Summary: "8 weeks ago I was not sure whether such an eight-week incubator will help people to accelerate their startup. I think the eight-week for me is not only a great experience but also a life-long lesson. I will use the knowledge and skills learnt in the cocreator to help my future projects. Actually I have used some ideas in the cocreator in my workspace...."

 

Journey:  "I want to develop a mobile application which can be used in lesson planning for teachers when I came into this program; When I leave the program I adjust my idea to a micro-learning platform in which teachers can receive and execute their ideas learnt in the platform. I will continue to work on my startup because I think it can support millions of teachers in China..."

- "With the help of Zevae’s explanation I rethink the problem I am going to solve. The way to phrase the problem as well as the problem itself determines the future approach...."

 

Mindsets: "1. Mindset Growth. I learnt that in the process of startups failures are very normal and I need to adjust my attitudes towards failures. Actually I felt a little frightened to conduct the interviews with strangers. I fear to be refused, to be a failure and to be challenged.  I used to be a very shy person but now I have the courage to present my idea in front of others and get their feedback. It is a great progress for myself.

 

Business models: I don't really know how the business makes money before the incubator and in the eight weeks I have a lot of opportunities to learn different business models and how these models can be used in my startup.

 

Messy: "All things seem a little messy after lots of interviews with my potential customers. I am struggling about how many facts I should know to better grasp the problem. Zevae’s clarification pushes me to move on because I need to firstly boldly take several guesses (hypotheses) and then confirm with my customers. Initially I feel frightened to jump from the facts to features because I think too far to the future. Zevae explained that in this phase I should mainly focus on “WHY” and not rush to the solution. That is a great thinking structure because the problem of “HOW” is easier to solve. Emotionally I feel much clear after this talk and quickly get something done!.."

 

Method to the madness: "Actually I realize that I don’t need to deliver a concrete and touchable thing before I actually sell it.....realize the significance of designing the value proposition before I begin to invest a lot of time in implementation. The logic among rough idea, value proposition, minimum viable product and customer interview is: The rough idea (hypotheses) leads to conduct customer interviews; The customer interviews solicits insights and they in turn go onto the value proposition; The value proposition includes diferent sections like the problem, the solution, the cost and the benefits; after a numer of go-and-test I can confirm the value proposition; At last I craft the value proposition on a piece of paper(it is the MVP), which I sell....".

 

Sell before it exists: "I have done two interviews towards the principal and one of them wants to buy my promised product although this product is still incubated (I kind of learn to sell my product before it exists)...."

 

Co-founder: I want to thank you zevae for your patience and great pitch deck you have shown me. In this incubator I gradually realize that start-up may sound like a cool stuff from outsiders. However, it is not cool at all in the process. I have learnt so much in the interviews and the reflection with you.