The Startup Club

The idea of the KIS StartUpClub was to give students an opportunity to apply real world business concepts and ideas in a safe learning environment that is forgiving about mistakes and that helps with overcoming issues that otherwise would be faced in the real business world.

The concept of it was to divide all members of the club into groups of around 5 people, where each one had a given role such as finance manager, head of human resources, or marketing. Each group also had a CEO who was supposed to supervise the company's activities and keep the work together.

The groups then came up with their individual ideas for products that they thought would be needed not just in school, but in general. The main aspect was to understand the demands of the market and find something that fits into it.

I was in a group with 5 other people from my grade and the head of human resources of my company. As a group we had the idea to produce protein shakes and sell them within the schools environment, which seemed like a good idea as a big part of the students use to go to the gym on campus. We planned everything until the last step, but unfortunately we weren't able to actually sell our product as we weren't allowed to sell food in school without special permissions, due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Startup Club

DATE- 14 February 2021 ADVISOR NAME -Sam Zegenbal

LOCATION - New Delhi ADVISOR'S EMAIL - samz@kis.in

Q. Summarise what you did in this activity/project and how you interacted with others?

A. In this activity I took the role of the head of human resources in my company and i coordinated our work towards the release of our final product. I was setting up our planning and budgeting documents and I organised our team meetings in which we discussed our ideas and made final plans on execution and fixing of minor details.The main challenge here was to properly work together as a team and not lose focus on the project because of issues arising from the work with other people. On video calls with the group we talked out specific points of our product, to then present it to the head of StartUpClub to get feedback.

Q. Explain what you hoped to accomplish through this activity/project?

A. My main hope was to achieve a proper working structure in my group, as well as coming up with a business plan that has success. I also wanted to get better at looking for solutions instead of looking at the problem.

Q. How successful were you in achieving your goals? What difficulties did you encounter and how did you overcome them?

A. I was successful in so far as that I was able to find solutions for everything we encountered, except the final problem that we didn't get permission to sell foods on the campus. We've tried to sort out this issue but didn't manage to do so. Apart from that I am really proud of myself for being able to keep a group together and manage to organise their work. I am also proud of coming up with a business idea and being able to nearly completely execute it. throughout the process my entire group saw the long way of a product in the world, going from an idea in someones mind through planning, organising, brainstorming, till it is finally realised.

Q. What did you learn about yourself and others through this activity/project?What abilities, attitudes, and values have you developed?

A. Just like in many other experiences beforehand, I learned to focus on finding a solution to a problem, rather than thinking about why it is not possible. We've encountered so many different problems and challenges coming up in the process of StartUpClub and on every single one we learned something, which I think is something that can really help with my future work life.

Q. How did this activity/project benefit others?

A. It benefited my group as well as me as we all worked together on a product and made different learning experiences in the process, which will most likely help all of us in our future. Apart from that it sadly didn't really benefit anyone else as we weren't able to launch our products.

Q. How can you apply what you have learned in other life situations?

A. I will be able to apply seeking for solutions in many different situations in my life as I think it is important to look for a solution to a problem, rather than drowning in your own sorrow and sadness because you have a problem. I will also be able to apply team management skills in my future life as I will most likely encounter many different situations in which teamwork is inevitable.

LEARNING OUTCOME

• Identify own strength and develop areas for growth

• Demonstrate that they have undertaken challenges, developing new skills in the process

• Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience