Skip to main content
FLC
Start Learning

Lesson plan · Understanding Businesses · Lesson 7

Business Models

Subscriptions, marketplaces, advertising, licensing, and more.

  • 45 minutes
  • Grades 9–12
  • Intermediate
  • Activity: small groups
Present slidesWorksheet + keyStudent lesson

Objectives

Students will be able to:

  • Define a business model
  • Compare subscription, marketplace, advertising, licensing, and one-time sale models
  • Identify the key risk in each model

Materials

  • Slide deck and a projector
  • Worksheet (one per student)
  • Exit ticket slips (bottom of the worksheet)

45-minute agenda

  1. 0–5 min

    Warm-up

    Post: “Name three apps you use for free. How do you think each one makes money?”

    Teacher note: Most rely on advertising, subscriptions for extra features, or taking a cut of sales.

  2. 5–17 min

    Direct instruction

    Present the lesson slides. Make sure students leave with these points:

    • Business model = how a company makes money.
    • Subscriptions → watch cancellations. Marketplaces → need both sides.
    • Advertising → you're the audience being sold.
    • Same product, different model, different risks.

    Use the “See it” slide (Common business models) to make the idea visual.

  3. 17–22 min

    Worked example

    Walk through “Three ways to sell music” on the slides. Pause before the result and ask students to predict it.

  4. 22–32 min

    Model Match

    Format: small groups · 10 minutes

    1. Give groups eight business cards: a video streaming service, a ride-share app, a free social media app, a video game sold once, a music publisher earning from songs used in ads, a gym membership, an online marketplace for used clothes, a printer company that sells ink.
    2. Groups name each business model and the biggest risk for it.
    3. Each group presents one card and the class challenges or agrees.

    What to look for: Streaming and gym: subscription (cancellations). Ride-share and used clothes: marketplace (needs both sides). Social media: advertising (users and advertisers leaving). Video game: one-time sale (needs new hits). Music: licensing. Printer and ink: sell the device, profit on refills.

  5. 32–37 min

    Check for understanding

    Use the question slides — or run them as a Four Corners game. Answers:

    1. What business model is this? — A. Marketplace
    2. What model is this? — D. Razor and blades
    3. For a subscription business, keeping existing customers is usually just as important as finding new ones. — True
  6. 37–42 min

    Discussion

    • Pick an app you use for free. How does it make money?
    • Would you start a subscription business or a marketplace? Why?
  7. 42–45 min

    Exit ticket

    Prompt: What is a business model?

    Answer: How a company makes money — who pays, for what, and how often.

Differentiation

Common misconception

“If an app is free, nobody is paying.” Usually advertisers or premium users are paying — and the free users' attention is what's sold.

Support

Post a reference chart with each model and a one-line definition.

Extension

Pick one business and describe how it could switch to a different model. What would change about its risks?

Homework or make-up work

Students can complete the full interactive lesson — including its knowledge check — at learnwithflc.org/courses/understanding-businesses/business-models. No account needed; progress saves on their device.