“Speed-dating” and “World Cafe” methodologies for startup construction
During our class for “introduction to advertising and public relations” we combined the “Speed dating” and “World cafe” methodologies in order to progress our startup ideas.For the “speed-dating” process each of the team members was given a role, forming teams with a pitcher,a questioner and at least one observer.Pitchers were responsible for introducing their startup ideas to the questioners ,who then had to make a critical question about the startup and give them useful feedback.Observers role was to make notes during the process.The next step for the members was to exchange roles and repeat the above.
Our startup project is called “The Bridges”,a digital platform targeting the creative and media industries.Bridges is aiming to become a networking startup,differentiated from typical portfolio sites that will be able to guarantee its members professionalism,trustworthiness and skillfulness.
Starting as a pitcher, i realized that the most challenging factor was the ability to express an idea in a clear but fast way including all the important details in order to be comprehensible to the others.Sometimes,things that are considered obvious , bring confusion to others.Pitching to different classmates, taught me that a startup idea has to been well organized and planned to be completely understood and don't bring questions and doubts the partners.
By responding to my partners questions and feedback it became clear to me that, a startup idea could become a reality only when it would reach the highest level of organisation and premeditation.Interracting with others and receiving feedback has a lot to offer to you.Different personalities perceive ideas and situatons in a different way.
When my role changed,having to ask my partners questions and give them feedback about their ideas, I released that the details are the ones to make the total able to work in real life.Only after approaching an idea from every aspect, it will be able to stand in the real world.
As an observer,i learned to appreciate different people’s ideas,opinions and aspects,due to the fact that they make you more creative and aware of the weak sides of your ideas.Sometimes,even startups that were completely different to my team’s ,brought me a lot of inspiration and awareness ,helping me to progress my prototype.
During the “World Cafe” procedure,we changed teams again and repeated the above. “World Cafe” added accuracy to the“speed-dating” process,helping the members benefit even more by learning from others and earning a wide variety of feedback witch can be used to progress each team’s startup idea further.Problems that could may occur became more clear as well as more ways to deal with them.
