Hacker Exchange Post Reflection PDF

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SELF AND PROGRAM REFLECTION Q1- What was your biggest or most surprising win from week 1? (Did you meet someone epic, learn something amazing, surprise yourself with a new skill? Some of my biggest/ most surprising wins from week 1 of the Hacker Exchange was learning new skills and concepts. One of my favourite workshops from week one was prototyping with EJ. A prototype is a working model that does not usually have all the required features or provide all the functionality of the final system or product. It is an experimental model of an idea and is used as a way to see if our current ideas have value. (Hartson & Pyla 2012, p. 348). EJ showed us two types of prototyping methods- sketching and paper prototyping. We explored a variety of sketching layouts and created wireframes using buttons, images, and different colours to show our startup ideas. This workshop taught me that paper prototyping helps to communicate ideas faster and validate it through sketches before making changes to the digital or viable prototype. A lot of the time, a design or feature needs reviewing, so paper prototyping can definitely help reduce a lot of wasted time or money. The growth hacking workshop with Guillaume Dumortier was another highlight from week 1. Growth hacking is a relatively new field in marketing focused on growth. It started concerning early-stage startups who need to grow on smaller budgets. However, this theory has increased in popularity, now reaching more prominent corporate companies (Conway & Hemphill 2019, p. 169). I have never heard of growth hacking until that workshop. For a while, I knew that I would like to pursue my career in marketing analytics, but I wanted to make a more significant impact on it. However, a career in growth hacking would allow me to do both. Growth hacking not only allows me to utilize marketing analytics but also gets me to think about the growth stages of a business. The main difference with growth hacking is that a traditional marketer would focus more on driving traffic. In contrast, a growth marketer focuses more on the full customer journey (Conway & Hemphill 2019, p. 171). This term shows me the importance of understanding your market well and getting a grasp on your customer's experiences and opinions by reaching out to them. For instance, Facebook’s core metrics include frequent users log in, how active their consumers are in creating posts and comments and how friend requests are sent (Conway & Hemphill 2019, p. 171). This workshop also taught me the importance of creating a message that resonates with your target consumer. It must communicate information and resonate with them in a meaningful way. Creativity was something I surprised myself with during week 1 of The Hacker Exchange Program. The workshops and guest speakers that came along helped me learn how to take my concepts further, be more open-minded, and to look for alternatives instead of correct answers. I now know that creativity is more than just thinking outside the box and can be something that goes beyond the convergent information. The ideas may seem wrong or absurd, it could even be not relevant, but sometimes it's those ideas that make the most significant impact. Q2- Now that you know each other a little better, what skills can you use to help others rise to the next level? Can you run an impromptu workshop? Do you have experience in

an industry someone else is working in? Do you have a skill we don’t know yet? After knowing everyone on the program a little better, I can see that there were people from all types of backgrounds ranging from computer science, business, engineering, social work, and research. One thing I noticed was that the participants who came from a more technical background, such as computer science, had great ideas, but when it came to pitching day, they didn’t know how to convey it in a way most people would understand. With a business savvy background, I teach them how to communicate more persuasively. One of my future aspirations would be to work on a business together with a technical person. Effective communication is not only crucial for business management, but it is also required to run productive meetings, motivate team members to achieve targets, resolve the conflict between staff, and skilfully appease the needs of customers (Gorman 2011, p. 21). Having effective communication will not only give someone the ability to communicate with individuals across a business but also across their network and through the wider community. I’m not sure how I would run an impromptu workshop on communication skills, but I would run public speaking workshops. I believe that everyone and anyone can always improve on their communication skills, no matter how comfortable someone is at public speaking. It is essential to practice in front of people while gaining constructive criticism. My other skill is knowing how to network and creating meaningful conversations with strangers. Knowing how to network can help individuals keep their network close and connected and thereby, increasing their business potential and grow future opportunities (Gorman 2011, p. 22). This skill didn’t come naturally to me, and I had to practice a lot by going to many different networking events. One book I would recommend everyone on the program to read, which helped me is How To Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie. The key message in his book is to make yourself more likable is to smile, listen, and remember the names of others. People crave appreciation, so sometimes it is appropriate to shower them with it and talk about what’s important to them. Coming from a business background, I can also help bring together sales and a stack of other business acumen. I could also show people who don’t come from a business background on how to spot the potential ideas, seizing opportunities based on target market needs, and various marketing strategies.

Q3- Reflecting on yourself as an emerging leader/ future CEO, what have you identified as something you’d like to develop further? (A particular knowledge in a new topic, a habit you would like to change, the way you relate to people, more confidence etc). As an emerging leader/future CEO, one should always be looking to improve their problemsolving abilities as it is a universal skill that applies to any position and industry. Knowing how to problem solve well enables us to exert control over our environment and gives us a mechanism for identifying these things. Moreover, this skill also helps us determine why things aren’t working and determine a better course of action to fix them. A book that I have been reading after the Hacker Exchange is called Problem Solving 101 by Ken Watanabe. The author mentions how the first step is to identify what your problem is really about. You have to take the

problem and break it down into smaller parts. Ask yourself: “Which categories are causing you trouble?” Once you pinpoint your weak spot, you can begin to solve the problem much more effectively. It is also important to brainstorm potential reasons and test those ideas (Watanabe 2009, p. 67). Had I known how to structurally problem solve, I would’ve had the chance to improve my prototype before pitch day further. To reach a goal, one should list all the possible solutions, and turn the best ones into a hypothesis. It would help to create ways to close the gap between the current situation and the goal (Watanabe 2009, p. 73). If I were to go back, I would have analysed my hypothesis and worked out how to implement it accurately. If hiccups appear, I would modify my plan and keep executing until I have achieved what I have set out to do and solve the problem. Moreover, If hiccups appear, I will modify my plan and keep executing it until I have achieved what I have set out to do and solve the problem. Another skill I would like to develop further is to learn and fail as fast as often as possible. During the Hacker Exchange program, I learned that it is ok to fail and that you should fail fast and often. You need to get out there, show your product, gather feedback, and learn from them. When developing and improving a product, start-ups have to distinguish between value and waste: they must find out which features are valuable for their customers and which aren’t (Ries 2011, p. 58). I need to be always asking myself how I am going to pivot, improve my product, and help find its market. A pivot can take many shapes, such as redefining the core value of your product, choosing to pursue a different customer segment, and change your primary sales channel (Ries 2011, p. 59). Contrary to our popular belief, failure isn’t the opposite of success, but rather a necessary part of it. Failure doesn’t need to be avoided, instead, it should be embraced because we can learn from it and become stronger in the future as a result. Along with clear goal-setting and a positive mindset, embracing failure is key to unlocking success (Maxwell 2000, p. 65). The last skill I want to develop further is learning how to create a sustainable business model. Just because a business grew quickly does not mean it won’t go bankrupt five years later. The most efficient execution of those plans or even the best marketing strategies won’t help without a sustainable business model. I need to be learning how to create a sustainable business model that works today and in the future as well. It is vital to find out which products your potential customers want and how to turn their desires into constant revenues (Ries 2011, p. 121). My business model may not be great from the start, but I am willing to go through the process of constant learning and learning through a scientific approach. Instead of using questionnaires or fictional characters, I will talk to real customers in a realistic environment instead. The most reliable way to find out whether people will buy your product is to offer it to them and see how they respond (Ries 2011, p. 134).

Q4- Finally do you have feedback for us? Can we do anything differently or make it better? The best part about my trip to San Francisco was the knowledge that I gained in two weeks. I

learned about all entrepreneur jargon, the San Francisco lifestyle and also skills such as prototyping, growth marketing, and pitching. During the two weeks, I also developed myself as a person and grew a lot from the experience. I didn’t realise how tenacious I was during times when it was hard to push through and get the work done. Although there were many times I struggled, I was able to persevere and push through, knowing that I have a great group of people around me where we all supported each other. Visiting tech-giants like Google, Zendesk and Mixpanel were not only awesome to see as it has always been a dream of mine, but also the quality of guest speakers that were on the program who volunteered their time to provide knowledge and advice. Networking in San Francisco made me aware of the talent that is out there, which motivates me to push myself and be better. Not to mention, I also had the opportunity to work with smart and talented students from all over Australia who come from all walks of life. Being with such a diverse group, I was able to expand my perspective and increase my creativity. Something the Hacker Exchange can do differently next time for their programs is to provide more breaks in between workshops and tours to allow students to work on and develop their startups. I felt like we were doing so much in the two weeks that a lot of us were overwhelmed, and a lot of startup ideas and pitches were rushed towards the end. I also think that the transportation arrangements to distant places like Google and Stanford could have been organised better, for instance, hiring a bus that would take us around for the day. This would also save everyone a lot of time to then focus on planning their startup ideas or make time for networking in San Francisco. Everyone who went on the trip with me was very diverse in their thinking, purposes, wants, and goals on the program. With the diversity that we had, I feel like it would have been cool to have a program where students would be working on a competition to help solve real business problems for real-life companies. For instance, EY offers students to tackle challenges within their company, such as the EY NextWave Data Science Challenge. The participants used their modeling skills to work out how data can drive the development of smart cities (EY 2019). The finalists get granted an internship position at EY. Google is another company that offers case challenges. In this competition, students across participating business schools compete in teams, working together to provide innovative solutions to real-life business case-study challenges in the field of digital marketing, product growth & user experience, and hardware sales. Qualifying teams stand to win cash prizes, and pre-placement interview offers with Google (Google 2019).

References Conway, T & Hemphill, T 2019, ‘Growth hacking as an approach to producing growth amongst UK technology start-ups: an evaluation’, Journal of Research in Marketing and Entrepreneurship, vol. 21, no. 2, pp. 163-179).

EY 2019, EY NextWave data science challenge, EY, viewed 29 December 2019, . Google 2019, Case challenge, Google, viewed 29 December 2019, . Gorman, MF 2011, ‘A case study in effectively bridging the business skills gap for the information technology professional’, Journal of Education for Business, vol. 86, no. 1, pp. 1724. Hartson, R & Pyla, PS 2012, Prototyping, Morgan Kufmann, Burlington, Massachusetts. Maxwell, JC 2000, Failing forward, Maxwell Motivation Inc, Georgia, United States. Ries, E 2011, The lean startup, Crown Publishing Group, New York, United States. Watanabe, K 2009, Problem solving 101, Penguin Random House, New York, United States....