Secret Sauce

Alternative Evaluation

Buyer Behavior Process Start

Over the course of two days I interviewed three people which fit my market segment definition of parents who want resources for STEM education for the children and their children’s schools. I was able to find them through connections of family members and friends. From these interview I was able to develop an understanding of the process behind their search for solutions to their unmet needs. While there were variances between them, there seemed to be a cohesive picture which showed a similar skeleton throughout each.

It all begins with a family’s child being in a public school, typically serving a large amount of students, and not with a proper STEM program. Searching for solutions, extracurricular offerings were sought first, and failing those, an attempt at asking the school to develop offerings. It was not uncommon to look for at home solutions on google, searching things like “at home science education,” “STEM education for kids,” or “after school STEM projects for kids and parents.” Searching on Google trends, there seemed to be clearly periodic interest in these search terms moving between semesters, as well as in the middle of semesters.

I believe that this segment is aware of its unmet need, and is actively searching for solutions. Because of this, I believe that our solution is one that is accessible enough, as well as attractive enough, so provide a feasible large-scale solution to the segment.

Tenacity

Despite missing my first cupcake, I did not fail in getting back to task with the course. I did however, miss another, and another, but no more! While this is a rather humorous display of tenaciousness, I have gone through with developing a crowdfunding plan for the opportunity I have been working on. One thing this course has required me to start is using a calendar for notifications. Typically I am able to just use canvas, but due to my shortcomings in the start of this course, as well as the switch to a studio apartment, I have started working on changing my time management habits. Despite the difficulty of adopting new habits, I have been consistent in not letting my failures become habits.

My mother got very sick a few weeks back and I had to go home to see how things were going. Despite the chaos of responsibilities, I did not try and find a way to withdraw from the course, or shift my responsibilities. It was a little hard headed of me, actually, because there is also a mental health component, but despite feeling like giving up, I persevered and now I’m back on my feet without having missed a stride.

MY first piece of advice for developing tenacity would be to remember that scale is everything, the bigger the dream, the bigger the workload, the bigger the payoff. The next piece of advice is to understand the pacing is key. With these two facts, you can overcome anything. To ensure that you develop the skills necessary to enact these mindsets, you must learn to plan things out and reinforce positivity. Make a habit of being positive, do yoga, and meanwhile envision your success. Make every pause and blinking moment a chance to think about problems before they happen.

Above is a picture of a shark. This creature will track prey for hundreds of miles in pursuit of a meal. This meal is not a want, but a need, and the shark addresses this need as such. This is what tenacity is, treating wants as needs.

Muhammad Yunus

Muhammad Yunus is a nobel prize winning economist, and founder of the Grameen bank, a microcredit and micro loan institution serving underprivileged entrepreneurs. What surprised me the most while reading about him was that a lot of his early work was helping women gain access to resources, something that just struck me as pleasantly surprising to read about a man in the 20th century. I admired his mountain climbing mentality, how at the top of each peak he already began preparing for his next climb. This was in contrast to his lack of diving into the lives he was helping - while I appreciate his work, it seems a little impersonal, though he was definitely involved with those he helped, it didn’t seem like they were his purpose or motivation.

From my reading it seems to me that Yunus is a focused idealist, with everything he has done stemming from his understanding of the world. I believe that this was his primary motivation in his pursuits, however that may also be his most lackluster quality. I was a little confused about the development of his ideologies throughout the book, it didn’t seem to me like much care was given to the personal aspect of the professional development which saw Yunus transform the face of the banking industry for small-scale, underserved opportunists. 

MY first question for Yunus would be if he could focus on one impact group as a priority over any other, which would it be? It seems to me that the answer would be South Central Asian and Indian subregion communities, however I can’t quite say that now, in his later years, he would want to see work done more in parts of the globe that he hasn’t quite absorbed. My second question for him would be if he would take it all back? If he had the opportunity, would he start from square one, and enjoy the journey back to where he is, or is he happy that it’s all behind him now and that he can work on continuing his success?

I believe that Yunus shared a millennial mindset: work smarter, not harder. In working smarter you are more efficient, and efficiency is key to bringing access to resources to underserved portions of the population. The beauty of Yunus’ work is that in my mind it justifies itself. Whatever reasons Yunus had to develop the way he did in hindsight, I believe he wouldn’t have changed things, and would have kept them just the way they are.

Idea Napkin #1

In June 2016 I founded the Tangency Foundation, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization which leverages STEM education to combat climate change and poverty. I see this opportunity as an extension of the work I do with Tangency, to enter into a new market space and create a product which is both financially profitable and socially productive. As a business administration major with a minor in African Studies and a Specialization in International Development and Humanitarian Assistance, I have developed several skillsets which will prove crucial to the development of this idea, including mapping out the logistical challenges to education in economically impoverished areas, determining the legal challenges to developing the business, and analyzing the effectiveness of this project. I wish to develop Tangency into an international NGO focused on sustainability technology innovations, STEM educational outreach, and ecological conservation efforts.

There is a substantial portion of the population lacking access to proper STEM education resources, as well as cut off from opportunities to become engaged with them. This is both a problem for those individuals who cannot take advantage of a STEM education for personal growth and financial interest, but also for society, as there is a shortage of STEM graduates working in conservation, a problem which we need to address because it effects the global economy. Additionally, economic impacts due to climate change disproportionately affect poorer peoples. With the penetration fo the internet into more hands than ever, particularly young hands, online resources such as youtube videos are more accessible than ever.

We plan on engaging with these people through a combination of a projects, kits, and a youtube video series examining science as it relates to climate change, our planet, and life on earth. STEM resources tend to be costly, becoming prohibitively expensive for underserved communities, and for this reason our projects will showcase safe, but cheap alternatives to the typical science demonstrations - the DIY science will allow for students to engage with our materials, and our videos will feature a style that departs from traditional educational formats, so that students will not suffer from the idea that our programs are an extension of work, but more an exploration of their curiosities.

I am also a self-taught chemist, as well as having won the Young Physicist’s Award in 2016, accolades exhibiting my understanding of STEM studies, my appreciation for them, and the passion with which I pursue them. While some may consider my set of abilities as belonging to a jack of all trades, master of none, I shun the idea. While I may not be as specialized in any one field, that does not mean that I have not mastered the particulars of what I have studied. What sets me apart is this way of thinking, a byproduct of my being autistic, but a strength which will fuel an innovation of a unique flavor. 

I believe that all this sketch is missing is to be colored in. The idea is well put together, and I have a system for the specifics of topic selection and idea curation. I do, however, think that for this vision to come to fruition, some investment will be needed. I am considering the use of a crowdfunding campaign to develop the funding needed, as well as generate buzz about the product. 

Pitch

Pitch for our project!

Hypothesis part 2

Identifying those who fit the bill for the target demographic, but nevertheless are not included, is a difficult task. I believe in finding these individuals I should see two traits: fully invested in non-STEM pursuits, and school districts that are not interested in STEM programming, such as ones within the bible belt.

I interviewed five people, here are the summaries below:

1) E. & R. Hardin: Two girls in high school who are involved in dance and the arts, and who compete. This takes up a lot of time and comittment and they have no room to explore outside interests on top of these and their academic work.

2) Sarah Troupe: Interested in STEM, entymology major, but wants to do work simply as a job, not out of interest. Does not find interest in projects.

3) RJ and Charley Bates: Married couple considering educaitonal supplies for homeschooling adopted children. Prefer private schooling to public schools or additional home based education.

Who: Despite families and students wanting to engage with educational content, there may either be no room for additional concerns, or a particularly disengaged interest in STEM. 

What: The need of access to resources which engage students and hold their interest while allowing them to expore educaitonal opportunities. The need to engage with an academic interest is not critical for some in religious contexts, nor is STEM particularly necessary for those who are already invested in other pursuits.

Why: The underlying cause of the entire demographic is the same, however because of different values the phenotypic needs appear to be different.

Inside the Boundary we have:

Low-income school districts, families, and students who need engaging content to help support education because they lack the resources to provide engaging and effective learning content.

Outside the boundary we have:

School districts, families, and students who have a significant disinterest in STEM content are not considered because they would not be interested in an offering which is STEM content rich. The reaosns for this may be several, including sustained intered in other disciplines which due to time constraints are mutually exclusive, or because of ideological differences between their beliefs and their understanding of STEM education.

Solving the Problem

Resources are a fundamental problem for students from low-income backgrounds. School districts often lack the funding for proper STEM education materials such as textbooks, labware, and media. Additional concerns are raised over the quality of the materials they do in fact have, and the possibility that those materials may do more harm than good. In order to combat these problems, the solution must have certain attributes:

1) Must be low-cost

2) Must be easy to implement

3) Must have entertainment value for students

4) Must provide options and be customizable

5) Must be an attractive option for extracurricular education

The solution must be a viable solution for low-income schools and students, but must also prove to be a financially feasible product. To address this, two strategies must be considered:

1) Discount product mix for selected customers (low-income qualifying schools)

2) Provide multiple product types for each product line to address various market segments

To address these issues a product mix should be made available targeting specific needs. A video series will provide engagement as well as material for social media; a project line will consist of project kits which can be used for school demonstrations as well as home education. Depending on the marketing mix, either two separate product lines will be used for projects to address various resource needs, or the same line will come discounted with cheaper  DIY kits made available for free.