ExperimentFirst
Unit of Wheelhouse Venture Partners
Amy Vreeland
Founder/CEO True School, USA
Problem: A large number of high-performing teachers are leaving the profession due to a lack of career advancement opportunities within schools.
Solution: True School offers workshop studios for schools to help teachers use design thinking in their solutions, which will in turn lead to the creation of a new role (part teacher part innovator) in schools.
After just 8 weeks
$200+K
Revenue
2 customers, running MVP in 10 schools
Compelling investor pitch
Award:
"The most impact on schools"
Challenges
“The Social Innovation path is convoluted, full of obstacles, and often lonely.”
“I had been on another incubator style course but I found being left with more questions than answers.”
“I've found that it's not uncommon, as an early stage entrepreneur, to feel like you're absolutely crazy for trying to do something new, completely on your own. I've gone through major ups and downs”
Journey
“Not coming from a business background, Co.Creator helped me break down my goals into actionable steps, a stronger sense of my target customer (both through your support and the Udacity course which I had been meaning to take for more than a year but I find I just don’t learn in that isolated way), your (Zevae. M. Zaheer) feedback has been extremely helpful for refining my pitch, and, in terms of the Minimum Viable Product (MVP), I've learned a lot about how to design an effective MVP (based on the most essential aspects of the value proposition necessary to test).
“Pursuing entrepreneurship requires significant financial instability and often times personal investment/debt. Individuals will not be comfortable taking on such risks (at our society's loss) without having a proven business model and demonstrated success through your program. “You are the essential missing step that gives individuals the confidence, skills, knowledge, and mindset to take the leap. An essential bridge from problem identification and actual venture creation.”
“It was hugely helpful to have the support (and confidence boost) of working with Co.Creator (in addition to the skills/mindsets/knowledge gained -- I felt like he (Zevae M. Zaheer) saw potential in the company (or in me) and that helped me get through times of feeling discouraged/ isolated. Hugely helpful, this program was awesome!”