ExperimentFirst
Unit of Wheelhouse Venture Partners
Co.Creator is working with 10+ global organisations, delivered over 3000 hours of learning, on average resulting in 90% having customers, and generated total of $2m+ in funding or revenue.
Willem Ovink
Co-founder: Unlocking Growth
Problem: It is really difficult to translate research, external CPD or INSET training, into classroom practice; without structured time, examples, support, review, and collaboration.
Solution: A whole-school change program focused on growth mindset, that leads to new hybrid roles within schools.
Impact rating of Co.Creator:
Leadership Development
very significantly
Recommendation (out of 10) :
10
Funding Pipeline:
£20K Teach First
£100K EEF
Challenges
Progress
"We had an idea and we had a school to organise a pilot in, but we had no experience of how to refine, develop and grow our idea."
Knowledge: "I went in to Co.Creator with no business knowledge at all. I have been on a steep learning curve. The lectures from Udacity helped me to frame my role in the process and what to expect out of the process: hypotheses, dual/multiple proposals, listening to customers, failing fast and pivoting. The conversations with Co.Creator were fantastic as they allowed me to question and reflect on what I had been reading and what I was discovering from my interviews/pitches. Our solution is actually going to borrow the Co.Creator model and so learning what this looks like, what its key components are, and what it is like to run has been invaluable."
Skills: "The ‘customer script’ was an invaluable tool. I have always been confident talking to people, but talking to people I don’t know and trying to get the most information relevant to me out of the dialogue was a challenge. The customer script really helped. The hands on nature of the programme also meant that I had to write and re-write pitch decks and proposals in quick succession, reacting to our customers’ feedback. This was a useful skill to practice and taught me I can get a lot of good work done, quickly: this was mediated by the focus that the Google Hangouts with (Co.Creator) Zevae provided - I would not have got as much done if I didn’t have Zevae to help me set targets and re-focus on the goal every 3 days."
Mindsets: "Through the programme I began to think ‘bigger’ than I had done before - I knew the problem we were tackling was important, but the process of facing this head on, talking to people and pitching ideas convinced me that there was actually a need for people to be leading on this and trying to make a difference. The pace of the programme forced me to ‘get things done’ in order to maintain momentum, to increase opportunities and to keep focussed. On several Friday’s I would look back and think “did I really do all that?”. This was immensely empowering and I expect to continue with this attitude in whatever I do next. The experiential nature of the programme has meant that I have a lot of memories to draw on to motivate me in the future."
Leadership Development: "Co.Creator has allowed me to see a path for my career - I think about the problem I am addressing on a larger scale than I had done before. I see entrepreneurship as a very real career prospect - I would not have thought of this previously. Going through the 8 weeks I have done so much more than I would have expected and gathered such support that feel confident I could try and tackle significant problems in the future. Schools can be quite stifling places, with a lot of nay sayers and inwardly looking leaders. I have seen the bright spots, I have met other outward looking people, and I want to spend more time in that space, trying to tackle the problems we face in education."
Journey
Week 1: "I feel excited. I came in to this having a personal belief that independent/meta cognitive learning/growth mindset was an important issue, that it was thought to be a big problem by some people far away writing books, but that it was addressed so rarely in the day to day of educating at the front line, I felt a bit alone. I now feel confident that this is a hugely important area for young people’s development, a hugely neglected issue and that there are opportunities to do immensely good work on a large scale. I am feeling really excited. (In just one week) I am thinking bigger than I ever expected."
Week 2: "The debrief from interviews was a really useful exercise to reflect on what we had learnt. We came up with some important action points, and an exciting potential design element of a solution (operating within PSHE lessons). Also was good to establish contacting Zoe and Shaun as a priority and try and get contact with them by any means necessary! We wouldn't be at this stage so quickly on our own."
Week 3: "A very useful session. I felt I was losing sight of what we were trying to do and how we were going to go about doing it. The call helped to re-focus me - identify urgent actions, and why they were urgent. I think this was partly because it was possible to talk to Co.Creator about what was coming up, about opportunities that were currently available to us (the Innovation Application), about the quality of the information we have now, and what more we need as we think about our next steps. I feel more motivated now to go out there and get things done. It felt like a good conversation where we were working together for a shared end."
Week 4: "Great session which really helped to develop the value proposition. We worked tirelessly for the hour and then 30 min more to get it to a state I could share it with our potential customers. Really excited about the project. The value proposition feels like it is evolving nicely and based on good research from some people with valuable experience and insight. Whether this project gets killed or not, it is already the best CPD I have had. The networking I have done as a result of being on this Start-Up journey have been incredible. I’ve been forced to reflect on my personal philosophy about teaching and education, and through networking have been opened up to new possibilities for my journey within education (getting out there and doing the research, learning with other schools and with other teachers - why wait?)."
Week 5: "We finished the last session of the pilot at Hanham on Friday and had some useful feedback about CPD being a focus for the Head of Hanham and BBA. This led to a really positive conversation with Co.Creator and we were able to develop our propositions to accommodate this feedback. We settled on two Minimum Viable Products. It was a good session and we had informative discussions about the value of CPD, how it is broken in the education system and different ways of solving the problem. It was useful to see Co.Creator edit the value propositions and create professional looking documents."
Week 6: "I had not been able to get feedback about the minimum viable products one pagers. I went away and tried to get feedback from more contacts and be more assertive in seeking feedback. I was able to speak to a crucial contact who gave some useful feedback. from this we edited one of our propositions slightly to give back to her and get more feedback. It was informative to see Co.Creator react to the feedback and alter the proposition in this light."
Week 7: "At the end of this sessions I felt like I had been on an emotional roller coaster (in a good way!). The website Co.Creator had put together was far more than we had expected, and the proposal that we had been working on had been fleshed out (with Co.Creator’s experience in similar ventures) to be something that would be compelling to head teachers, and make a real impact. It felt like we had been given a Ferrari. The emotions also came thick and fast when realising the potential of this proposition, and that the Innovation Award deadline was coming up - we could really be in a position where we have to decide whether to take this on full time or not. Up until now that has been a hypothetical question - now it is looking more and more realistic!"
Week 8: "Nothing goes slowly on this programme! From developing the upgraded value proposition and website on Friday, it was time to really think about the ins and outs of what we were offering as I started to put the application for the Teach First Innovation Awards together. Co.Creator kindly gave up an extra hour to help develop our application. The help was invaluable - could offer advice and insights from their experiences, and it is always useful to work with someone else on something like this - even just to bounce ideas off and get some feedback. It feels like we have a good application together now, with a good product. Looking back it is amazing what we have done, and how far our thinking has come in 8 weeks."