đMacaroni, Mock-ups, MVPs
Reflections on our second week, Q&A w/ Amanda Spann and some tech stuff we're watching.
Welcome back to The Void. Hereâs our take on this weekâs tech trends, the goings-on of Practicum and some other things to round out your week.
A virtual stroll through Online Town đ
Built by three students, Online Town is a new type of virtual-meeting experience. Users are loaded into a customizable map that utilizes proximity for video-conferencing, allowing attendees to separate from the crowd and have more intimate conversations with smaller groups, or even one on one. See ya, Zoom Breakout Rooms!
Practicum Spotlight w/ Jarian Cottingham:
Jarian is a full-time Software Engineer at Microsoft and founder of API Builder.
âAPI Builder came into Practicum as a fragile MVP that rapidly speeds up the creation and deployment of the web-connected backend to an app. We have an all-star leadership team consisting of Sanjim Uppal (PM) and Aakif Hussaini (Dev Lead). Our PM has helped to solidify an audience of more experienced Developers, a market currently not served by similar products in the area, as these customers have concerns over security, easy deployability and professional-quality code output. The goal for the summer will be to create an Exceptional MVP thatâs ready for a broad public release, though Iâm excited at the prospects of pulling that deadline closer given the teamâs rapid speed and motivation. Over the last week, we saw six interns from Practicum, and one I personally connected with, onboard to an existing code base.
Our basic workflow is as follows:Â
1) Investigation: look into what tech solves this problem the best for usÂ
2) Design: collaborate with the team to get opinions on the proposed solutionÂ
3) Implementation: heads down coding of the discussed and approved designÂ
4) Testing: Push code and get feedback in a pull request. Iterate until itâs complete and then merge into the main branch. Test code locally in a Linux VM to mimic productionÂAfter overcoming some incredible hurdles like setting up the Dev Box, emails failing to send from Namecheap Private Email and timezone differences, the team is close to completing our second sprint, which entailed a first wave of knocking out bugs and a second wave of pairing on feature work. The end result will be a more refined and stable MVP thatâs able to go live on the web. We already have a list of possible beta users (fellow Microsofties and a few startup founders), and we will be looking for more in the coming weeks. We look forward to updating everyone with more news in the future!â
*Click here for more on Backend-as-a-service (BaaS)
What the first sprint taught us about building an MVP:
Thereâs a lot more than just coding involved
Team chemistry can make or break a project
If thereâs no market for your product, then you donât have a product
Develop a strong wireframe, so you can hit the ground running with development
Working remotely is difficult in almost every way
Advice w/ Amanda Spann:
Amanda is an Innovation Strategist, app entrepreneur and podcaster. Previously in brand development before becoming a serial entrepreneur and founder of The App Accelerator.
Could you share a little bit about your background and your jump to startups?
âBefore I attended Georgetown I was actually working as an entertainment and lifestyle publicist. I enjoyed my work but I wasn't fulfilled by it. I always had an interest in technology and entrepreneurship, but I felt like there wasn't room for me in the space if I wasn't coding. I decided to use my time at Georgetown to transfer my skills and see how I could leverage my background in communications and marketing and apply it to startups. Turns out, there was a great demand. Those coders who were building the companies and ideas of the future, struggled with articulating them to the general public and further, to their consumers. While I was finishing school I had the opportunity to work with startups like Snopswap (now LePrix) and the dating app Hinge, as well as a host of other companies, it gave me a taste of startup life and set a tone for me eventually jumping into the founders seat.â
What are some exciting things you are currently working on?
âI'm in the process of relaunching my App Accelerator program. We collected a lot of feedback from our first cohort and now we're preparing to give our next app creators a new and improved offering. The App Accelerator is an online program and community that provides a framework for non-technical entrepreneurs to build their first app. We pair their curriculum with group and 1:1 coaching and add an additional layer of support with our resource repository and developer directory to provide you with every asset you need to make your app business a reality.â
What are some traits of the most successful people?
âTry everything and figure out what you donât like to do. Itâs as important as learning what you do want to do. Commit to learning more about your work style and ways to communicate with people who are opposite of you. Lastly, be kind to everyone.â
*Thanks to Amanda for taking the time to answer some questions. We love your mission to empower non-technical founders to throw their hat in the ring!
Tech Trends & Startups weâre watching:
Government considers 5G funding with $1T infrastructure bill
How will Covid-19 tracing change data privacy?
Shosho đŠ - Grammarly for ramblers. Get into their beta for free!
FalconX đŠ - âEast coast finance meets west coast techâ, FinTech for crypto trading
Kiwi Technologies đ„ - AgTech startup protecting commercial farms by combining aerial vehicle technology with precise delivery of water, seeds, chemicals, etc.
Deep 6 AI đ„ - using AI + NLP to better structure hospital & medical data, expediting clinical trials to find cures faster
Ocrolus đž- fintech infrastructure company to help companies make automated, high-quality decisions, with trusted data
Learn:
A language đŹ - Duolingo, Babbel, Memrise, LanguageX (stay tuned)
To cook đł -Â Mac & Cheese, Miso Noodle Soup, Chicken Kebabs, Homemade Latte
Arts & Crafts đš -Â Knitting, Embroidery, Origami, Painting
Music đș -Â Yousician, DJing, Songwriting
Learn NoCode:
Zapier - end-to-end integration of workflow, making automation easier
Adalo - bringing app development to the hands of non-technical founders
Webflow - all-in-one custom website creator with built-in hosting & CMS
Our Light Bulbs đĄ:
-Whatsapp is rolling out a payment service, taking advantage of its 2B current users
-SaaStrâs podcast w/ Wade Foster of Zapier: Distributed Teams & Building Cloud Products
-COVID-19 accelerating mainstream acceptance of e-sports
Thing of the week:
A quote and a poem. Words are powerful, use them with care.
âIf you dig it, do it. If you dig it a lot, do it twice.â -Jim Croce
âIf you are a dreamer, come in,
If you are a dreamer, a wisher, a liar,
A hope-er, a pray-er, a magic bean buyer âŠ
If youâre a pretender, come sit by my fire
For we have some flax-golden tales to spin.
Come in!
Come in!â
-Shel Silverstein, âInvitationâ
If you missed last weekâs newsletter, find it here!
Hi! đ Thanks for reading The Void. Weâre Zach and Jack, Partners @ Practicum and Students @ WashU + Georgetown. Leave some feedback, check us out on LinkedIn or contact us!