LEADEX - Design Thinking Hackathon

How we found a solution for companies to get their future leaders.

Introduction

As part of the FutureFounder Cohort, I undertook the challenge of a hackathon alongside my team: Israel and Oumayma. In this hackathon, we were challenged to find a solution to a problem that was affecting the places we live. To find relevant solutions to these complex problems, we used a process called Design Thinking. When a solution is not easy to find, Design Thinking is very useful to start finding out-of-the-box solutions with the client in mind. This method is divided into 5 steps:

1. Empathize: This step aims to talk to, follow, and understand the people that have this problem. In this step, you must remove all personal thoughts and ideas and only listen.

2. Define: From the information found in the last step, and by doing relevant research, you must conceptualize the main ideas into insights you can use to ideate.

3. Ideate: With the information collected, you must generate 5 radical or different ideas that solve this problem and address the needs of the users.

4. Prototype: From the ideas created, you must get feedback from the users, select the key features that work, and build a prototype using those features.

5. Test: With a group of potential users, test the product to get more feedback and improve the user experience. After getting the feedback, go back to prototyping and repeat these steps until the user is satisfied with the solutions.

Our topic was social inequality, a problem that exists in many parts of the world to different degrees, from America to Australia. Although this problem is not caused by the same issues everywhere, we focused on the place where we are located so we could identify the causes more easily. There have been several studies and statistics researching this topic in Mexico, and they state that there are a lot of factors that cause this problem, but the main ones are location, income, and job opportunities. Doing our desk research we came across that 5.8 Million young Mexicans, unfortunately, face this unemployment or lack of training or education opportunities. Graduates, in particular, have difficulties finding jobs because of their lack of experience and companies do not want to hire or "invest" in graduates because of the high job rotation percentage in Mexico or because of the lack of resources to train a new employee from zero.

The Product:

As I mentioned before, we implemented the design thinking method to find a solution that would address the social inequality problem in Mexico. Our business idea is based on the feedback we got from people experiencing unemployment and the lack of opportunities to develop themselves professionally. We targeted this audience because the market research showed that the main cause of social inequality is the income level. It relates directly to unemployment at a young age and the lack of opportunities present in Mexico. The high job rotation percentage and other indicators like the national economy, make it harder for companies to seek entry-level applicants. We also contacted small and medium companies to understand their side of the problem and to confirm the final idea.

From that information, we brainstormed 5 different ideas that got merged into our final product. Then we got more feedback to refine the final product which is described below:

Our product is LEADEX, a selective program that allows the candidates to be more self-aware and gain professional work experience by going through an immersive placement for a period of 3-month within a small or medium company looking to hire entry-level candidates.

In this program, we test the candidates through individual and group interviews and a technological assessment to determine their commitment to the program and their professional qualifications. Then we offer a 2-week Bootcamp to prepare them for the professional world. At the same time, we link the candidate with a mentor that can guide and advise them in their 3-month placement. Likewise, we check the needs of the companies in our networks and the professional qualifications of the applicants to determine the placement. When the 3 month period is over, the company can offer the candidate a contract to keep working with them. This allows the company to reduce staff rotation as the candidate is already familiar with its processes and culture. But if the applicant doesn’t get an offer, we offer the candidate a second and last opportunity for a placement.

The business model for the company is divided into two main revenue streams: first is a small quantity charged to the applicant, from which the Bootcamp and the mentorship are paid and a second part that is refunded to them at the end of the program as a commitment fee. And, we charge the companies for the HR services we provide that include vetting and screening applicants and giving them entry-level applicants.

FutureFounder Demo Day:

The FutureFounder Demo Day was the culmination of the hackathon. We presented a business pitch to four very qualified judges, all founders of their current companies: SplitSpot, 3D Ventures, Shop my shelf, and Legends of Learning.

Building a pitch presentation can be a very challenging feat. Although starting with a breakdown of the main topics you want to present can make it easier. First, we defined which were the main areas of the business we wanted to present:

1. Problem

2. Solution

3. Competitors

4. Competitive Advantage

5. Market Segment

6. Business Model

7. The Team

Conclusion

We built the narrative to match the different points we wanted to present and we created the presentation to support the narrative we created. Then we practiced presenting several times and tweaked the presentation and the narrative where it needed improvements. You can find the final presentation below:

On presentation day we were nervous to present as we felt the time was tight and any mistakes would cost us time and the attention of the judges. To tackle this, before presenting we took a big breath and went with the flow of the presentation we created and practiced.

Key Takeaways:

The FutureFounder Hackathon and Demo Day were an unforgettable experience, where we learned more about design thinking and team working. Working with teammates in different cities and countries. It left me with great lessons and takeaways I would like to share here.

First, the pitch presentation was very good. We enjoyed presenting our business idea to experienced entrepreneurs because their feedback is very valuable and accurate to the real world and business environment. Even though we didn’t get a lot of questions, the few that we did get were very important points that we struggled to define, like the go-to-market strategy and key value proposition.

We came across a couple of difficulties that we had to face as a team. The first was due to the location of the 3 members, and the different time zones and schedules we had, we needed to implement ClickUp reminders and tasks to organize ourselves to keep on track with the project. With this, we found a way to work together and beat the timezone barriers. Another difficulty was defining the solution to the complex problem, but we trusted the design thinking methodology and the steps, so we came up with the final solution by doing iterations on the last two steps and gathering valuable feedback from companies and end-users.

At first, we thought we had a bad idea but getting the interest of the judges in these questions in the feedback made us realize we created a good business idea but that it might have difficulties getting a market share in a very crowded and complicated market. So I would recommend this experience to any aspiring entrepreneur, even if you have taken part in previous pitch competitions or hackathons. The experience FutureFounders provides might be the closest to the reality as the judges and Mary Nagel have all been through the same process when launching their companies, giving you an insight that is very difficult to get otherwise. Don’t be discouraged to try this experience and give it your all as it might be the next big business breakthrough!