Corporate training business simulation
For your team: five people, one desk each, run Northwind Systems quarter by quarter for four years against four rivals that play to win.
A leadership away-day: five desks, one company, real trade-offs. This one opens as Northwind Systems: A management team runs a mid-sized software company together for a training day, desk by desk. Rename it, reprice it, or describe the market you want and let Nova rewrite it to fit.
What a steady team ends up with
Played steadily for all four years — quality first, then growth, a fair share of the bank spent each year — a steady team ends with 16% of the market, finishing #3 of 10, on $28.2m of revenue in the last year.
The team inherits it as it stands today: 8,300 accounts, 100 staff and $4m in the bank.
People who play it well do better, and a bad plan runs out of money.
Revenue in the last year: $28.2m
Profit in the last year: $4.5m
Accounts at the end: 11,000
Share of the market: From nothing to 16%
Where it finishes: #3 of 10
Years and decisions: 4 years, quarterly
What you'll decide each quarter
Each quarter you price the licence, choose between building features and making it reliable, hire the people who sell and support it, and decide whether to raise money or borrow it.
Each decision shows on a forecast before you file it, and every period resolves against the rivals and the economy.
Who your accounts are
Software is sold licence by licence and lost through churn: a cheap plan fills the top of the funnel, but the accounts that stay and grow are what pay for the company.
60,000 accounts in all, across United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Canada and Australia.
Small teams: A few people, a card on file, and no patience for a sales call. About 33,000 of them, worth $1.2k a year each.
Growing companies: They will pay for something that works and an answer when it does not. About 18,000 of them, worth $3.1k a year each.
Enterprises: Procurement, a security review and the deepest pockets in the market. About 4,200 of them, worth $14k a year each.
Odd ones out: People using spreadsheets or a tool built for something else, because nothing fits. About 4,800 of them, worth $1.9k a year each.
Who you're up against
Four rivals are already in it, and they play to win: they cut prices, spend on marketing and answer what you do. Most of the market is theirs on day one.
The incumbent suite: The biggest, and slow to change — it has stopped listening to its smaller customers. Holds about 32% of the market.
The cheap self-serve tool: Wins on price and little else; its customers leave the moment somebody is better. Holds about 18% of the market.
The well-funded newcomer: Clever and quick, but stretched thin and hard to get hold of. Holds about 10% of the market.
A feature inside something bigger: Hasn't changed in years and is living off the customers it already has. Holds about 10% of the market.
How it works
Free until you start: building and previewing cost nothing, and starting is $10, once.
Build it — free: Press build and you get your own copy of this market: four kinds of account, four rivals and five markets.
Make it yours: Change any number, describe the market you want in a sentence or two and let Nova fill it in, or upload a profit and loss or a month-by-month sales history to fit it to your real figures.
Preview — free: See what a steady team ends up with, and every warning worth reading, before you pay anything.
Start — $10: Pay once to start, your seat included; everyone else at the table is $1 a seat. Then run it quarter by quarter for four years.
Also for
training · leadership · away day · workshop · l&d · management · offsite
How much does the corporate training business simulation cost?
Building and previewing are free: make your own copy of this market, change anything in it and see what a steady team ends up with without paying. Starting the simulation is $10, once, and your own seat is included; everyone else at the table is $1 a seat.
Can I change the market for my team?
Yes. Every number can be changed — the accounts and what they pay, the rivals, the markets, the costs and the starting cash. Or describe the market you want in a sentence or two and Nova, SparkTower's AI, fills every section in for one Nova action. To play a real company's numbers, upload its profit and loss or a month-by-month sales history and the simulation is fitted to them.
Is it a fair contest for a team?
It is tuned to be one: played steadily, a team should end with between 5% and 40% of the market — enough to be a real business, not so much that one ordinary plan walks away with it. This one's preview comes to about 16%. Teams that read the market well do better.
Can my team play it together?
Yes — it is set up for a table of five, one desk each: chief executive, marketing, finance, product and operations. Starting it gives you a link to invite the other four, and every quarter their decisions land together. A bigger group starts one simulation per table of five.
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