London startups get unfiltered feedback from geniuses — August Event Recap
Last month, House of Genius (London’s best kept secret) brought together 3 start-up founders with innovative business ideas. Each founder presented their business and shared to a diverse panel from London’s business community the challenges they were looking to overcome. The three businesses were from entirely different sectors but had one common thread; the founders were ready to receive unfiltered feedback.
The HOG format was especially intriguing because it really focused on the challenges that I face as an entrepreneur irrelevant of my background or identity. — Luma
How did House of Genius London August event help these founders?
To find out we had a Q&A about their experience presenting and how it has impacted their decision making going forward.
The three businesses were:
- MDNBAR — mind-fitness company delivering productivity & innovation coaching founded by Luma Shihabeldin.
- Audiowings — A next-gen wearable tech brand to enhance workouts and stream audio for music and coaching founded by Carl Thomas.
- Prep Social — promoting skin positivity and discovery tool of products for those with skin conditions founded by Eve Kruavit.
What about House of Genius Programme encouraged you to take part in presenting?
LUMA: “The HOG format was especially intriguing because it really focused on the challenges that I face as an entrepreneur irrelevant of my background or identity. I was curious to see what this type of format could offer; and indeed it was one of the more authentic feedback sessions I’ve ever had. “
EVE: The fact that the purpose of this presentation was to get advice and opinions on areas that I’m struggling with, rather than for investments.
Were your business challenges addressed?
CARL: The feedback helped me understand the importance of framing our technology, and telling our story in a way where it is anchored to a specific challenge that we’re solving. The feedback was incredibly wide ranging, which I believe is a symptom of how we framed our tech and the story we told. This was a BIG learning for me.
EVE: “Yes — some of the feedback received are things that I have already considered but didn’t decide to pursue. But having heard them again made me rethink certain aspects that I should revisit and validate.
Do you believe your business will benefit from experiencing House of Genius?
LUMA: There was a key piece of advice that came out of a few of the geniuses around how to define the offering more specifically. This led to an AHA moment in which I decided to explore coining a term for the specific type of development that we offer for individuals. Defining it, the skillsets associated, and the KPI’s that we can track against it, will help make the offering more tangible to our audiences. I also was directed to focus on medium size businesses which was great redirection.
Have you personally benefited from this process?
LUMA: I have definitely personally benefited from this process. I was able to identify personal strengths and weaknesses from the session that I can build on, precisely because the context of the geniuses was stripped away.
CARL: I love how the session forced me to make conversation with people without defaulting to ‘what we do’ as an ice breaker. This is something that I’d definitely like to use more often.
EVE: Certainly — this has been the most comprehensive session of feedback I’ve received so far.
What would you say about House of Genius if you were recommending us to another company interested in presenting?
LUMA: House of Genius is a great opportunity to strip down your challenges and get authentic feedback that can really add value to your business.
CARL: If you want to get structured unfiltered and often times uncomfortable feedback that absolutely will be positive for your business, you’ll be hard pressed to find a better forum than HoG.
EVE: The structure of the event was done in such a unique way that might seem a little absurd and awkward at first, but it works! This has been the most comprehensive session of feedback I’ve received so far.
For the opportunity to present your business click to apply to present here.
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Want to know more?
We hand select a panel of 15 smart, accomplished people to provide feedback to help solve some of the business challenges you are currently facing. The panel represents a diverse set of minds. Some will have industry expertise on your key issues and challenges and others will offer a completely fresh perspective providing insight from careers in other exciting sectors.
See it as crowdsourcing solutions to your problems. The feedback you get at our sessions will change the way you see your business. House of Genius is a space for you to honestly embrace and overcome the challenges you are facing. Find out more on our website here.
