Four down, one to go! The Fellows were re-energized during our second to last week here in Providence, absorbing workshops, panel discussions and lectures by day, and building working prototypes for new products by night. Toss in some trampoline dodgeball, a trip to the Roger Williams Zoo, and VFA-wide “selfie challenge,” and we’ll call it a pretty good week. Check out the recap video and a closer look below!
https://vimeo.com/134135751
The Product Challenge: Let the Building Begin
Strapped with a two-day intensive workshop from world-class design firm, IDEO, the fellows were given one week to build a working prototype of a product that uses “human-centered design” to solve a real-world problem. They were tasked with redesigning a specific experience, e.g. buying a car, riding an elevator, waiting on line for fast food, and creating a product to improve that experience for the customers or users.
After the IDEO trainers framed the challenge and laid out the ground rules, Fellows took to the city of Providence –from local bike shops to the Roger Williams Zoo– to better understand the true needs of the people they were designing products for. They learned the ins and outs of the design thinking process, beginning with field research and ending with prototyping a functional product.
The Fellows learned in a few short days that constraints can produce some impressive results. From phone apps that help first time car buyers navigate the buying process to technology that improves the customer experience at a pharmacy, the teams all put the knowledge gleaned from the IDEO workshops to work. One team, however, emerged from the pack and proved to have the most innovative, useful and scalable product of all – Congrats to the 2015 Product Challenge winners! The team “Waterfire”created a healthy and affordable pre-packaged meal service to help make eating fresh produce an easier and cheaper option. Sign us up!
Thank you to our visitors!
IDEO: Kicking off week 4 with some of VFA’s favorite workshops, IDEO joined us in Providence to deliver a full 2-day training on Design Thinking. By the time time we sadly waved goodbye to the IDEO team, the Fellows were fully equipped (with lots of post it notes among other things…) to hit the streets of Providence and begin the process of building solutions for real-world problems.
Charlie Kemper: As Co-Founder of Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator and Founding Managing Director of Revel Partners, Charlie lives and breathes entrepreneurship. Demonstrating his love for mentoring aspiring entrepreneurs, Charlie spent the entire day working with the Fellows and sharing valuable feedback to help them develop their new products.
Barbara Tannenbaum: Few people have as much charisma as Brown professor Barbara Tannenbaum. By captivating the audience from start to finish, Barbara walked the walk while impeccably delivering her advice on performance and public speaking. The Fellows learned how to become more compelling communicators by “taking up space,” using both their words and body language.
Jeremy Shinewald: The Fellows finished on a high note last week by learning from another seasoned entrepreneur, Jeremy Shinewald, who is the Founder of mbaMission, jdMission, and Co-Founder of M7 Financial. Giving a face to the renowned voice of VFA’s podcast, Jeremy came to Training Camp to deliver an informative talk on how to bootstrap your startup.
Entrepreneur Panel: Charlie Kroll, founder of Andera and one of VFA’s earliest inspirations, hosted a panel discussion on the reality of life as an entrepreneur. Charlie was joined by Will Nathan, Co-Founder of Homepolish, Michelle Marinis, Co-Founder of Little Spoon Organic, Katie Beck, COO of 4.0 Schools, and Stephanie Kaplan Lewis, Co-Founder of Her Campus Media.
We were also lucky enough to recruit a rockstar panel of judges for the Product challenge including Noah Glass, Darren MacDonald, Kathleen Warner, Jay Adya, our friends at UBS, Rita Rodin, Eric Starr, Bob Chatham, and Kevin Tung.
And to our generous supporters who make this all possible!
Special shout out this week to the Rhode Island Foundation, who has supported us since day 1 and made all of our work in Providence possible. We celebrated four great years at our annual mixer last week at the office of long-time VFA partner company, Swipely!
