I worked building a social start up and it wasn’t as I imagined it would be
The past academic semester (September 2016-January 2017) I and a team of classmates teamed up in order to start a social project for the purposes of Dare to Challenge workshop by Betty Tsakarestou, at Panteion University, Athens.
First of all let’s meet “Safe n’ Sound”: “Safe n’ Sound” is a start up idea we had with my colleagues (Danai Lyratzi, Asimina Christodoulatou, Martha Davari, Christos Daniilidis, Charis Zarbalas) in the context of the Dare To Challenge workshop by Betty Tsakarestou. Safe n Sound is an app that offers a safer way home. The map shows the brightest and most crowded way for the user to get to their destination. There is also the “Red Button” service that in case of emergency sends the needed information in order for help to arrive.
When I first got my hands on working with a team for a better cause and this particular time for Gender Equality and demolishing Rape Culture, I was confident that it would be something rather easy. I was wrong.
These past 6 months were rather difficult in terms of work, lacking free time and deadlines that had to be met for University classes. At first, limited time didn’t let me to be so involved as I would want to be for our social project. As time went by, though, I realised that changing society through technology and innovation was something that I had to prioritise.
As I started being more involved than I was before and as we started to transform our project from a simple idea to a prototyped app, I realised that all the hardships, obstacles and hours spent working on it, were worth it.
With our team, we used to present almost every week at the Dare to Challenge workshop by Betty Tsakarestou. We always had something new to share, a development with our prototype or our review of the interviews and feedback we received. Therefore, we always got to have guidance on what our next steps should be or what to correct and add to our idea. This feedback from our classmates and our class coordinator were fruitful and helpful in order to move forward.
It is true that at first, I wasn’t open to criticism and negative feedback as I thought that it would make the team less efficient with the thought that our idea wouldn’t deserve a positive feedback. As we presented, though, again and again in front of an audience, ready to give us advice in order to improve, I realised that the negative or positive feedback you get from people that mean well and want to see you thrive is the best experience and knowledge you could ever gain.
As time went by and we were ready to launch our prototype, we encountered some technical difficulties such as making the app actually functioning. In times of hardships like these, that the team thinks that this is the end, be sure that it isn’t. We brainstormed, we came up with brilliant ideas and ways that we could help our idea come to life and help other people in need and in the end realised that nothing is actually impenetrable.
Therefore, some tips from someone who changed their way of thinking when they were working for a social cause through technology and innovation:
-Be open to feedback
-Take credit for what you’ve accomplished
-Be proud of your work
-Never give up on your cause
-Don’t forget that your idea might some day change the way people think and/or behave
-Don’t rush; instead take your time and let others do the same
And most of all:
Dare to Challenge!
Check out my previous story for Safe n’ Sound about feedback.
Follow my teammates’ Medium stories about Safe n’ Sound:
-“Safe and Sound” app project., Our Dare to challenge team at Web Summit 2016, Safe n’ Sound app prototype by Danai Lyratzi
- “safe n’ sound”Our Client-User by Martha Davari
-“She asked for it’’ An article about Rape Culture, A meeting with a developer for Safe&Sound. by Charis Zarbalas
-Safe and Sound in the Microscope, The Safe and Sound’s experience through Dare to Challenge lab., by Christos Daniilidis
-“Safe n’ Sound” user experience by Asimina Christodoulatou
