My journey with The Shortcut
I have started as a Catalyst Programme participant in August 2018 at The Shortcut. I wasn’t sure how it would benefit me or what the right path is for me careerwise. With my background in science, I was struggling to let go of my previous knowledge and start from the beginning, diving into the unknown of startups and entrepreneurship. From week three, within the Catalyst Programme, we had to choose between Entrepreneurship and Employment tracks. This was a challenge for me. I wanted to get hired and start working, but on the other hand, my mind was full of ideas for my own project. I was very lucky to have a conversation with Anusha, she was a part of the Shortcut team at the time, and she gave me great pieces of advice. One of them was to pick one idea and do the market research. If the data looked promising then it would be a good thing to continue with Entrepreneurship track. She even gave me tips on how to do the market research for my idea and this helped me towards the right direction.
My idea
I had many ideas for my project. Eventually, I decided to pick one of them. The idea came from my experience with working for families as a babysitter when I came to Finland. The need for babysitters was huge at the time. Especially amongst families with relatives and friends living far away, who had to rely on babysitters to help with their kids. Now, since I became a parent myself, I realized that the same need is still there. Experiencing both sides of the story, I realized what problems both sides are facing. So I started a project called Babysitting.fi trying to solve these problems and connecting parents and babysitters in Finland.
About the project
I took Anusha’s advice and I did a survey on social media, asking parents about their experiences with babysitters and services they were using in order to find one. This gave me enough data to acknowledge some of the problems the parents had and made a bit easier for me to know what they really want.
The main problems were: non-existent direct communication between babysitters and families. Finding a reliable and qualified babysitter is time-consuming. It takes a lot of planning in advance to find babysitters who are free when the families need them. It is hard living in a rural area and not knowing anyone who could babysit. Finding a babysitter that speaks one of the languages of the family and also doesn’t charge a high price for their services is also challenging.
As a part of the Catalyst Programme, within Entrepreneurship track, we had workshops on Business development with Pamela Spokes. She helped us understand design thinking and ideation process.
If done right, ideation is what helps determine the right problem to solve and how to solve it.
Pamela introduced us to the business model canvas and its advantages over a traditional business plan. And she gave us great tips for pitching, showing the main differences between a one-minute and a three-minute pitch. This gave me enough basic knowledge to start working on my own business model canvas and pitching skills.
Continuing from there I choose WordPress to create my website. With previous experience working in WordPress and with no coding skills, this was my best option. I picked a theme and with help from WordPress tutorials, tips from friends and support from The Shortcut, I have started to learn and shape my website. I included blogs that I think could be helpful and interesting for parents and babysitters as well. The most popular one so far is How to dress a child for Finnish weather? published on the website and the Facebook group.
The School of Startups
The School of Startups which took place from 24.9–12.10 organized by The Shortcut included a three-week long series of workshops with three different tracks: Design, Business, and Tech. I was volunteering for all of them, but I was most interested in Business track. The organization was excellent and the workshops gave me a better understanding of what is required to start and develop a business. It included sessions about financing, legalities in creating a company, fundraising and investors and more. This was an incredible experience for me and of great value for developing my own idea.
The next steps
The second part of the Catalyst Programme was about self-learning. This gave me the freedom to work on my project and I was introduced to Google tools for digital marketing. After completing courses in Digital Garage I became interested and curious about how I can implement the things I have learned to my own project. From there I have continued to learn about SEO and SEM, Google Analytics, AdWords and how to use MailChimp for email marketing. I still have a long way to go until I finally master these skills, but I am happy that I have found my path.
I am very grateful for all the support and training I have received from The Shortcut and I am looking forward to seeing what the future will bring.
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