Reflection

Strengths

Impactful venture opportunity - I truly believe that this venture could make a significant impact in the lives of thousands of people. By allowing young people to undertake meaningful work while still in school, I hope this mindset continues to grow and expand when they become professionals. Young people often do not get the opportunity or platform to lead change, so perhaps Impact Now plays a small part in changing this.

Passion for the project - I recently had the opportunity to teach design in a makerspace at my previous school. In these two years I was amazed at my student's talents, creativity, and desire for design to make the world a better place. As maker culture and design thinking mindsets have a more prominent role in curriculum, there should be a growing need for student opportunities like this.

Elevator Pitch Dialogue - The elevator pitch dialogue was the most time-consuming portion of this project. I aimed to tell a story, and give real examples of how Impact Now can make a difference in the lives of others. More than ever I realize that telling a story is critical for persuading people or potential investors that an idea matters.

Weaknesses

Financials - This was perhaps my biggest struggle. As I do not have any background what-so-ever in creating my own venture, I was left with a number of questions. Even suggesting the 500,000 USD initial investment took sometime to formulate as I needed to research salaries and project costs from similar organizations.

Experience - As a current physics teacher, my experiences do not necessarily directly align with the mission of the company. I do have a number of volunteer experiences, and I have taught design-based courses, but I will admit my skillset may not be suited to lead the company. I am however passionate about what Impact Now could become, and am willing to learn to help the company succeed!

Looking Ahead - I struggled to envision what the company would look like beyond a 5 year time horizon. If the venture model did not deviate from the initial goals, perhaps this would still be considered a success. I did think it would be amazing to somehow turn these student experiences into paid internships, and then eventually careers. More time is needed to sort out these details.

Entrepreneurship Inclinations

Not-for-profit focus - It took me a long time to finally settle on this idea, which was not-for-profit. My initial plan was to create a new innovative idea that would be profitable. As I struggled with this, I realized that creating a venture where all profits went back into helping others was where my passions were.