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The Capstone

What every student team completes

The Capstone is the finishing work of a Capital Forge League season. Each six-person team files the plan, the numbers, the research, what it built and its pitch, then presents it on Game Day. It is the part of the curriculum where a team shows what it actually learned, and it is scored so that anyone can see how deep the work goes.

What a team files

Seven parts carry points, out of 100. A part that has not been filed earns nothing, so a team can see exactly what it is missing.

PartWhat it isPoints
Executive summaryOne or two pages: the problem, what the team built, who it is for.12
Business planHow the venture would work: customers, costs, how it earns, the milestones.14
Financial projectionsThe numbers behind the plan, forward-looking and marked as estimates, with the assumptions written down.12
Financial statementsWhat the team has actually spent and received so far: a simple balance sheet, income and cash statement. Say whether anyone checked them.8
Market researchWho the customers are and what the team learned from talking to them.8
Prototype or productA demo, a specification or test results of what was built.8
Presentation deckThe slides the team presents on Game Day.9
Pitch videoThe recorded pitch, up to three videos. Rated from its transcript.10
PhotosUp to ten pictures of the team, the work and the product, each with a caption.3
Formation papersArticles of incorporation or organization, and any state filings, if the team formed a company (Florida Formation Weekend).6
Patents and trademarksGranted patents, pending applications and registered marks, with their numbers, or a clear statement that there are none yet and why.6
Use of fundsIf the team won a grant, a prize or in-kind support, how it would be spent, line by line. Education only: not money raised from anyone.4

Teams also file donor brief and protocol or lab notes. These are kept on record and read by instructors but carry no points.

How it is scored

  1. Every document is read and rated from 0 to 10. An AI reader rates how complete, clear, consistent and honest the document is for its type. It is told never to invent facts about the team, and estimates must be labelled as estimates.
  2. A document that is filed but not yet rated counts for 60% of its points. Once it is rated, the part earns its points times the rating divided by 10. If a team files a better version, the best rating counts, so a first draft never holds a team back.
  3. The pitch is rated from its transcript on seven things: the problem and customer, what the team built, evidence and testing, how it would work, team and roles, what the team learned, and delivery and clarity. The rating comes with what went wrong and what to do differently next time.
  4. The team sees exactly what to fix. Each rating lists strengths, gaps and specific changes, and the score shows how many points each gap costs.

Everything is education. The readers judge the work as coursework. Nothing here is an offering, and no team asks for money or offers shares.

Who can file, and who can read

  • Only a team's captain, an admin, a super admin or a referee can upload, rate or take a document out of view.
  • Registered participants and donors who are signed in can open every document a team has filed.
  • Every time someone outside the team opens a document, it is written to a permanent record, and the CFL team is emailed each hour with who opened what.
  • Nothing is ever deleted. A document taken out of view is kept on file and an admin can put it back.

The teams

Open a team's Capstone room to see its documents and how far along it is. You will be asked to sign in with a participant or donor account to open the files themselves.

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