Weekly assignments 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5

We have been talking here a lot about the progress of our project and other things related to it, but one thing has been left without significant attention. They come once in a week and practically leads the way how to construct our idea to its final form. Yes, we are talking about our weekly assignments!

As soon as we attended in this program we got our first assignments. There have been already 5 assignments, one for each week and they are handled us during the weekly webinars on wednesdays (deadline is always on mondays, which is quite strict).

As stated in the first paragraph, the assignments are something that have been the tool to create and construct our ideas to the final product. The first kickoff-assignment kicked us straight to the point, we had to create 3 ideas each related to  E-commerce, advertising and ecosystem enhancement and write down problem hypothesis and riskiest assumption for each of those ideas. On the second assignment we had to consider the questions what is it, who is going to use it and why will it be used?

The second assignment cleared up the first, and we were able to refine our ideas after getting examples of good problem hypothesis and problem hypothesis which would need improvement.

At this point we worked as individuals, but in the third assignment we had to choose our best idea and make the first quick pitch for promoting it. The selection was not easy, because we had two good ideas and we could not make our minds which one would be “the one”. The competition was between Anttis “V-teach” and Jasmins “Life cycle assesment” and if you have read the previous posts, you might know whose idea won (SPOILER: Jazzy).

After we choose our final idea we had to think the MVP in assignment 4. This was simply just testing the behavior of the potential user and thinking of its value proposition, but on the other hand we had to create a prototype of our idea. So we made the first version of our website, which was also a really raw version... but the development is in progress.

Now the situation is that we got the idea, got it tested and even created a prototype of it. But one of the most interesting and quite crucial thing was considered in assignment 5: MONEY! So we had to think how we get our income and what is our cost structure.

NSP equals NO SLIDE PITCHING

BOOM! that was A   S - H - O - W! It was LEGEN- (don’t need to wait for it ‘cause the pitch was 2 minutes long)-DARY! Jasmin just rocked out on the stage. Now that you know what was the outcome, here’s a little story of how we got there.

J & J getting ready for sparring the pitch

All started a week and something ago, with a good ol’ traditional Rock-paper-scissors tournament about who will get the honour of pitching our idea. Jasmin beat Antti right there on the first round. And it was left between Janne and Jasmin. After the exciting final between Janne and Jasmin, Janne was able to break Jasmin’s scissors with the stone-cold rock. Well days went by, and about 5 days ago we started to actually prepare for the SHOW. We went and did something as a bit of an extravagant move, just to stand out and to be remembered. So we came up with a nice, simple flyer with our product name, and our landing page address.

Plan A

Antti is doing some managerial stuff

Two days before the act, we started to practice intensely. It started bit slowly but in the end of the day we were quite confident. We had trained Janne with methods not even Rocky Balboa had. We would still have two days anyways to make our show great. We should have had two days, BUT…. Someone not mentioning any names (Antti) doesn’t believe in having calendar, but is quite a charismatic/dominative nature, so no one is correcting that the pitch really is on thursday.  It was not.  Actually, Jasmin tried to tell the boys, but as she had a lot on her mind, and thought that the supposedly and self-proclaimed more “organized” unnamed team member (Antti) was on schedule. The Pitch was on Wednesday. So we had to pitch one day earlier than thought, due to confusion. No problem! We will have the whole day to figure this out, we have more than enough time. But there was another thing coming, that no one could foresee. Our pitcher (Janne) woke up with no voice. (NOOOO!)

Keep calm and #yolouluswag, so it was quickly decided that Jasmin would vouch in, and she got the honour of pitching our presentation. You would assume that she would get pretty nervous, but Antti sure was more nervous for her and especially for our T - E - A - M. She did get nervous in the end, after the multiple “we are gonna die”-scenes that Antti so kindly provided her with. One of them involving mental instability, one with clothing malfunctions, ranging all the way to natural disasters in the form of earthquakes. But we had a few hours to practice. We got so desperate that we even asked some strangers to watch the pitch, in order to get some outsider perspective and feedback. That was proven to be a good way to ensure that our message is clear enough and easy to understand. Some more practice, suiting up and then it was time to get on stage. In my opinion I think it went smoothly, and we were among the clearest pitches there was.

In conclusion, we let you decide for yourself. Here's a video of the pitch.

Getting a Hang of It (About time..)

This has been an ultimately busy week containing ups and downs and all ranges of emotions. The most important thing is that we got our project back on track, and it can be said that we have been working more intensively than ever before.

The HUGE "to-do" list

The unexpected shock was at this week webinar where we noticed that our idea was rated as “out of scope”. That was a real bomb!! It got us to stop on our tracks and re-think our idea over. We also managed to make it more clear to the whole team of what exactly should we be looking at and from what perspective, and where should it evolve to. Again we contacted Sandra who gave us some great advice. After the last Skype call we had a more clarified vision about how we shall continue.

The validation canvas

Janne taking a closer look

Post-its, Post-its, Post-its

The action took place right away and we decided the final form of our product. We also started to develop a prototype of a website to our product and the first version was ready by the same day. We ended up forming an MVP, which can be seen in:

http://yolouluswag.wix.com/fair-labels

We also formed a questionnaire, which is currently available:


https://docs.google.com/forms/d/122EKQ5m80ONg0Xlko9KMWVMPRIQDzsn850Zyl2Nx-I4/viewform

Go and take a look! :)

And at the end of friday we received an email which stated that our idea is in scope! That was a huge relief and the greatest thing is that for now on we can fully concentrate fully on our idea developement. 

THE e-mail

Time to rest..

Getting back on track

Last week and half our team have been bit lost with our project, but still there is some progress to report. We decided to focus on one idea that we think is our strongest: project name "life cycle assessment". We have also been able to clarify some aspects about this. Some practicalities such as playbook (project plan that is) and contract issues has been taken care off. We have been able to fulfill given assignments on time and just today had meeting with Sandra via skype. So things could definitely be worse.

"This needs some serious action..." 

Still there is room for improvement. We haven't been able to but as much working hours to our project as we did earlier weeks. Just two days ago we were able to do our first questionnaires and publish them. Also creating a minimum viable product has been somewhat painful so far.

...And the action took place

There is sight of light at the end of the tunnel though. First of all we still have time. Almost one month before first elimination round is done and the 10 best ideas chosen. Pressure is rising steadily, but no panic, not yet at least! Second good sign is that after yesterday’s webinar and skype call with our mentor Sandra, we have been able to but some things together.  We now have much better vision about doing tests and using and creating minimum viable products (MVPs) than we did  before. Third and the most important thing is that we are getting our spirit back. No time to be grumpy and feel sorry for ourselves, now it's time to start some S E R I O U S   A C T I O N and raise stakes, if we are going get Amsterdam to win this thing.

Our goal is clear and we have chosen our best project. If the witch of our team doesn't put us into an oven too soon I think we have a really good shot of making it.

Working can be sometimes quite tiring

"You should now move your focus on your teamwork rather than other amusements. Regards: Your bank card"

Our team mascot

As all excellent teams, we also have a mascot. It is a gorilla, which we infamously named Late. He’s a celebrity himself. Late helps us with our assignments, and provides us safety and support. He always roots for us, and keeps our meetings on track.

Late not happy with us discovering his hidden banana

Late's hidden banana

At the same time however, apes are the most innovative animals on the planet and come up with many creative ways to entertain each other and find shelter and nutrition for themselves. Our team including late, is dedicated to eating everything edible in sight.

Our team's boost = tea

Then, a little bit about our team habits. We like to drink a lot of tea while we muse upon great ideas. We calculated to have drank already 500 cups of tea whilst working on this project. Our main interaction happens through face-to-face communication, and hence we have created a secret greeting between the team members. Other outlets of communication include skype and watsapp. The usage of watsapp has been detrimental for the functioning of our ideas, and watsapp has been “ringing off the hook”.

Late's sleeping tree

In the Business Kitchen, the Demola space in Oulu, we have conquered an office room for ourselves. The truth of the matter is no one else has been in the room so far, hence the conquering…

Besides all happy games, we have had some major philosophical conflicts within our team. The conflict has evolved around one subject mainly, whether life beyond this project should affect our teamwork. Antti strongly believes that our lives beyond the accelerator programme should not affect our teamwork. He believes school comes second, whilst Jasmin believes that it’s the other way round. Janne falls in between, what ever that may be? We do think this needs urgently to be solved, and we think a sword tournament is the way to go. Pictures to be posted by Janne, if he survives.

  

Late displaying some SWAG 

Late watching over our ideas

We also have created a couple of “inside” jokes. The inside jokes mainly deal with Jasmin being the only woman in our team. Within the team we have accused her of sorcery, as she continues to fatten us up by buying or baking sweets.

Sometimes it gets pretty exhausting..

Sanoma Accelerator Programme and Demola

We have explained how we came across this project, and how we were united as a team. Now it's time to really explain what the project is. As mentioned before the project is Sanoma Commerce Accelerator Programme. It is the third Accelerator programme and it's function is to innovate. 

One of the first meetings

This is the very first time that students alongside the staff of Sanoma is able to participate and innovate along each other. We are also competing against each other, which makes the programme intriguing. So far the competition has been civilized, as we hope it will continue to be, but we believe that all participants have a dream. That dream is Amsterdam. Actually it’s more like the dream that Jasmin had about one month ago, but we’ll stick with that.

Watching webinars together 

The Accelerator Programme is held through webinars, which are live and recorded in Amsterdam. Other tools that we have in this programme includes the ideation platform, which is a safe environment for our ideas. It is also referred to as the “central nervous system” of the programme, reflecting its’ importance.

All about the "TO DO"lists

 The programme has over 262 registered participants, of which 68% are Sanoma staff, and 32% are students. The programme's schedule is pretty intense, and we have had to dedicate most of our weekly afternoons for this project. We have met as a team almost everyday. Sometimes our meetings are fully casual more about the bonding as a team, whilst other times we are all business. Every week we are handed an assignment, which ranges in it’s scope. 

The whole programme has three categories in which we are innovating. The three categories are; e-commerce, advertising and ecosystem enhancement. E- commerce focuses on the new and improved ways of buying and selling online. Advertising concerns new or more efficient ways of converting our reach to advertising revenue. And ecosystem enhancement aims to push technical innovations that can improve the results of business operations. 

Janne still musing on ideas

Janne musing on great ideas

Demola is a facilitator and serves to help and support us in our team work thorughout the programme. Demola also gives access to the premises in which we are free to innovate. Demola works as a bridge between students and companies enabling companies to utilize young students and their creative minds to both of their benefit. The students get new experiences, develop new concepts for products and services and learn how innovation functions in a company. Also we as students, get practical experience of how things work in different scale companies. The function of demola is to "produce demos, innovation skills, entrepreneurship culture and activates university-business collaboration".

We have many mentors.we have yet to fully exploit their potential but will be doing so shortly. (READ: we have not made any contact from our side to our mentors.. )

If you are still interested in Sanoma Accelerator Programme, check out this link to the previous Content Accelerator Programme

http://www.sanoma.com/en/news/sanoma-builds-start-development-approach-content-accelerator-programme

http://johnrichardmartin.com/2013/09/20/enabling-commerce-through-open-innovation-the-commerceaccelerator/

If you are interested in Demola, check out:

http://oulu.demola.net/project/sanoma-accelerator

Or contact one of us:

yolouluswag@gmail.com