Technovation Challenge

Alumni Spotlight: Jasmine Gao

Mon, 13 May 2013 18:24:08 -0400

We sat down with Technovation 2011 Alumni, Jasmine Gao to catch up and see what she has been up since her with us as a Technovation Droidette. Jasmine is an entrepreneur at heart, a gamer, and a tech-driven insomniac. She is currently a Data Strategist at bitly and an Enstitute fellow.

You were once a Technovation student. Can you tell us what stands out to you most about your experience participating in Technovation?

When I was participating in the 2011 Technovation Challenge, what stood out to me was how much access we were given to accomplished women entrepreneurs and technologists. I noticed right away that not only were our team’s mentors two incredibly intelligent Google engineers, but they were also super supportive of our efforts in the program — I remember multiple times when my mentor, Mary Wong took out time outside of Technovation to help us out with last-minute changes to our prototype. Looking back, I realize I met two key people in my career path on the same night during the NY Regional pitch contest: Deborah Jackson, my past employer at JumpThru, and Hilary Mason, my present employer at bitly. If that doesn’t speak to how powerful the connections one makes through Technovation are, I don’t know what does.

When you were a going through the program as a student, what app did your team create? What was your team name?

My team, The Droidettes, created a prototype for an app called Trending, which was a mobile aggregator that would collect, organize, and categorize trending fashion items. The idea for Trending came out of a problem I had with my email being regularly cluttered with newsletters from various online retailers and fashion outlets that I had purchased from in the past. There was simply no website, mobile app, or convenient medium that allowed avid online shoppers and fashion enthusiasts to digest trend information, find out what the hottest products were as recommended by industry experts, and make purchases all in one place — that’s where Trending came in.

Why did you decide to pursue a career in Technology?

I’ve been playing video games all of my life and, growing up, my computer was like a third parent to me in that I had learned so much just from a simple dial-up connection. However, up until a few years ago, I had always been a passionate consumer of technology but never thought I could be a passionate producer of technology as well. I also had a long standing interest in entrepreneurship at the time but didn’t know what industry to go into. What changed all of this was my discovery of the NY startup scene while working for Deborah, who was one of the judges on Pitch Night. So in that way Technovation was a catalyst for my career in technology.

What is it like to work at bitly? What was the process like getting a position there?

I got my current position at bitly through my fellowship at Enstitute, which is a two-year apprenticeship program for 18-24 year olds based on the philosophy of learning by doing. The current and first class of fellows consists of 11 pre, mid, and post-college students who have been selected out of roughly 500 applicants to spend two years in NYC working under successful entrepreneurs and executives in technology, media, non-profit, etc. We all live together and many of us, including myself, have actually dropped out of college to do this with the belief that we will get more out of two years working than we could ever going to school. Through a series of interviews with Enstitute, I managed to be paired with Hilary Mason, my first choice, who serves as Chief Scientist at bitly and as a result I work on the science team with her.

Since Hilary has the unique leadership role at bitly of making both technical and strategic business decision for the company, my apprenticeship under her has given me access to the same diversity of projects. In any given week, I could be improving my Python skills on a coding project, leading business development calls with potential clients, phone screening job applicants, playing ping pong, or meeting astronauts. And as Hilary’s apprentice, my work outside of bitly includes anything from joining her at speaking engagements and conferences such as TechCrunch Disrupt, sitting in on government meetings with Todd Park, the CTO of the United States, building communities around data science such as DataGotham, reviewing business plans and proposals sent to her, and picking up insomnia cookies for an event.

What do you like best about your job?

Definitely the breadth of exposure when it comes to my work, which can range from programming to market research to product to sales. The projects I get to work on are varied enough where I don’t get bored from doing the same thing for too long. I think I have the best of both worlds as a Data Strategist since it allows me to apply business strategy to our technical products, APIs, and data.

Who are your mentors? How do they help you?

People I consider my mentors are really just past employers, colleagues, and friends from whom I have grown a lot, personally and professionally, under their guidance. One “mentor’”of mine is a woman named Stephanie Louie who is a VP of Operational Risk at Goldman Sachs. Stephanie is an alumna of the same high school I went to, Brooklyn Tech, and we met at a Career Fair I had organized there. She has been giving me advice on everything from business to dating since I was 15, and our mentor-mentee relationship has evolved into a close friendship. When Hurricane Sandy displaced me from the Enstitute HQ, where all the fellows live, Stephanie happily opened up her home for me to crash at.

Another person I consider my mentor is of course Hilary since I look up to her as the business-savvy technologist I hope to be someday. Hilary has not only helped me figure out my strengths and position at bitly but she has also given me access to an incredible network both people-wise and internet-wise (when I was sick at home without access to wifi, she didn’t hesitate at all to give me her mobile wireless hotspot for a week).

What advice do you have for Technovation girls who are considering careers in tech?

Become comfortable with feeling uncomfortable. Whenever you are learning something new (programming, for example) or entering into a field in which you’ve had little to no experience (technology, as another example), you’re likely to feel nervous, lost, and frustrated, but that is normal so don’t let those natural feelings stop you. I talk more about this in a Women2.0 article you can read here.

As a Technovation participant, you have access to great resources and I encourage you to take advantage of everything that is offered. Most importantly, seek opportunities outside of what is directly made available to you. When my team lost the 2011 NY Regional competition, I made an effort to get each one of the judge’s business cards and emailed them afterwards, which ultimately resulted in the internship with Deborah Jackson that led to my application to Enstitute. Don’t be afraid to reach out and ask for something. You’d be surprised how open people within the technology community are to helping.

Jasmine was recently featured in the NYT: Check out the article here.

Droidettes NYC, 2011

Conceptualize, Protype, Remix, and Test Small!

Thu, 09 May 2013 16:22:00 -0400

It’s a great time to learn coding! Everyone from will.i.am to Chris Bosh to Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook are stating the facts: software is now part of all we do, but very few people know how to code. (Check out code.org for more on this).

App Inventor is a great way to start because it lets you program by plugging puzzle pieces together and you get to learn by building cool apps for your phone! Many beginners start by building the apps from the App Inventor book, which are online for free at appinventor.org, along with video of a professor (me!) walking through the creation of the apps. The screencasts are popular with my students at USF and appinventor.org recently reached a million hits.

Build-Conceputalize-Customize-Create

You’ll probably start by stepping through some tutorials rather mechanically, only partially understanding what you’re doing. It’s very important to slow yourself down as you step through and take the time to really understand the language and logic behind what you’re doing. Talk to your teammates about the apps and walk through the blocks on a whiteboard, tracing the blocks and showing how the app’s internal memory (properties and variables) change. Try some of the conceptual questions at appinventor.org (e.g., these about the MoleMash game), or ask your teacher/advisor to ask you some questions. The key is that with programming (or Math) you can’t just memorize, you have to understand!

Once you’ve done some conceptual work, challenge yourself to build something for which you don’t have detailed instructions. The customization exercises at the end of each chapter are good for this, and the video screencasts are setup to encourage trying each part before watching the lesson. The most successful learning strategy I’ve seen is a build-conceptualize-customize-create process.

“The key is that with programming (or Math) you can’t just memorize, you have to understand!”

Prototype

A prototype is an incomplete, unrefined and perhaps buggy version of the app you’re planning to build. Now your grade school teachers would have never allowed such a thing, but in programming, such an unrefined entity has great value. I’d encourage you to create prototypes of your app as you go, even while you’re still thinking of ideas. It is really hard to describe interactive software with text or words, and even a lousy prototype gives you a tangible (okay, virtual) piece of software, something that can help you formulate your ideas. Perhaps most importantly, the prototype allows you to express your idea to others, whether they be potential clients, users, or angel investors. Software engineers way too commonly build solutions where there are no problems— early prototyping and user/client discussions can make sure you don’t fall into this trap.

“I’d encourage you to create prototypes of your app as you go, even while you’re still thinking of ideas.”

Remix

Another important engineering skill is to steal, whoops, I mean remix. With App Inventor, you can make use of the App Inventor Gallery. Here you’ll find hundreds of apps built with App Inventor, and all the apps are open source, meaning you can download the source code (blocks) and remix them for you own app. This is not “cheating”, as long as you provide proper attribution (e.g. in the about page for your app, specify the apps from which you borrowed). As they say, there is no reason to recreate the wheel, so search for apps similar to yours and for programming samples that can help in your own project. You’ll learn a lot by reading the code of others, and heavy reuse of code is how things work in the real world. Rarely, if ever, do programmers begin a project from scratch.

Code a little, test a little

Perhaps the best advice I can give you is this: test as you go, after every few blocks of code. Great software engineers can shift between the big picture design and minute details, a skill that is much harder than it seems. When you are designing, think big and creatively. But when you code the blocks, assign yourself tiny sub-goals, then code and test each part to completion. SaveAs every few minutes, and always have your phone or an emulator running as you code. Failing to do this will ruin your project and/or give you gray hair!

“…when you code the blocks, assign yourself tiny sub-goals, then code and test each part to completion.”

User-Generated and Persistent Data

A major conceptual leap for beginners is when you start to build apps with user-generated data, e.g., apps like Facebook in which the user enters information and expects it to be saved persistently. Suddenly your app becomes more abstract, and you also need to deal with a database. “Persistent” means information that lives on even after an app is closed, and it requires some type of database to save the information. In App Inventor, you can use the TinyDB component to save and retrieve database data. Check out the MakeQuiz/TakeQuiz sample. For an example using Fusion tables, check out the Pizza Party sample.

Have Fun!

Most of all, have fun! Software is changing the world and you can be a leader in this seismic shift! The great thing about App Inventor and programming is that you get to learn by creating, which is the best way. Just follow your instincts, choose a great project that you are passionate about, and always keep in mind that the goal of engineering software is to make someone’s life easier or better. I think you’ll find that you learn a ton and think harder and better than you ever have!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

David Wolber is a professor of Computer Science at the University of San Francisco. He is the author of App Inventor: Create your own Android Apps and the site appinventor.org.

How to Live a Technovation Life

Tue, 07 May 2013 12:10:29 -0400

You might be thinking, “What is a Technovation life and why would I want to live one?” For the last 3 months, I have been a mentor in the Technovation Challenge, a program to encourage young women to become high tech entrepreneurs. This is my fourth Technovation Challenge. For the participants and the mentors, going through the challenge can be thrilling, exhausting, inspiring, exasperating, and amazing. Now that it is over, as a participant, you should reflect on what you’ve learned and consider how you can continue these learnings even after the challenge is over. That’s what I mean when I say “live a Technovation life.”

For all the Technovation participants reading this, think about why you joined the program this year. What did you want to get out of it? And, what did you get out of it? What do you want to learn next? These are important questions because that will frame what you can do to reap continual benefits.

Do you want to learn more about technology?

Take a Computer Science class at your school or go to a camp this summer where you can learn more about computers.
Contact startups or small organizations in your community and see if you can help them with different technology needs. Maybe there’s a small business that could use a website; offer to them build one. You can use free tools, such as WebMatrix from Microsoft, to build a simple website.
Join DreamSpark, www.dreamspark.com, a program offered by Microsoft that gives free tools to students to encourage them to learn and grow.

Do you want to finish your Technovation app?

Continue to work on your app. Use App Inventor to develop your app to a point where you can share it with your peers. App Inventor has many resources available to help you add features. Even though App Inventor has limits, you can accomplish many useful things.

Do you want to continue working with your team?

Meet with your team and decide what project you want to take on next. You can participate in the Technovation Challenge again next year! Encourage your team to work together to further your knowledge so you can build a better app next year.

Do you want to learn more about entrepreneurship?

Finding summer intern opportunities is difficult for young people, but with determination and flexibility, you can find them. Contact a startup and offer your services for the summer. Look for companies that make products for you; contact the company and offer your services to test or give feedback for future products. You will learn more about entrepreneurship by working with entrepreneurs.

Although I have many reasons for getting involved with the Technovation Challenge, a key reason I participate in the Technovation Challenge is because I want to increase the number of women who pursue computer science as a career. I encourage you to continue in technology and to encourage your peers to do the same. Technology has changed the world in many ways. Pursuing a technical career means you help determine the future.

Get involved in something about which you feel passionately. You will benefit and so will others. Go make a difference!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Margaret is the founder and CEO of Innovaspire, a startup revolutionizing how people study. Prior to founding Innovaspire, she accumulated 25 years of experience in the high-tech industry including working at industry leaders such as Apple, Microsoft, and Sun. Margaret has managed small and large engineering organizations as well as led business partnerships. Margaret taught high school for four years and she created the curriculum and taught the first Technovation Challenge. Each summer, Margaret offers internships to Technovation participants, mentoring them and encouraging them to continue their pursuit of technology-related careers.

Tips for Submitting Your App

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 13:38:00 -0400

Congratulations, Technovation teams, you are entering the last week of the Challenge. Below is my general advice for getting the maximum score on each part of the rubric. Our judges are a mix of Technovation mentors (previous and current), previous judges and guest speakers, and industry experts. To make things fair, all judges will only review submissions from outside of their region (e.g. a San Francisco mentor will not judge any San Francisco teams). Reach out to me with your questions or any help editing/refining.

Is your app a good solution to a problem in your local community?

A good problem is specific and relatable to a set of users. It can also be explained in one or two sentences. For example, the GasBuddy app helps drivers solve the problem of finding the least expensive fuel in their area. With gas prices rising, drivers need to be able to find fast ways to save money. You probably know someone who has shared how expensive gas is — what a problem! Well, here is a solution.

“Finding local volunteering opportunities” is not a specific or relatable problem. When was the last time you heard someone say, “I wish I could find more volunteering opportunities”? More likely you have heard. “I’m bored this weekend… I wish I had ideas about what to do,” or, “Wow, Hurricane Sandy was devastating, I wish there was something I could do,” or, “I was completing my college application essays and realized I have nothing to say for an essay that asks about my community service.” Each of these are separate problems for separate potential users. Instead of trying to create an app that solves a hypothetical problem for everyone, think about how you would solve a real problem for a specific set of users.

Do you understand the size of your app market?

Who is the market for GasBuddy? Drivers with smart phones. If you wanted to know the size of your target market, you could try finding out from driver societies such as AAA in the United States or maybe even from websites or publications for no-text-while-driving groups.

If I wanted to focus on a market for the problems

I outlined above, I may focus on teenagers with smart phones and add to that information about how many teenagers use apps or websites to find activities or volunteer opportunities.

Do you understand your competition and how your app is different?

If you have not done so already, go to Google Play or the Apple store and type all of the keywords that could relate to your app. As you are doing this research, think about how your potential users will find you. As you look at the apps that come up, check the number of downloads, their price, stars, and feedback. For example, you may see that an app similar to yours has comments such as “too expensive,” and, “the button for ___________ is hard to read.” Think about what feedback you can apply to making your app a better version of what those users want.

Do you convey your understanding of computer programming?

When you explain your app’s features and functionality, feel free to explain how you made the screen and/or workflow on App Inventor. These short comments will also demonstrate that your process and decisions have been deliberate.

Does your Pitch explain your business plan? and Is your Pitch clear and concise?

The business plan explains how you would make your app happen. Eliminate filler words such as “very,” “important,” etc. Educate and explain through information. Not great: “We looked at other apps and we think our app is very competitive and better, and a lot of people will buy it. We plan to share it on Facebook.” Better: “From the 10 similar apps on the market, ours is the only to have the ___________ feature, which allows users to ___________ For this reason, we are pricing our app at $3.99 at the higher end of the range for other apps on the market ($_ - _). We believe that our target user is someone who ___________. For this reason, we believe we can best reach them [at these special interest websites/places/etc.].” Review Week 2: Market Research for ideas on how to investigate your market.

You may want to write a script before you film your video. Try to make your point first and then explain the logic for that point. Sometimes explaining before you make your point makes the listener impatient. When you make your point first they are more likely to understand and appreciate the logic of what you say after.

Do you leverage the capabilities of the platform you are using?

An app is a product meant to be used on a smartphone. In general, stick to ideas that make sense for people to use on their phone. For example, you would not probably make an app to use on an airplane, since most of the flight the phone needs to be turned off.

Leveraging a platform can also be realizing that you can do something on App Inventor and using that knowledge to improve the app.

Is your app a good representation of your vision?

As mentioned earlier, make your app specific. For example, ElementQuest, the finalist app for New York City last year, showed how their app taught chemistry by focusing on one element. In their pitch, they explained how a user would learn all about the element helium and showed the screens that the user would see. This specific example helped the judges understand two things 1) what the app looked like and 2) how a user would interact with the app. They were then in a better position to assess whether the app was actually helping students learn chemistry.

Do you have a practical vision for extending the capabilities of their apps beyond the prototype?

Going back to ElementQuest, the team shared how they envisioned creating a screen for each element and having the users purchase a portion of the Periodic Table of Elements.

Does your app have adequate functionality?

Teams will be at different stages in their app development, and that is completely fine. What you have created as far as screens, particularly if they link to each other, please share in your pitch.

Is your app visually appealing? and Is the app user-interface intuitive and easy to use?

When you pitch, explain any key features that have gone through observation and testing.

Review Week 3: User-Centered Design to make sure your app makes sense to users. Have other non-Technovation people (preferably your target users) use the app. For example, if I made an app for an older age group, I might assume that they use their index finger to type (instead of their thumbs), so that may influence where I position the buttons on my screen. I may observe a few people in that age group typing on their phones. Then I would have them try the screen or app I have created to make sure I got the design right.

I hope my advice has been helpful. Wherever you are in your process, please make sure to submit your deliverables by April 13. It is a huge accomplishment to have a product ready to pitch. Give it everything you’ve got and who knows? Maybe I will see you in San Francisco on May 2nd.

Good luck!

Angélica Torres

E-Mail: Angelica (at) IridescentLearning (dot) org

Senior Director, Technovation Challenge

We meet the Innogators, two Technovation teams from the...

Wed, 27 Mar 2013 12:45:30 -0400

We meet the Innogators, two Technovation teams from the Castilleja School, as they work on their apps and pitch videos.

Getting Feedback for Fantastic Apps!

Tue, 26 Mar 2013 09:23:54 -0400

So you’re building a mobile app? That’s awesome! Dreaming up a hot new app can be so much fun. There are a lot of steps to learn, like designing, programming, testing, and marketing. One of the most important, but sometimes less obvious, steps to creating a successful app is collecting and integrating feedback. Feedback helps us make apps that people actually use and love!

Imagine this, you spend three months building a tutoring app for your history class only to discover that everyone needs help with math instead – oops! If you had only talked to your classmates before you built the app you might have known. As product designers we want to build apps that people actually use and love! (Tip: If you start with an app you actually want yourself, there’s a good chance others will too!)

START NOW

So, what’s the best way to start collecting feedback? The most important part is to start now! It’s never too early. You can get feedback on an idea, or with a simple drawing of what your app might look like. Ask your friends, classmates, parents, or whoever you are building the app for to tell you what they think. It is big mistake to wait until your app is designed and built before talking to your customers!

GET FEEDBACK AT EVERY STEP

Here are some examples of ways to collect feedback:

Interviews: Talk to people one-on-one right from the start while your app is still an idea. Ask them about their needs and issues. Ask them what they’re already using for this problem. But keep in mind that sometimes people don’t know exactly what they want or what they will use later on.

Prototype testing: As soon as you create the first elements of your app, get it in front of customers for testing. It doesn’t even have to be coded, you can just show people pictures and ask them to pretend that it’s an app. Ask them what they think the app is for. Ask them how they would use it. Try to not give them all the answers – just ask questions and watch what they do! Remember that no matter how clear and intuitive your app may seem to you, it might actually be confusing to other people, and feedback is how you find out.

Beta testing: Once you have a functional version of your app, get it to a few people for regular use and ongoing feedback—it’s ok if it has bugs because that’s the whole point! Your beta testers might be your team, your friends, your community, or all three. It’s hard to see all the bugs and kinks as clearly as someone with a fresh set of eyes can, so definitely get a second opinion (and third, and fourth…).

Usage data: Asking people what they think about your app is one thing, but actually finding out if they use it is another. As the saying goes, actions speak louder than words! Customers might like the idea behind your app, and like how the app looks, but still not use it. As product designers, we need to know if, and how, people are using our apps so we can make them better. If you have access to analytics tools, make sure to use them. If not, you can ask your beta testers how often they log in and what features they use. At bare minimum think about how often you and your team actually use the app – if you don’t use it, why would anyone else?

Get multiple perspectives: Don’t just talk to one person—what is true for them may not be true for others! If you want to build a tutoring app, talk to students in more than one class. Ask teachers what they think is most needed. Talk to the tutoring center and see if they have advice. Check out other tutoring apps in the app store. You get the idea!

UNDERSTAND YOUR CUSTOMER

Getting feedback also helps you identify more clearly who your customers are, so you can keep them in mind as you build your app. Ask yourself, “Who is this app for?” and “What problem does this app solve?” Don’t make the mistake of thinking that your app has to be everything to everyone! Start with one specific use for one specific group. Even if your big vision is to make an app as popular as Facebook, it’s best to start small and get that right before expanding to the whole world.

INTEGRATING FEEDBACK: FIRST THINGS FIRST

After collecting feedback and understanding your customers a little more, use that feedback to make your app better (otherwise, what’s the point?). Based on the kind of feedback you get, it might be really clear what to do next, but often we have a huge pile of feedback and need to figure out what to do with it.

So what should you do? Review the feedback with your team and figure out what is most important. Then make a prioritized list of the changes you want to make. In the beginning, big ideas can help you decide which direction to go with your app. Later down the line, more specific feedback can help you decide which bug fixes and feature requests to work on to take your app to the next level. In any case, focus on big wins and don’t get bogged down in the details. You will not be able to respond to all the feedback you collect—that’s just how it goes!

ITERATE AS YOU GO

This process of taking feedback and applying it to your app is called iteration—it’s like evolution for technology! The key to iteration is that it’s not just one step, it’s a continual process you use to improve your app again and again. So don’t just apply feedback once and then stop. Your work is not done! The best products continue to grow and change over time.

Here’s how iteration works:

1. Make something

2. Get feedback

3. Make it better

4. Repeat

Yup, that’s it! So help your app evolve by continually improving it with all the wonderful feedback you collect and new information you gain as you build your product.

IF YOU LOVE IT, LET IT GROW

When we design and build an app we can become really attached to it. It’s natural to think of it as our baby! After all, it takes a lot of passion and dedication to get a new product off the ground. But we need to be careful not to hold onto our expectations too tightly. Try to stay open to new information—don’t let your perspective, or bias, stop you from taking in tips that would make your app better.

Imagine that as you are getting feedback about your tutoring app you find out that people are actually using it to ask questions about their personal relationships and career options more than for help with classes. If you step back you might see that what you actually have is an advice app instead. Ask your team if they are ok with that and consider loosening your grip a little and letting your app change direction from tutor to advisor! This process of changing direction is called pivoting, and it is very common.

TAKE IT WITH A GRAIN OF SALT

Keep in mind that your app may not click with everyone, so don’t get discouraged if a few people don’t like it or don’t understand it. Also, try not to take feedback personally. When people give critical feedback about our products and how to make them better, we can sometimes feel protective and defensive. Remember that it’s not about you—it’s about the app! Think of it as “feedback not failure” and take it with a grain of salt. Even the best products have bugs and unhappy users, so do the best you can, and don’t sweat the rest!

WRAP IT UP, SHIP IT OUT

I hope by now it is clear why collecting and incorporating user feedback is so important. You can’t wait to start talking to your customers, huh? I knew it!

Let’s end with lightening fast review so you can get on with making a rockin’ app!

Get feedback at every step and from multiple perspectives

Understand your customer—you can’t be everything to everyone

Prioritize your feedback—focus on big win

Iterate as you go—help your app evolve

If you love it, let it grow—let your app be its own person

Take it with a grain of salt—it’s feedback, not failure

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Rose Broome combines her love of data with the power of technology to create health, happiness, and positive transformation in the world. Currently, she works as a data and research consultant for technology, health, and academic organizations including a collaboration between SuperBetter Labs and UPenn’s Positive Psychology Center. Rose likes to mix it up, and previously worked with Inigral Inc., Stanford University, and Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign.

My Game Development Story: Dorothy Finnigan

Fri, 22 Mar 2013 17:08:00 -0400

We sat down with Slow Life Games Co-founder Dorothy Finnigan to learn about her path to game development. Slow Life Games recently released their new game Ivory Tower Defenders and are proud to announce that it has made its way to the top 50 Strategy Games on the App Store.

Tell us about Ivory Tower Defenders. What inspired the idea for this app? Were there others like it on the market?

College was one of the most dramatic times I can remember. Everything about it was epic: the buildings, the Professors, the stress. But it wasn’t just students like me who were stressed about keeping up with classes and activities and friends, it seemed like Professors were stressed about getting published and earning tenure.

We set our game in a University with Professors and Slackers as characters because it was even more exciting to us than a fantasy setting. I don’t know of any other games that used the same theme and tone that we did.

There are other tower defense games on the market. But we added something to the design of our tower defense game: instead of having “runners” try to get across the screen and off the other side, our runners try to take their seats on screen. The result is a lot of variation in gameplay because one student taking a seat can alter the playing-field dramatically.

How long did it take from coming up with the idea to creating your first prototype, and what did that look like (e.g. did you make it on paper first)?

It took about 2 months to create our first interactive prototype. We didn’t do much paper sketching. Instead, we used GameSalad. Our first interactive prototype didn’t have any graphics to speak of, it was just a shape walking on screen to a designated location while another shape threw projectiles at it.

What features took longer to get right? Can you walk us through some of those features? What can you tell us about learning from failures during the development process?

The pathfinding was the most difficult programming puzzle to solve. We have different rules for different students: Straight As always try to sit in the front row, Slackers always try to sit in the back. When a student is defeated on the way to a seat, all other students need to recalculate their trajectories. It got complicated!

Memory leaks and memory management were also difficult to deal with. We actually started development on Ivory Tower Defenders over 3 years ago using a game engine called iTorque. When we were nearing the finish line with iTorque, we ran into major memory leak issues that prevented us from completing it. We then switched to Corona and had to start building the code again from scratch.

Corona has turned out to be great and it’s able to create apps for both iOS and Android. We learned that picking the right platform is critical. Find a community that has a lot of energy behind it and a lot of active users on its developer forums. That way, you have people to turn to when you need help. And in the case of Corona, their developers are always working to fix bugs and make their tool better.

How did you decide how much to charge for your app (our teams have to create a business plan along with their app to compete in our program)?

We wanted to get as many people playing our game as possible while still charging something. That’s why we picked the lowest price possible: $0.99. Our goals is to be able to make more games, and we hope that by gaining fans for Ivory Tower Defenders we can do that.

You have a unique background in things you’ve studied and done. What were the experiences that helped the most in getting you where you are today and creating this app?

I performed as a juggler on the street and paid my way around the world when I was 18. Street performing is like the app marketplace because there’s nothing between me and the audience. I get to make something people will find entertaining; I put it out there, and if they like it, they can choose to pay.

And, like street performing, I like that people don’t have to spend much to be entertained. What makes street performing work is that you have a lot of people in your audience, each paying a little. The same is true for app development. If we can get a lot of players, then no one has to pay more than $0.99.

What is your advice to middle and high school girls that are participating in Technovation Challenge?

Don’t give up.

Many more people start games than finish them. It took us over 3 years to get this game published. But I’m so glad we didn’t give up when the first game engine didn’t work out.

In the past, women were prevented from learning to read and write in order to keep them them from gaining positions of power within society.

In the modern world, technology is power.

By studying technology, you’re gaining the skills to be one of the builders of art and creators of culture. We need you!

Dorothy grew up traveling in a motor home with her family, teaching juggling at schools around the country. As an 18 year old, she street performed solo around the world, then, settled down to become a Yale student. After a few years at Yale she decided to pursue other interests. That’s when she founded “Slow Life Games” along with her partner, Django. Check out Ivory Tower Defenders on the App Store or Google Play! Contact Dorothy @Slow_Life_Games or Dorothy(at)slowlifegames(dot)com

Why Technovation? Hear it straight from our girls!

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 18:03:03 -0400

Why Technovation? Hear it straight from our girls!

Mentor Spotlight: Madeline Foster Martinez

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 20:17:00 -0400

In this week’s spotlight is Maddie Foster Martinez, a graduate student at UC Berkeley. Maddie has been a long time supporter of Iridescent through her amazing work at our NYC Science Studio and beyond! This year she is virtually mentoring a team in Jirapa, Ghana. We sat down with her to learn about her team and more.

Can you tell us how you first learned about Iridescent, and what your involvement was like from the beginning?

My favorite professor from college, Professor Toby Cumberbatch, first told me about Iridescent. One of his former students had recommended him to Tara as a good contact for expanding Iridescent to New York. I love engineering but part of me has always wanted to become a teacher so when I heard about the Engineers as Teachers program, I jumped at the opportunity to be involved. We ran a pilot Family Science Night the next semester, and within the blink of an eye, Iridescent New York was established and flourishing.

What made you decide to become a mentor for Technovation this year?
Again, I owe it to Professor Cumberbatch. He told me he was bringing computers and cellphones to St. Francis, a school for girls in Jirapa, Ghana, so they could participate in Technovation. I immediately thought it was a great idea that would benefit both the girls from St. Francis and the Technovation program. Having spent two summers living in Jirapa, I am familiar with the area and the school and was lucky enough to be picked for the job of mentor.

What has it been like mentoring a team in Jirapa, Ghana, virtually? What have you learned so far?

To be honest, it has been extremely frustrating and eye-opening to see how hindered the girls are by the lack of resources and infrastructure. They would like to be working more often and to connect with the other teams, but electricity and the internet are not always available. Whenever we are able to connect, they are super excited about programming and being inventors.

Can you tell us a story about a time you struggled in school, or professionally, and what you did to overcome it?
During college, I applied for a summer research position in the Department of Earth, Ocean, and Environment at the University of Delaware. I was so excited when I was accepted to the oceanography division. I just couldn’t wait to do research on the ocean, but when I got there, I was informed that my entire project would be computer programming. I was devastated and super anxious. I had never programmed before nor did I ever have the desire to learn, but I had no choice. I decided to stick it out and do the best I could. It was pretty frustrating at first, but by the end of the summer I was programming like a mad woman. And I liked it!

You are currently studying Civil Engineering at UC Berkeley. Can you tell us about your decision to pursue engineering as a career?
I’ve always loved the practicality of engineering, and its capacity to change the world for the better. Our society hasn’t always made the best engineering choices, especially when it comes to the environment. I chose to become an environmental engineer because I want to be a part of creating new solutions to our engineering challenges. For example, I am taking a class on ways to clean the water we use using plants and natural processes, rather than chemicals and machinery that uses electricity.

What is graduate school like? What is your favorite part?
I couldn’t be happier about my decision to go to graduate school. This past year I’ve gotten to learn about all the subjects that I’m interested in. I’m just in the beginning stages of figuring out my own research so I get to explore different topics and ideas all the time. My favorite part is being surrounded by people that are all incredibly talented and just as excited as I am to be studying engineering.

What advice do you have for Technovation girls who are new to the program?
Ask lots and lots of questions! Even more importantly, make sure you get answers you are satisfied with. I know exactly what it’s like to ask a question, get an answer, and shake your head in agreement, when really you have no idea what the person is trying to explain. That response helps no one! Make sure you get an answer you understand. Sometimes this may require you to do some digging on your own, but who knows? That question may turn into your career one day!

The Power of Great Presentation Slides

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 19:42:00 -0400

A powerful presentation invites the audience to be part of a movement. It is the moment to touch people and mobilize them into action — to fight for a cause, to buy a product that makes their lives better or, in your case, to fund the project you have worked so hard to build. In Technovation Challenge, the pitch is the moment the teams have to build a relationship of trust with the judges who must believe in the potential of the project and the capacity of the teams to execute it well. A set of slides can be one of the most valuable resources to support your pitch and convince the judges to fund your project. What makes a great set of slides?

Your presentation tells a story.

The most effective set of slides tell a story with a beginning, middle and end. In the 2012 Technovation Challenge National Pitch event, the keynote speaker, venture capitalist Ben Horowitz, gave what he considers the best piece of advice on how to make good presentations: 1) have a big opening; 2) make a strong close; 3) keep number 1 and number 2 as close together as possible.

Your presentation touches hearts.

We are most likely not to forget a story that we identify with. Make use of characters and real examples to create an emotional link with the audience. The following is an example commonly used to promote this idea: “In 1748, the British politician and aristocrat John Montagu, the 4th Earl of Sandwich, spent a lot of his free time playing cards. He greatly enjoyed eating a snack while still keeping one hand free for the cards. So he came up with the idea to eat beef between slices of toast, which would allow him to finally eat and play cards at the same time. Eating his newly invented ‘sandwich,’ the name for two slices of bread with meat in between, became one of the most popular meal inventions in the Western world”. What is interesting about this example is that you are not likely to ever forget the story of who invented the sandwich. Or at least, much less likely to do so, if it would have been presented in a purely information- based form.

Your presentation is visual.

Take advantage of pictures and videos and get rid of bullet points. Images must reinforce the messages of your speech and transmit feelings that you are otherwise not able to communicate. Show faces, smiles, symbols, graphs, footage, real people. Bring your slides to life!

Your slides are not the center of attention.

Your slides should not overshadow what you have to say. Never put in your slides the transcription of your speech, or meaningless bullet points that simply outline what you are saying. An audience should not have to decide whether to listen to you or read your slides. Effective slides are clean and very, very straight to the point.

Your presentation is consistent.

Be clear about your key message — ensure that everything in your presentation is both consistent with, and supportive of, that key message. Make use of the same style and tone by using the language that feels right for your story.

Slide Credits: Mariana Rutigliano and Garr Reynolds

About the author:

Telling stories is a great part of Mariana Rutigliano’s career. Formerly a journalist, she began her journey by creating her school newspaper and supporting students to identify stories and write the news. After this experience, she joined the global company Unilever’s Marketing department, where she created and watched many boring and cold presentations. She learned about the power of good stories when working closely with planners in the Brazilian communication agency, Aktuell, where most of the strategies were sold to clients in the form of beautifully visual stories. She is currently Iridescent’s Dissemination Director and spends much of her time producing videos and presentations. The objective of her work is to convince people to join the movement of supporting children and youth to move from passive learning and become inventors, creators, scientists, and engineers. Mariana is from Brazil, lives in San Francisco, and is mentoring a Brazilian team of girls that is competing in the 2013 Technovation Challenge.

What Career in Technology Is Right for YOU?

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 14:14:30 -0400

There are many different career options in technology, and it can be overwhelming to figure out what the differences are among those options and what might be the best fit for you. In addition, there are many different types of technology companies out there, including software companies, hardware companies and biotech companies. Today we’ll focus on some of the typical careers in software companies.

Consider an example of a hypothetical mobile phone application, “FashionWithFriends,” that allows you and your friends to borrow and lend items from your closets. Let’s imagine a small product development team that is responsible for creating the app. The team is made up of employees in the role of product manager, UI designer, developer, quality engineer, technical writer, and program manager. We’ll go through each role below and outline what kind of activities people in that role would do to deliver the FashionWithFriends application. In addition, sales, support, and marketing staff, although not discussed here, are essential to ensure that the application finds and keeps an audience.

About the application

A small start-up company has decided to build the application that will make it easier for friends to find items to borrow and to lend out their own items. The idea behind FashionWithFriends is that girls (and some boys!) would like to extend their own wardrobes by borrowing clothes from their friends (or even friends of friends). For the first version, the application (or “app”) will allow users to sign up for an account using an email address, and after that they can enter details about themselves including their name, size, and preferred style of clothing. Once they are signed up, they are able to post pictures and details about their own items of clothing that they are interested in lending out as well as browse other users’ clothing (narrowing their search by location and size, if desired).

Let’s now take a look at some of the career options in more detail:

Product Manager

A product manager is responsible for defining exactly what the application is and for providing details about how it will be used. Her job is to imagine what it is like to be a user of the application and to ensure it meets the needs of those users. For FashionWithFriends, the product manager will conduct market research, and competitive research to find out if there are other apps out there like it. She is responsible for determining what features are the highest priorities for the user. For example, she may decide that, for the first version, the highest priority is a search screen that allows the user to search for available items based on size. She may also decide that searching by location is not an absolutely necessary feature and that it is fine to release the first version of the software without it. Prioritization is important because the team will not be able to build all the features for the first release, and to be successful the features that are built first need to be the ones that are needed most.

A product manager is responsible for defining exactly what the application is and for providing details about how it will be used.

As a product gets more and more users, it is essential that the product manager understands what extra functionality the users want, as well as what the users don’t like about the app. Checking out the reviews of the app that may be posted online, as well as reaching out to specific users to get their input, are important parts of this job and can often determine whether or not an app is successful. If it weren’t for the product manager, FashionWithFriends could be a pretty application but just not provide the functionality that a user needs.

If you enjoy solving common problems people have, making decisions, defining what a product should be, and working with a team, product management may be a good career for you.

UI Designer

The “look and feel” of an application is very important. “Look and Feel” refers to the way that an application appears to users and how it acts (for example, what happens when a button is pushed). If users don’t have a good experience with the application, they could decide not to use it or, even worse, write bad reviews about it! The UI Designer’s job is to design the overall experience for the users when they are using the application. The application needs to be easy to understand, fun to use, and aesthetically pleasing. For FashionWithFriends, the UI Designer would determine what the layout of each screen is, what fields go where, and what happens when the user taps or swipes different parts of the screen.

If you love design, solving problems, have a sense of aesthetics, and like to understand how humans interact with computers, you might want to consider a career in UI Design.

Developer

The developer actually builds the application, writing software code to implement the design. She works closely with the product manager, UI designer, and quality engineer to ensure she is building the right functionality and that the application works as expected. Being a developer is like being an architect or a car designer. She takes input from the customers and product manager, and figures out how to make it work in the code. She will discuss with others what can be done and why; she will figure out all the details in the design; and she will determine how to do it elegantly and efficiently.

If you really like to be “hands on” and love programming and creating things, a career in development could be for you.

Being a developer is like being an architect or a car designer. She takes input from the customers and product manager, and figures out how to make it work in the code.

Quality Engineer

The quality engineer is responsible for ensuring that the application works as it is supposed to, and she must be passionate about ensuring there are no weird errors (bugs!) in the application. A good quality engineer knows the best way to test the application and can come up with test cases to make sure that the app acts as expected. For example, when a user searches for dresses that are size 12, does the app actually return dresses that are size 12? In addition, she may come up with all kinds of crazy test cases to make sure the application can handle odd things that might be thrown at it – for example, what happens if someone enters a string of nonsense characters in the size field?

The quality engineer could also ensure that the application honors quotas (how many items a user can check out at a time) by trying to add more items than the user is allowed. While some testing can be done manually (where someone literally enters details on each screen and acts as if they were using the application), most companies now invest heavily in quality engineering automation. Automation allows quality engineers to write code and create automated tests so that the computer effectively mimics what the user is doing, performing sequences of tests to run thousands of times without involving human intervention.

If you are passionate about making things work properly, like to “break” things, like to find mistakes in applications, and like to have a good overall understanding of how an application works, then quality engineering may be a good role for you.

Technical Writer

Most applications have some kind of documentation that helps users learn more about the application and how to use it. A technical writer creates this documentation. She must have a thorough understanding of what the application does, and she needs to be skilled at writing to make sure the instructions are clear. Users often refer to the help provided by an application, and if the documentation is confusing it could result in a negative experience for the user, and it could reflect poorly on the company.

If you love to write, enjoy understanding how to use applications, and have good communication skills, technical writing could be a great career for you.

Program Manager

A program manager is often described as the “glue” that holds everything together. She is always keeping an eye on the big picture and the overall goal of the project. Her job is to make sure everyone is aligned and focused on the same thing, to ensure that every member of the team knows exactly what they are working on, and to see how everyone’s individual work fits into the overall product. She is responsible for removing any blockers that the team might experience—for example, the quality engineer may not be able to complete testing due to an issue in the automated testing system, and the program manager would be on top of that issue to make sure it got resolved. In addition, she reports status to the company’s executives so that they know what is going on and are kept up to date on any significant issues or delays.

A program manager is often described as the “glue” that holds everything together.

For FashionWithFriends, the program manager would not only work with the team mentioned here, she would also be working with people in marketing and sales so that everything is in place to get the application launched into the market.

If you like working with a variety of different people, love the challenge of solving problems, and have great communication and collaboration skills, the role of program manager could be a good one for you.

Summary

As you can see, it takes many different people in different roles to build an application. A common theme among all of these roles is that they require a love of problem solving and an ability to put yourself in the user’s shoes. Regardless of the role, all employees must be able to work as part of a team, and they must understand that it takes people working together and great teamwork to successfully build an application.

A common theme among all of these roles is that they require a love of problem solving and an ability to put yourself in the user’s shoes.

This discussion is only a small sample of the different career options in software development, but hopefully it has demystified some of the more common jobs that are available in the industry.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Josie Gillan is currently a Director of Quality Engineering at salesforce.com. She has held a variety of different positions in technology, including developer, database administrator, development manager, and technical program manager before finding her niche as a quality engineering manager. She currently leads the salesforce.com Women in Technology Outreach team whose charter is to promote STEMs to girls. Josie is originally from New Zealand, and now lives in the Bay Area with her husband, two kids, and a new puppy. Follow Josie on twitter at @JosieGillan.

Technovation HSHM team Tech Girls show us their version of the...

Tue, 12 Mar 2013 13:18:26 -0400

Technovation HSHM team Tech Girls show us their version of the Harlem Shake!

Mentor Spotlight: Trish Fontanilla

Tue, 12 Mar 2013 12:49:53 -0400

In this week’s spotlight is Trish Fontanilla, the Community Manager at Vsnap. Not only is Trish a returning mentor, she is actually mentoring two teams this year! She is mentoring a local Boston team from the Advanced Math and Science Academy, and another team from Valley Christian School and Dougherty Vally HS in San Jose, CA. Since last year, Trish has shown her dedication in many ways for example, when she organized a field trip in the fall to MassChallenge, a startup accelerator at the Boston waterfront, and where Vsnap is currently located.

TRISH’S INTERVIEW WITH US:

Tell us about your background. Where did you grow up? What was your school experience like? What did you study in college? Include anything else you’d like to share about your youth.

I grew up in a small town in New Jersey where I was a bit of an odd duck. My father was a chemist and an inventor, so like him, I was constantly coming up with different “inventions” or ways to approach things. Mostly to get myself out of trouble. My quirky sense of self and behavior didn’t make me the most popular girl in school, but by the time I was in 8th grade, I had honed my awkwardness and turned it into comedy. I even scored the title of Class Clown that year. I then went on to an all girls high school that my parents picked for me. My freshman year I was slightly rebellious, but when I realized they weren’t going to transfer me, I started to join clubs instead of complaining about them. By my senior year, I was president of my class. In 2002, I moved to Boston to attend Emerson College. I originally got in as a Media Studies major, but dropped it the first day of school. To get inspired, I joined the majority of the clubs on campus. I was a camerawoman for the nightly news, did stage crew for a theatre group, wrote for one of the literary magazines, led volunteer projects with the service club, was a DJ for the on-campus radio station, jumped in as an orientation leader, and much more. Class-wise, while I was figuring out what I wanted to do, I had an amazing advisor who made sure I was covering all my core requirements. Because of her, I completed most of my requirements by the end of my sophomore year. It was then that I settled on Writing Literature and Publishing as a major. And when I graduated in the fall of 2005, I also had minors in Psychology and Performance Studies.

What was it like studying writing in college? What did you like most about your classes?

It was pretty amazing. I took every writing class under the sun: magazine, sketch comedy, sitcom, playwrighting, poetry, fiction, and screenwriting. What I liked most is actually what I hated most: workshops. During most workshops, people got to comment on what you wrote and you weren’t allowed to say anything until the end. It was incredible. Excruciating, but incredible. It taught me to always put out my best work. It’s easier to defend when you know you’ve done your best. Also, no matter what you do or where you go, the ability to convey your message via text is invaluable. And on the flip side, being able to give constructive criticism is also an great quality to have.

How did you get your job now? What do you like the most about it? What do you do at work besides code?

It’s a bit of a crazy story. You can read the whole version here: https://bit.ly/sye5zv But the cliff’s notes are: In May of 2011, I was leaving Boston after 9 years because I was looking for a job I could be passionate about and I just hadn’t found it here. Mid-May I went to an amazing networking event so that I could say bye to friends and pick up some last minute freelancing work. My now boss saw me tweeting about it and we met up at the event. 2 days later and less than a half hour into our discussion he offered me a job as employee #2 at Vsnap. Turns out he had been talking to mutual friends and people within the community about my me/work. It took me a week to say yes. I was totally scared and had never worked at a startup full time, plus it would be just me and him to start. But helping to build a company has been exhilarating. Most days I wake up in the morning excited to go to work. And it’s been 2 years of that so far.

My title is community manager, which is generally creating content, managing all the social media channels, demoing at events, customer service, some PR/marketing, community building, and arguably being the face of the company. But being a startup, I’ve learned a lot about product, user interface, QA, reporting bugs, documenting features, and more. If I wasn’t at Vsnap, I may not be a mentor for Technovation, because a lot of community managers don’t have a chance to get as close to the product as I have.

What do you do outside of work?

My passions are volunteering, music, and community. I’m a volunteer leader for Boston Cares and have worked with about 50 non-profits in Boston since I moved here. I love music and go to shows when I can. Last year I did Ladies Rock Campaign, which throws a group of women together to create a band, learn instruments and perform the music they write all within a weekend. It’s a benefit for Girls Rock Campaign, which is a week long version of LRC, focusing on empowering girls, building confidence, and fostering collaboration. It’s like the musical version of Technovation. I also get involved with the startup community as much as possible. I think the key to being a great community manager, is being an awesome community member. I’ve also been on the events committee for Wonder Women of Boston and the Asian American Women in Leadership Conference.

You are mentoring two teams this year— one in Boston and one in SF. Can you tell us how this is going, what you are learning, and what you feel are the advantages of each?

Last year, I had the chance to meet with my team every week. While I loved seeing the girls and getting to know them, sometimes it took some time to focus. This year, mentoring both teams virtually has allowed us to focus and use our time together more efficiently. Although it does cut out some of the bonding time because of that focus. I think the perfect scenario would be a mixture of both in-person and virtual mentoring.

What do you know now that you wish you had known as a teenager?

It’s okay to have a non-linear life. I’m a first generation Filipino American. My parents came here in the ‘60s, but had relatively straightforward career paths. I thought that I would have it all figured out by the time I graduated college. I didn’t, and that’s okay. I love my current job, and I tap into different lessons and skills I learned in all the different jobs and industries I’ve worked in. I took a lot of risks and I wouldn’t have done it any other way.

If you could teach one “lesson” to all the girls participating in Technovation this year (something additional to the curriculum we currently have), what would it be? What do you feel is most important for girls to learn as they develop a high tech product?

Be passionate about what you’re working on. No matter how many competitors you may have, your team and the execution will differentiate you. People may be able to replicate your ideas or features, but they won’t be able to replicate the enthusiasm you can bring to the product or the community that will rally behind you because of it.

Rinse and Repeat: How to Start a Business

Thu, 07 Mar 2013 17:53:12 -0500

Think about an app or gadget you love to use. Is it Instagram? Is it Snapchat? Your smart phone? Whatever it is, at some point it did not exist. At some point someone out there decided that there was something missing in the world or they wanted to make the world a better place. An entrepreneur is someone who feels this way and makes something to create the world they want to see. When this something makes money, it is a business. If it does not make money, then it’s just a hobby. You do not have to have an MBA or a PhD to start a business. Anyone, no matter how young or old, can be an entrepreneur. You just need to have ideas, perseverance, and an iterative framework to test your ideas until you find one that makes money, in other words, creates revenue.

“An entrepreneur is someone who… makes something to create the world they want to see.”

My first entrepreneurship experience was when I was a little girl of 7 years old. We had a bird farm. I would train my father’s parakeets to stand on a finger and be pet by a human. When my father sold the parakeet I would get a cut of the sales price. My idea was that people want their pet parakeets to be nice and affectionate. A parakeet that was not trained would not sell for as much as one that was. In this way I was able to test out my idea and make some money. Now it’s your turn!

The steps below will guide you in starting a business:

Ideation

Ideation is the process of creating ideas. At this point no idea is good or bad. Do not worry if your idea does not seem like the most incredible idea ever. It does not have to be unique to become a business. Facebook was not the first social network. Think of MySpace. Generally the first place to begin creating ideas is to “scratch your own itch.” This is a phrase that means if you already have the problem or know the problem very well, you are probably the best person to come up with ideas to fix it. If nothing jumps out at you, just pick a problem area and analyze it. For instance, what is your morning routine when you get up and go to school? Is there anything that could make it a better experience? Once you identify an idea or set of ideas, then you want validate you then have a solution that will work for more than just yourself or a small circle of friends. This is one of the first steps in defining the business model for your idea. We will discuss the business model next. Remember, this is an iterative process. No entrepreneur ended up being successful with the first idea he or she had. The goal is to validate your idea, learn, modify it, and validate again until you have a profitable business model.

“No entrepreneur ended up being successful with the first idea he or she had. The goal is to validate your idea, learn, modify it, and validate again until you have a profitable business model.”

Business Model

It is time to fill in the blanks that will take your idea from a dream to a revenue producing product or service. A business model is similar to a detective story. There is a set of questions that you must answer to solve the case and this will take some investigation. Below is a table, which will help you understand the questions to ask so you can formulate a business model for your product. Notice I am not calling it an idea any more. It’s time for that idea to mature into a tangible product. Just like a growing child, this product will have to learn through trial and error until it can stand up by itself. Failing is expected and fine as long as you learn from it and then try again with the new learnings. It is a fun experience to get out there and test your product. The steps below are not a junior way of starting a business. These are the questions every entrepreneur must answer.

“A business model is similar to a detective story. There is a set of questions that you must answer to solve the case and this will take some investigation.”

Let’s get started! You’re now an entrepreneur!

Value Proposition

The value proposition is key to building your product. In simplest terms, the value proposition can be stated in one sentence. It’s like playing Mad Libs.

____[insert product/service name]___ WILL HELP ____[insert customer description]____ TO____ [insert the problem being solved]____ _____[insert secret sauce]____

Example:

A self-driving car will help mothers with many children be able to make sure every child will always have a ride even if she is busy with another child.

At the beginning, a value proposition statement is just a hypothesis, which needs to be validated. Talk to who you think is the target customer. This will validate if your hypothesis is a real life problem that people want fixed. In the case above, a good group of people to ask about this value proposition would be mothers who have multiple children and even children who have multiple siblings. You are looking to see how much pain this problem causes and if your solution really resonates with them. Then ask how much they would expect to pay for such a product or service.

Market Size

Now that you have evidence from speaking to various people that the problem exists and is worth solving, it is time to understand how many people have this problem or type of problem. If we continue the example from above the market size would potentially be all the mothers who have multiple children. The more specific you can get the more accurate your market size will actually be. Let’s say you’re first starting in the US. Then you will want to know how many mothers in the US have children who are not of driving age and do not have a car.

“The more specific you can get the more accurate your market size will actually be.”

Distribution Channels

This part of your business model defines how you will reach the target customer, whether they are a paying or non-paying customer. You will dive more into the price in the revenue streams section. Distribution channels also are the ways you will keep your customer using your product or service. Here are some examples of distribution channels for a self-driving car.

city community centers
malls
schools
website and mobile app for sign up and management
car dealerships

Revenue Streams

There are several ways to make money. The challenge is to find the best way or ways, which will maximize what your product makes and is still more than the cost of producing and running your business. Finding the right revenue streams will need to be tested along with the rest of your business model. That will be done with your MVP (minimum viable product).

For many types of businesses, common revenue streams can be evaluated. For a self-driving car think about your customer and what her need may be and how frequent it may be. If a mother constantly finds herself double booked to pick up two children should the self-driving car be owned by the family or should the family rent or subscribe to using the self-driving car. Advertising in the car during a ride can be a source of revenue. The equivalent to in-app purchases could be added services that can be bought while in the car, for example Wi-Fi or watching a movie or show. These are all examples of revenue streams that do not just apply to self-driving cars, but other products such as apps.

Cost Structure

It will cost money to run a business. Identify fixed costs and variable costs. Fixed costs can be a one-time cost or a recurring cost that is the same. For instance, setting up the factory to make self-driving cars will cost you once. Creating new self-driving cars will cost you every time you make one, but the cost to make one is fixed. Variable costs can change overtime or at different quantities. One example of a variable cost is the cost to acquire a new customer. This is generally the cost of marketing, which can be periodic and vary in expense depending on how much needs to be done. Think of your costs when you have 10 customers, 100 customers, up to 1 million customers. A common mistake that entrepreneurs make is not taking into account that, as the business grows there are new costs that may spring up. The line “More money more problems.” can be very true, so think big and plan for the success of your product.

“A common mistake that entrepreneurs make is not taking into account that as the business grows there are new costs that may spring up.”

The MVP

Now that you have done your detective work to build a business model it is time to build your minimal viable product ,or MVP, to test out the different pieces of your business model. The MVP is the smallest representation of your product that will test the most risky parts of your business model. Usually this means starting with validating the value proposition. Prototype the experience you want for the customer. A prototype can be done quickly and inexpensively through paper prototypes, using power point, or there are several websites and apps which make it even easier to create an interactive prototype. For the MVP of a self-driving car, you do not have to actually build a car that does not need a human driver! You can simulate the experience by having a human driver who helps a mother pick up her other children when needed. Just by doing this or any other simple form of prototyping you will learn a ton and tweak your business model as you go.

“The MVP is the smallest representation of your product that will test the most risky parts of your business model.”

Rinse and Repeat as necessary

“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” - Thomas Edison

No entrepreneur gets it exactly right on the first try, which is why starting a business is an iterative process. Through each MVP you will learn something new and modify the business model and the MVP a bit. This is called “pivoting”, where the business model is modified when a hypothesis proves invalid. This does not mean that one failure results in a completely new vision. If that were the case, then a new business model would have to be built from scratch each time. Once you get through MVP1 and MVP2 and you see the amount of new information decrease, your business model will start to stabilize, which is a great sign that your business is working. You have reached the golden state for a startup called Product/Market Fit. This means you have customers signing up, paying or pre-ordering your product, and sticking around to use it over and over again.

Conclusion

Congratulations! If you have made it this far you have started your business. You are an entrepreneur! Life is grand, but do not think life is over. The opposite is true because the next stage of your company is growth and scaling. Getting the first early adopters is one thing, but capturing the attention of your next set of customers will be different. All in all, remember that you are not the first entrepreneur and there are many resources out there to help you at any stage of your company. I wish you the best of luck on this fun journey!

“…remember that you are not the first entrepreneur and there are many resources out there to help you at any stage of your company.”

Resources

One of the most comprehensive lists of entrepreneurship resources is from Steven Blank: http://steveblank.com/tools-and-blogs-for-entrepreneurs/

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Jennifer Arguello is a Co-Founder of Latino Startup Alliance, a community of Latino tech entrepreneurs. She also serves on the national board of directors for the largest organization of Latinos in STEM in the United States, the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers. A Silicon Valley native, she has been working in the tech field for over 12 years and is alumnus of Mozilla and Microsoft along with various startups. Jennifer holds a BS in Computer Science from UC San Diego. Follow her on Twitter at @engijen.

The Traditional Business Plan Gets a Makeover

Fri, 01 Mar 2013 17:13:14 -0500

This week’s guest blog post is by Ashley Jennings, Founder of Girlmade.

One of the most daunting tasks you will have to face when you start a new endeavor is to write a business plan. Most people spend hours, maybe even days or weeks writing document that could easily be mistaken for a college dissertation. If you are going to spend that much time and energy on writing it, wouldn’t you want to make sure that your product has an audience?

The Problem

The act of writing the business plan in and of itself is an excellent and very necessary practice. The problem with jumping right into writing a business plan is that the process places too much emphasis on the execution of one particular idea, and not enough on the problem you are trying to solve. It’s a lot like running a race without knowing where you are going.

“The problem with jumping right into writing a business plan is that the process places too much emphasis on the execution of one particular idea, and not enough on the problem you are trying to solve.”

As an entrepreneur you are already faced with a tremendous amount of uncertainty. In order to avoid going crazy and get potential investors on your side, you must mitigate some of the risk involved in launching your own start up. Historically, we felt more secure if we had a thorough plan that laid out all of the numbers that we “hoped” to achieve in the form of an exhaustive business plan. Unfortunately, what we find is that the numbers that are referenced in business plans very rarely, if ever, reflect reality.

If you are looking for investors, you should know that they could care less about imaginary numbers. Investors want to see traction. How do you get traction? You find customers. How do you find customers? You find a problem and a solution that said customers are willing to pay for.

The Solution

The Lean Canvas in conjunction with the business plan, is the perfect solution. Let’s think of starting your business like running a marathon. You better have some comfy shoes. You wouldn’t run a marathon without first at least running around the block in those shoes. The Lean Canvas is the equivalent of running around the block or the test-drive if you will. If the shoes hurt your feet, at least you only had to run around the block in them, right?

“Let’s think of starting your business like running a marathon. You better have some comfy shoes. You wouldn’t run a marathon without first at least running around the block in those shoes.”

For those unfamiliar with the Lean Canvas, it is a one-page blueprint of the basic building blocks that define your startup or product. The purpose of the Lean Canvas rapidly prototype your product and get immediate user and market feedback.

The Lean Canvas Gives Your Idea Data to Back it Up

By filling out a Lean Canvas, you will essentially be making a hypothesis and trying to disprove it. Scientists gather data to prove or disprove their hypotheses all the time—they don’t just rely on their “gut”. They would lose all credibility. The same goes for startups. The only way to find out if your startup idea has a chance of being a sustainable business is to find out if people are willing to pay for the product you are going to create. In order to do that, you must gather data from potential customers by getting out of the building and meeting with them face to face. Radical, right?

“The only way to find out if your startup idea has a chance of being a sustainable business is to find out if people are willing to pay for the product you are going to create.”

Last weekend I was at Startup Weekend Reno where one of the teams was building an app that the founder intended to be an ice-breaker for introverts when trying to meet potential dates at bars. The team went to the Irish pub down the street to do customer development. The feedback they received was that the people in the bar wouldn’t use the app to meet other people at bars. Instead, they would prefer to have the app when they are at business networking events and trade shows. By doing customer development, the team found a whole other market for their app. It was a great lesson for them to see that they needed to build the app not based on what they wanted, but on actual data from people who would be willing to pay for the app. That data was invaluable.

Ash Maurya, the creator of the Lean Canvas model, tells us “Most startups fail, not because they fail to build what they set out to build, but because they waste time, money, and effort building the wrong product. I attribute a significant contributor to this failure to a lack of proper “problem understanding” from the start.”

Now you know the recipe for the startup secret sauce:

Find out what product you should be building by filling out the Lean Canvas.
Once you have a product that people have told you they would be willing to pay for, write up a business plan so that you can execute on building that product.

There are many free sources and blog posts that explain how you to fill out the Lean Canvas. Give it a try. It’s a one-pager. You won’t regret it.

About the Author

Ashley Jennings is a serial entrepreneur and business coach. She recently started Girlmade, a community for savvy female entrepreneurs. She is a graduate of Columbia University and spent years doing social work before she well in love with the startup community. She happily lives in Reno, NV and does not plan on ever moving to Silicon Valley. She raises backyard chickens and drinks a lot of coffee with cream.

Recap: Technovation Mentor Mixer at Salesforce.com

Fri, 01 Mar 2013 14:33:36 -0500

Recap: Technovation Mentor Mixer at Salesforce.com

In this video, our interns Prianka and Ruta interview Leena...

Wed, 27 Feb 2013 17:33:30 -0500

In this video, our interns Prianka and Ruta interview Leena Joshi, Marketing Director at Splunk, about her experiences mentoring her team at Leadership Preparatory School in Oakland. Check it out!

Our new interns, Prianka and Ruta, from Monta Vista High School,...

Tue, 26 Feb 2013 18:14:20 -0500

Our new interns, Prianka and Ruta, from Monta Vista High School, have been working hard to film and edit video interviews from the Stanford Hack Day. Over the next few months, they’ll be featuring schools from around the world, interviewing girls about their experiences in Technovation.

Check out this video of Stella and Anvi, from Mountain View High School!

What Most Schools Don’t Teach - Short Film Via...

Tue, 26 Feb 2013 18:04:58 -0500

What Most Schools Don’t Teach - Short Film

Via Code.org

Look closely and see some Technovation girls featured!

To Build an A+ Technology Product, Start by Studying Your Users

Thu, 14 Feb 2013 19:16:00 -0500

This week’s guest blog post is by Samantha Quist, Founder of Copywriter Central.

Imagine you’re writing a book report, but you haven’t actually read the book. Your friends have told you what the book is about. You know the main characters’ names and ages, and you can kind of guess what sorts of things might happen to them. But since book reports are generally graded on your attention to detail, understanding of the nuances of the characters’ predicaments, and interest in the finer points of the story, you won’t get the top grade. If you’re a really great writer, you might squeeze by with a B or a C; but to earn an A+, you’ve got to start reading the book.

Designing a product without studying your target users is a lot like writing a book report without reading the book. You can guess what your users might think of it, but they’ll often surprise you. And in the competitive world of technology startups, B’s and C’s are not passing grades. The only way to build a successful and sustainable company is to produce A-level work. Here’s how.

“Designing a product without studying your target users is a lot like writing a book report without reading the book.”

Your First Idea Is Not an “A-Grade” Idea

When we first think of a product, almost all of us start off with a C-grade idea. We think of something that seems like it would be useful to a lot of people. So we draw up some mockups. Some of us might even put up a static landing page online that promotes our still-fictional “product.” That’s great! But the toughest part is yet to come.

First, think really hard about who your target user is — how old is the person you think is most likely to truly love your product? What interests do they have? Are they male or female? Are they students or professionals? What characteristics do they have? It’s tempting to think that your app will be useful for everyone, but for 99% of apps, your most loyal users will all share a pretty specific set of characteristics. And if you show your app to the wrong audience, they will almost always give you bad advice.

“…it doesn’t matter what your parents think of your idea, or what your best friend thinks, or what your dog thinks… unless they are truly one of your target users.”

For example, imagine showing a mockup of YouTube to an attorney in her office and asking how she’d use it to get work done. Look, you say, lots of dog and cat and music videos! In the mindset of work, she’d correctly tell you that it won’t be useful to lawyers, and she might suggest you should add some scheduling or productivity or legal research features to the product. You’d probably leave her office feeling discouraged. But in reality, it isn’t that YouTube is a bad idea, it’s just a bad idea for that type of user and for that use case. If you show your mockup to dog- and cat- and music- lovers who use the internet a lot, have a high-speed connection, and like to be entertained, then you’d get much better advice. So, it doesn’t matter what your parents think of your idea, or what your best friend thinks, or what your dog thinks… unless they are truly one of your target users.

You Are a Detective— Uncover Your Users’ Needs and Wants

Next, go find a bunch of people — at least 3 and the more, the better — who truly are your target users. Show them your mockups and/or landing page. Ask them for their honest, no holds barred feedback. Ask them if they’d ever use your app, how often, in what situations, and what for. Ask if they would choose your app instead of other apps, or if they would prefer other apps, and why. Ask how much they would pay right now for the app if they could buy it today. Ask what’s least useful about your app. Think of yourself as a detective, trying to uncover your real target users’ needs and wants. Try to put yourself in their shoes, understand their needs and concerns, and think as they would think. As you talk to more target users, update your mockups to reflect what you’ve learned. Your goal is to develop a mockup that evokes an “OMG. I need this now. Where can I get it today?” sort of reaction. When you’ve heard that from several target users, then you know you’ve landed on an A+ idea.

When you talk with target users, also try to understand which of your product’s features are the most critical. Sophisticated technology products have zillions of features built-in, but no product starts out that way. Early stage products have just a core set of mission-critical features that their users really need. Imagine if YouTube were launched with sharing features built-in, but without a video play button — that wouldn’t be very useful! Make sure you know which parts of your mockups are truly critical to your target user’s needs, versus all the rest.

“Your goal is to develop a mockup that evokes an ‘OMG. I need this now. Where can I get it today?’ sort of reaction. When you’ve heard that from several target users, then you know you’ve landed on an A+ idea.”

Finally, after you feel you truly understand your target user and you’ve refined your mockups to reflect what they most urgently want or need, comes the moment we’ve all been waiting for… it’s time to build your product! Use your most updated mockups and build exactly what’s in them. Try to avoid adding features or new ideas at this point — just build what your target users told you they wanted.

Watch Your Users In Action

And now, the moment of truth — it’s time to show your real product to your target users and get their feedback. Sit next to them, stay silent, and watch them use your product as if you weren’t there. When they’re actually using the real thing, they might have slightly different reactions than they did when they saw your mockups. They might get confused by certain buttons or language or details. They might tell you that they can’t live without certain features that they didn’t mention before. Whatever they tell you, take notes. And when you’ve talked to a few different target users, go back and polish your product based on their feedback.

You Are Never Finished Testing Your Users

User testing is an ongoing process. You’re never done user testing. Whether you’re a small scrappy startup or a billion-dollar company, you’re always testing your users to make sure you’re building the right tools for them. Big corporations spend enormous amounts of money hiring professional user testing teams, though I’m not sure their tactics are any more effective than having one-on-one conversations with members of your target audience yourself.

In my startup, we’re always testing our users, then tweaking our product, then testing our users, and so on. When it comes to improving our product, there is simply no substitute for genuine feedback from members of our true target audience. So, it’s a good thing it’s also fun: watching real people enjoy something you’ve built is one of the most satisfying feelings in the world.

“You’re never done user testing… you’re always testing your users to make sure you’re building the right tools for them.”

In Summary: Study Your Users

So remember, to earn that A+ book report, there’s no substitute for actually studying the book. And to build a successful and sustainable technology product, there’s no match for carefully studying your target users.

If you’re building a technology product, you are striving to learn new things, and you are working hard to bring something good or fun or convenient into the world that didn’t exist before, then I salute you. You are working to make the world a better place, and all of us will benefit from your efforts. I wish you a satisfying journey and great success!

About the Author:

Samantha Quist is the founder and CEO of Copywriter Central, an online marketplace for elite freelance business writers. She also founded an editorial business, led marketing for a fast-growing internet startup, served on Google’s Product Management team, and graduated with honors from Stanford University. Samantha is passionate about leveraging technology to make the world a better place.