Quiver: Internal & external
During the week we got a class concerning SMEs and Family Businesses where we got new insights and examples concerning clusters. It made us realize that we should connect the sports more. At the time we were always persuaded we should isolate each sport from one another to keep a clear overview for each sport-enthusiast. After thinking about the specific clusters we find our business to be in, we can see various connections within the research of each sport. We realized we still need to explore our ecosystem even more and try to find as many connections as possible within this system. This will expose new possibilities and possible advantages. geographical groups of interconnected companies are what we are looking for, and then specifically in Barcelona since this is the location where we will launch the MVP. The knowledge of our surroundings and direct connections will be very helpful as well when we’re thinking about- and building our corporate culture.
The feedback of our presentation and the class concerning corporate cultures made us realize how important it will be to make Quiver more personal for the users. The goals of this aspect are to gain trust, sustainability and uniqueness. We will continue this line of thinking all the way true to hiring and negotiating with developers, influencers, investors, … Another reason why we want to give extra attention to this is that we believe one of the key aspects of the many examples we got in the class concerning corporate culture is the common thinking. Creating a well-fitting culture, in the beginning, will make it easier to find like-minded partners who share the same values and will result in a better collaboration.
Networking
What we also thought about, during the past week, the importance of networking. Although we thought about what kind of people we would need to launch our MVP, we didn’t think about how to approach them. We composed our needs and expectations of an app developer for Quiver, and what the developer would expect from us. In order to sustain a positive corporate culture, we would need somebody who shares the same passion as we do. This doesn’t have to be in the sense of action sports, but more in general concerning enthusiasm and motivation concerning the project. Since we do not have a lot of capital at the moment, we have to think of other ways to convince this person of joining us. This could start with offering experience, knowledge and contacts we can share with the developer and can go further to giving shares of the company depending on the connection we have and the quality of work he can provide to us. At the end of the day, the most important thing for us is to get a working app that is created with a qualitative code which makes it possible for other developers to easily build upon the first version. The best case scenario is that we would get a developer which shares the same passion for this project and stays on our sides.
Another aspect we touched upon during the past week was on how to approach the media. We realized that we would have to build relationships with people which are able to promote our platform to a suitable audience. These relationships are, as we learned, to build the sooner the better. Therefore we are looking for connections within our circle of friends, who can help us find these key media-related contacts. We believe the approach of getting the right media attention is crucial for our platform to gain momentum since our target audience is being exposed to media several times on a daily basis. During the week we also had a talk from Mathias Ohr regarding on how we approach journalists. We related these thoughts to approaching influencers and brand ambassadors on social media which play a key part in getting more users on our platform. We believe that there are certain similarities between how we should approach journalists and influencers. We’re convinced that if we get their feedback from day one, we will be able to produce a platform which is 100% suited for our users.
Sitting down with John Williams
Our meeting with John Williams to talk about our project validated some of our thoughts, brought us new ideas and showed us a different way to approach our business idea.
He told us to put great attention on the aspect of user-generated content - this is what our platform lives from. Furthermore, he recommended us to become a trusted provider in the community since that could be a huge drive for the company. Relating to; bringing in larger companies in the scene (red bull, canon, etc.) but also focusing on smaller, more personal topics such as new innovations or university projects. This, in order to keep them up-to-date of future trends, and in effect getting the users to come back to our app to check the latest news and insights.
Data would be our main asset towards companies to partner with. More specifically, data regarding their customer base. In general, our users have a passion for their sport which makes it more durable than a phase or trend - they do it because they love to do it. Therefore we will be able to build long-term relationships with them - which in conclusion makes the data even more relevant for these companies.
Another interesting point that came up in the conversation is the age group. We should not neglect the age group of 55+ as they both have time and money. We should come back to this, once our platform has proven itself.
This talk was of great value for us, as it felt like he was able to validate some of our steps we went through and made us focus on other relevant ones.
Combined mindset: Lean startup, circular economy, sharing economy.
We went through a lot of different approaches over the last week (and even unknowingly before that). We decided to pick out those aspects of different mindsets which will suit our business the best since we discovered new interesting approaches this week. For instance, we never connected to the thought of a circular economy before. However, we now realize that our users are very well aware of the circular economy and take part in it. In order to connect with them, it is obvious we take this into account. There are a great lot of initiatives to clean up the ocean, save our winters, maintain trails on the mountains, … which fits in this mindset and could help us apply it by integrating these touch points in our business. On one hand, promoting the idea of a circular economy on our platform and on the other hand educating people about how to take part in a circular economy to make it possible for future generations to practice the sport.
Certain aspects of a sharing economy, such as sharing equipment or riding to a spot together will also play an important role in our platform. The fact that this mindset states that everything that can be a platform, will be one in the future, fits our way of thinking. Last but not least, the idea of creating an MVP, in the lean startup, will aid us to get useful insights on our user base. The lean approach will be the main approach we will use since we have a lot of insecurities we can only figure out by testing them and adapting according to the results of them. As our users are passionate about their sports, they will also be willing to interact with us in regards to how the platform evolves. Giving our users a voice in the way our platform functions. Concerning this, we may also have to create a messaging board where early adopters are able to talk about which features they like and dislike. Making the software open source would also aid in creating an early community feel around the platform.
Presentation
