Live

The Boardroom

Integrated Business Strategy — 4-role C-Suite Team

About This Simulation

The Boardroom is Vanguard SIM's hero business simulation. Teams of 4 take distinct C-suite roles (CEO strategy, CFO cash + pricing, CMO growth + brand, COO inventory + suppliers) and operate a DTC brand — skincare, snacks, apparel, or pet products — for 25 sim-days across 5 weeks. Every sim-day equals one business week. Each role submits daily decisions in their functional dashboard; a nightly engine reconciles pricing, inventory, ad spend, competitor moves, brand equity, and a fixed 3-competitor market to produce the next morning's P&L. Teams communicate through a built-in Slack-style chat. Company value at end (12× TTM EBITDA + cash + inventory + brand − debt) sets the leaderboard. Depth over cleverness; better than Capsim on visuals, interactivity, and team-role realism.

Learning Objectives

  • Play a distinct C-suite role and own its decisions end-to-end
  • Coordinate cross-functional strategy under daily pressure
  • Read a daily P&L and translate metrics into next-day levers
  • Balance short-term cash discipline against long-term brand equity
  • Manage inventory, pricing, and marketing as interdependent systems
  • Compete against AI competitors AND other student teams in a live market
  • Communicate + negotiate across roles using in-sim team chat

Week-by-Week Overview

1

Week 1: Foundation

Pick brand positioning (mass/premium/niche), select starter SKUs, set launch prices. Team pitch submitted at week end.

2

Week 2: Launch

First 5 sim-days of live operations. Learn the daily rhythm. Real P&L, real competitors, real inventory pressure.

3

Week 3: Optimize

Data starts to tell a story. CMO tunes channel mix; COO negotiates suppliers; CFO revisits pricing. First market event fires.

4

Week 4: Scale

Fundraising unlocks. Hiring decisions. Competitor pressure intensifies. Some teams stall; leaders start to pull away.

5

Week 5: Endgame

Final stretch. Company value crystallizes. Leaderboard ranks the class. Capstone: team presents to the class as if pitching Sharks.

Ready to Play?

Log in to start playing with your team. Make strategic decisions and compete on the leaderboard.