The 1–2 WOW experience: Teamwork makes the dream work
Good innovators work and play well in teams, where ideas are shared and built upon.
This is clearly evident in Harish, Ankur and Navya — who together formed one of the three teams that made it to the finals of last year’s 1–2 WOW Challenge. Their idea — WhatsApp-based Lending For Small Businesses — impressed judges enough to win them S$3,000 in cash, as well as a golden opportunity to pitch to DBS Group CEO Piyush Gupta and the Group Innovation Council.
The trio shared that they were looking to create a tangible solution for SMEs through the 1–2 WOW Challenge. Ankur — proclaimed by his teammates to be the coolest of the bunch — first met Harish when they worked together on other DBS projects. Sensing unspoken chemistry, Harish and Ankur subsequently roped in Navya to turn their ideas into reality for the 1–2 WOW Challenge.
We caught up with them to uncover the secrets behind their winning formula. Read on to find out more about their WOW idea and get insights on their journey to success.
Congratulations on winning 2020’s 1–2 WOW Challenge! Do you mind quickly sharing your idea with us?
Harish: Our idea was to provide small businesses in India with easier access to credit via mobile messaging tools. We realised that there is a need to help support the 60 million-plus SMEs in India. Upon further experimentation, we found that this solution could also be taken out of India into other markets. Hence, we overlaid our solutions with some of the new market developments that took shape in India during this time last year. That was how we brought the concept to fruition.
Can you share with us some highlights when it came to working together on this project?
Harish: I think the first highlight was during the initial stages, where we had to conceptualise exactly what we wanted to go after. We could explore many ideas, but it was about drilling down to one key idea and moving it to the prototype stage. The second highlight for me was seeing the idea being put together. Using a messaging bot that we create with open-sourced platforms, we implemented a mockup of our concept.
Additionally, we would spend 15–20 minutes at the end of our day to catch up and see how we could improve our prototype and improve the customer journey.
Ankur: For me, I think the cool part was the discovery and define phase. Typically, when you make a product, you can easily go wrong by thinking “this is what my customer needs” and trying to push it down their throats. For us, we went to the nose of the customer and tried to figure out what their actual needs are. During those interactions, we were able to get the pulse of the customer and shape our product development process.
We started with the pain point before figuring out the solution we wanted to bring to the table. That was something eye opening for me and it helps us understand how to create a product and take it to market, which we learnt along the way.
Navya: I joined the project a bit later, so Harish and Ankur did the base work, and I supported the development. While I didn’t know much about the Discovery and Define phase, I liked the idea they pitched, so I joined.
We would meet daily on Microsoft Teams or other platforms to discuss the work we had done the previous day or start certain aspects of the project. If I didn’t know anything, they were ready to help me, or if there were something I knew, I would share with them. That was how it worked for us.
This wasn’t the first project you guys developed either on your own or as a team. How was the process of developing a project on the 1–2 WOW platform different from your previous experience?
Harish: First, the challenge itself brings many folks like us to identify a problem to solve. Given the team’s small size, there are not many dependencies, thus accelerating the project’s iteration speed. For instance, we can discuss something today, go back, change a couple of things, and return the next day to determine if the change was good. There is a fun element in quickly going in and changing stuff and seeing what makes sense.
The platform also gives you the freedom to hack your way through and figure out what’s best for the customer. We integrated customer insights into the project to actively enable feedback while iterating as we go along. This was a marked change from how we typically approach these kinds of projects.
Additionally, the tools and the framework helped us think through the problem statement and the solution. The competitive aspect also added to the fun and made us want to do our best.
Ankur: I think it was the same for me. It was the tools, and the frameworks that kind of helped us go through the thought process. So that was an additional value that the 1–2 WOW challenge brought.
The access to mentors and important stakeholders within the bank also provided us with a platform to think of the types of investors that we could pitch our idea to. We also ended up pitching to Piyush about our idea.
The 1–2 WOW challenge platform gave us these opportunities that we would otherwise not have access to.
Was there at any point in the 1–2 WOW process where you thought, “oh shoot, we don’t know what we’re doing, what are we going to do?”
Harish: We were pretty sure of what we wanted to do. However, doing it was a challenge. The 1–2 WOW challenge requires an investment of your time and takes up mind space on top of our day jobs. We were in that situation where we felt that it is getting a little too hard to manage with our day-to-day work and we didn’t think we’d finish. However, having internal catch-ups and planning helps.
Ankur: There were highs and many lows because we were struggling to get our things done. We wanted to do much more to bring the product to a place where we wanted it, but we realised that we have other things on the table. Hence, we tried to balance it up.
I think, throughout the 1–2 WOW challenge, you will have a honeymoon period, followed by a period where the challenges come in.
Navya: At the start, we didn’t know what to do exactly because everything is conceptualised on paper. As Harish said, the idea was there but not exactly as a prototype we envisioned.
We did have a few struggles when we started, but we helped each other, and we eventually made it.
You guys are innovators, and I think that makes you experts on this next question. Can you describe three traits of a good innovator?
Harish: Empathy, a good listener and execution-focused.
Ankur: I would say stop assuming things. Be a good observer, be a hustler to get things done. By hook or by crook, get things done.
Navya: Be passionate, have the responsibility to do things, and a good listener to listen to what others are saying.
Launched in 2020, 1–2-WOW is an open challenge to all DBS staff worldwide to experiment, innovate and create the future of WOWs. Innovators are empowered with dedicated tools, budget, and support from DBS innovation to turn their ideas from concept to reality.
