator pitch with ChatGPT to ensure it’s clear, concise, and audience-focused. Use Beautiful.AI to turn it into a quick visual slide for presentations or networking events.

💫 Resolve conflict. Launch your impact business. Get paid to do good.

Pro gives you everything you need to learn faster, build smarter, and grow sustainably — with expert support, guided tools, and (Coming Soon) AI-powered peacebuilders by your side.

🔓 Upgrade to Pro to access every deliverable, download, tool, template, etc., and start turning your mission into impact and income.

“Every sale has five basic obstacles: no need, no money, no hurry, no desire, no trust.”

- Zig Ziglar

🏷️💲 Welcome to an Introduction to Sales — Lead Nurturing & Closing

You’ve made your first connections—now it’s time to turn interest into action. In part 2 of this lesson, we’ll focus on guiding prospects through the final stages of the sales funnel: nurturing leads and closing the deal.

You’ll learn how to recognize and overcome the five core obstacles to a sale:

1. No need

2. No money

3. No urgency

4. No desire for transformation

5. No trust or rapport

We’ll break down practical strategies for addressing each challenge, so you can build trust, communicate value, and inspire commitment. You’ll also explore two powerful tools:

• The 10-Minute Clarity Call — a quick, targeted conversation to uncover needs and set next steps.

• The 1-Hour Consultation — a deeper, structured session designed to create buy-in and move toward a decision.

Through scripts, examples, and real-world lead nurturing techniques, you’ll see how to adapt your approach for both live and virtual settings—keeping prospects engaged and moving forward.

By the end of this lesson, you’ll be equipped to confidently guide conversations toward a yes—turning potential into partnership and impact into income.

🧰Resources:

1. Use this interactive mind map as your visual notes! (Note: Best Viewed on Desktop)
   Right click the link below and open the AYOA mind map in a new tab or window — no account or login required. It’s safe, free to use, and designed to help you follow along and review key concepts. 
   1. M5 Public Mind Map: New Product Development (NPD)
2. 10 Minute Clarity Call Script
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3. 1-hour Business Consultation Call Script
   1. 🔒 Pro Exclusive 

📌 Deliverables

1. Write your own 10-Minute Clarity Call Script tailored to your audience.

2. Create a 1-Hour Consultation Script to guide deeper sales conversations.

3. Reconnect with the 3 leads from Lesson 12, nurture the relationship, and invite them onto a call to practice your scripts.

   1. Adapt and refine based on feedback—practice makes progress.

💡 AI/Tool Tip: Use ChatGPT to build your sales scripts and/or role-play your clarity and consultation calls. Simulate different lead personalities, objections, and scenarios so you can refine your responses before going live.

💫 Resolve conflict. Launch your impact business. Get paid to do good.

Pro gives you everything you need to learn faster, build smarter, and grow sustainably — with expert support, guided tools, and (Coming Soon) AI-powered peacebuilders by your side.

🔓 Upgrade to Pro to access every deliverable, download, tool, template, etc., and start turning your mission into impact and income.

“The greatest risk is not development of a new product, but development of customers and markets.”

- Steve Blank

🎉 Welcome to Lesson 14: Module 5 Review & Key Deliverables

Congratulations, Peacebuilder! You’ve reached a major milestone in your journey. By showing up, doing the work, engaging with real people, and refining your project, product, or business, you’ve made the leap from concept to execution.

In this final lesson of Module 5: New Product Development, we’ll conduct an In-Progress Review (IPR) and revisit your key deliverables. This is your moment to take stock of your progress, update your work with new insights, and see how far you’ve come.

You’ve mastered how to transform ideas into impact, influence, and income—equipping yourself with practical project management tools and lean business planning strategies. You’ve stepped into the role of a modern impact entrepreneur, embodying the Peacebuilder ethos of doing good and making good money.

Take this moment to celebrate your growth and remember: the ripple effect begins with you. If each of us trains one more Peacebuilder and launches one more project, we can change the world—one person, one problem, and one solution at a time.

🧰Resources:

1. Use this interactive mind map as your visual notes! (Note: Best Viewed on Desktop)
   Right click the link below and open the AYOA mind map in a new tab or window — no account or login required. It’s safe, free to use, and designed to help you follow along and review key concepts. 
   1. M5 Public Mind Map: New Product Development (NPD)

📌M5 Key Deliverables Checklist (Update with any new insights you’ve gained):

1. Create/update your Customer Persona.

2. Conduct Survey Research to refine your understanding of your target customer.

   1. Recommended: 5 long-form interviews and 75–100 surveys (via Google Forms, social media polls, or your network).

3. Select your Marketing Mix (4Ps) based on your survey data.

4. Create/update your Product Box.

5. Create/update your Customer Journey/Experience Map.

6. Create/update your 12-Word Offer.

7. Create/update your Elevator Pitch.

8. Create/update your Sales Funnel.

9. Launch & Sell your product or service!

💡 AI/Tool Tip: Use ChatGPT to audit your M5 deliverables. Ask for clarity checks, suggestions for improvement, or creative ideas to refine each element—especially your Customer Persona, 12-Word Offer, and Elevator Pitch.

💫 From conflict to clarity. From purpose to profit. Accelerate your journey with Pro.

Unlock the full Peacebuilder Academy experience — designed to help you resolve conflict with confidence, launch your mission-driven business, and earn income doing what matters.
✅ Personalized course tracking & gamified learning
✅ AI-powered agent support (coming soon!)
✅ Proven frameworks, templates, and real-world use cases
✅ Group coaching & community to guide your growth

🔓 Upgrade to Pro and turn your peacebuilding vision into lasting, profitable change.