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Week 9: Research II
Date: November 1, 2023
Working towards: Milestone 4
Summary: Executing the actual research
1. What did you accomplish last week?
In anticipation of the hackathon this weekend, I spent a lot of time designing the pitchdeck that I will need to have ready for the event. The very process of writing things out helped me fine-tune a lot of details, which I get into below.
In addition, I received commitments from some key experts (in different areas) that I think will be extremely helpful for my research. In deference to the rules of the hackathon, however, I am waiting until November 4th to actually interview them. They include:
2. What obstacles, questions, or surprises did you encounter, if any?
One of the biggest sticking points I was facing in my research process was with who, specifically, I needed to talk to first in order to set a clearer path forward. So it was very helpful that I was able to get responses back from some key people who are experts in the areas that I knew the least about.
3. What do you plan to accomplish for next week?
I plan to use the upcoming hackathon to conduct some quality interviews with my experts. I do plan on interviewing my secondary user group (job seekers) because I would prefer to have this data than not even if I ultimately choose not to use it later.
Although I am still working my way through the pitchdeck (we are expected to make a 5-minute presentation on Sunday), below is a copy. Click on it to visit the full slides.
Putting together a pitchdeck was quite helpful in allowing me to ground the problem and solution in the real world (a point I know I keep hammering on). Through this pitchdeck, I was able to pinpoint things like:
1. Exact Pain Points for both Job Seekers and Hiring Managers
2. Clearer View of the Problem
3. Clearer View of the Solution
4. Most Useful or Practical Features
I was also able to confirm participation from some key figures (experts), which I will get into more detail below.
I met Raymond through a mutual friend. He was just recently promoted to lead Google Bard and I will be talking to him mostly about the technical specs of my proposed solution.
Without solutionizing too much right now, I think Raymond would be a great technical expert to turn to, particularly as I build out my prototype. I am planning on incorporating an AI assistant of some sort, and Raymond's expertise in AI could make a huge impact here.
I met Isaac through a mutual friend as well. He founded one of the largest and most successful HR startups called JustWorks, which simplifies the HR admin process covering everything from payroll to benefits, compliance, onboarding and hiring.
As an HR guy, Isaac is very keenly attuned to the pain points of his industry so I think he will be quite a valuable source of information and data.
I met Jordan in 2022 when I was working on a previous startup (language-learning). As a co-founder for this startup, I traveled around Silicon Valley pitching the idea to hundreds of investors. Even though that startup eventually failed, I developed a strong relationship with Jordan, who was interested in whatever future projects or ideas I would have. We agreed to remain in touch and I recently reached out to him for his thoughts and advice on how to make my ideas "fit" into the market.
Jordan's investment syndicate (a loose collection of investors from all over the world who rely on Jordan to source promising startups) operates a little differently from typical Venture Capital funds that collect the funds from investors first and then pick and choose the startups. As a managing partner of a syndicate, he sources the startups and presents the most promising to all the members of the syndicate who are then free to decide whether they would like to get involved.
As a former entrepreneur himself, Jordan is a great mentor and as an investor today, he is knowledgeable about a wide range of industries. His fund is "thesis-agnostic" which means that they don't give priority to any specific categories or industries, which makes sense considering how members of his syndicate come from all different backgrounds and industries.
Due to the rules of the hackathon, I am not yet allowed to start interviewing these experts just yet. I am very much looking forward to hearing what they each have to say however.