What we learned from developing 12 application prototypes in 3 weeks
In the fall of 2015, our team was offered an opportunity to provide technology consultation to teams participating the Schurz Innovation Challenge at the University of Notre Dame. The goal of the competition was to have students compete for prizes that were awarded to those who could come up with innovative business ideas that existed in a digital space.
This competition was somewhat unique. It wasn’t targeted at business school students or computer science majors. It was targeted at any student on Notre Dame’s campus who had an idea for a product that could exist in a digital space. This made the competition unique because once the business plan and hack-a-thon nature of a competition are eliminated, the breadth of individuals who can participate increases greatly.
Students who are majoring in economics or psychology start to come forward with thoughts about problems they would like to solve. Problems that might not occur to a business school student or a computer science major. Law school students step forward with ideas about using technology to bridge a gap in the legal world. MBA’s come forward with an idea that wasn’t taken seriously by the peers or professors in their major. The doors are wide open!
Our role would be to assist students who had neither business nor technology experience.
The competing students had 4 months to prepare their demos. 2 months in, our team had provided all of the consulting we could to founders with zero funding in hand. We found ourselves in an anxious position where we had provided most of the help we knew we could without actually building a prototype for teams lacking tech talent. Admittedly, we had jumped off a cliff with the plan to build a plane on the way down.
Lucky for us, we had a great friend and coach in Theresa Sedlack who worked with the University to help startups. She helped to secure some funding so we could afford to pay developers to go beyond consultation and work on prototypes with the teams in the competition.
By the time we had the funding in hand, and had secured some very apt additional tech talent in Brandon Rich and David Mattia, our team had 3 weeks left to build 12 application prototypes that would be demo ready. Keep in mind that we didn’t define demo ready as “ready for market” or even “minimum viable product”, but we did define it as a functioning application that the team could click through during a demonstration to prove that the technology could be implemented.
During those 3 weeks, our team learned some very valuable and important things about early stage technology builds. We also learned a few things about ourselves.
One of the most important things we learned about the process was that sharpening the axe is more important than chopping down the tree.
“Give me 6 hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first 4 sharpening the axe” — Abraham Lincoln
If we wouldn’t have spent those first 2 months working with each of the teams, defining requirements, drawing on whiteboards, and creating wireframes on notecards, we never would have been able to plow through the work as quickly as we did. By the time we got to the build phase of these projects we had all of the blueprints and we knew the definition of success for each of the prototypes.
This idea of sharpening the axe is something that our team has embraced in our culture and process, and we still celebrate it today. We believe in research and design phases because they illuminate critical elements to building technology.
The biggest thing we learned about ourselves was that we love the early phase of building technology.
Even though a lot of the ideas we were working on were really raw, we found ourselves working alongside passionate individuals who truly cared about the problems they were attempting to solve.
Sure, these founders were all in the early stages of starting a company before things get too messy. We were working in a space before the drop off occurs due to anger and frustration because things are getting difficult. But that is what made it fun! It was a great reminder that people can be resourceful, creative, and fun to work with.
We’ve worked with many companies at various stages since 2015 when we started, but this spirit is one we have kept alive in our culture. For our team, working in this space is an amazing experience. It is an honor to be part of the process and the journey it takes to create something new. Working with passionate individuals on big challenges is something that drives us and makes our work rewarding.
We often reflect on the Schurz Challenge for many reasons. It was the first step on the crazy journey that brought us to where we are today. It taught something about ourselves early on in that journey and it helped us to pinpoint a passion. Most importantly, it gave us a reason to come together and build cool stuff.
See our work at sbcodeworks.com.
Alex Sejdinaj is a cofounder of Code Works, South Bend Code School, and GiveGrove. If you would like to get in touch with any of these companies please reach out to info@sbcodeworks.com.
