The Start Up Challenge

As I mentioned earlier, the first assignment we were given in our Masters of Entrepreneurship program was the Start Up Challenge, a game borrowed from other big business schools like Stanford University among others.

We were given 100 kr (~€10) on Wednesday around midday and by Monday morning we had to come back with at least 500 kr.

When we were given the money many people were wondering if they could even hit the 500 kr target, but it quickly became obvious that it would be really easy.

Me making cookies with our dough
mixer.

Our ideas were to leverage our skills as photographers and amateur bakers. We made sandwiches on home made bread and home made cookies. The sandwiches were very successful and we managed to tap into a cool niche of students, staff and taxi drivers who forgot to eat something before leaving the house in the morning. Many people were impressed by the fact that we had home made bread.

Alongside the sandwiches — which had cheese, tomato and grated carrot inside — we sold coffee. After around four hours we were sold out and had 600 kr in our pockets.

We decided to change strategy and make cookies. It didn't work out that well, but we made a few hundred kroner profit.

The big money maker for us was our photos for salon idea. We went around offering salons to take photos of their shops in artistic ways for them to use in various settings. This was very successful and it ended up putting us in the top half of the class.

We had a final profit of just under 3,900 kr. Not bad over all.

Show me the money, bitches. 25 kr became over 900 kr for
each member. The team from left to right: Ludwig Mendez,
Mariana Rojas, Adam Mullett, Alexander Okl

The top team won with around 5,600 kr by selling hotdogs, salsa lessons and moving furniture for people. They also bought clothes, fixed them up and sold them at the flea market.

Another team created a magazine and sold ads to two banks. I have no idea how this was achieved given that banks don't make decisions that fast. We were also not registered companies and last time I checked banks require invoices and receipts and things before giving out money. This team managed to come to the class with just over 5,000 kr, but claimed that they had 11,000 in total.

However the rules were that no accounts receivable would be counted and cash was king.

A great experience — lots of fun and a huge amount of learning.

Microfinancing culture

While hunting around for an alternative for Facebook (which is getting a bit lame these days) I ran into the site called Kick Starter.

Look at all that money in those small hands!
It could be you or someone you know!

This site is made for people who have an idea and want to get it going, but don't have the cash. There are so many projects that would be great except they aren't big enough to invest in, but too big to finance on your own. Perhaps they don't fit in with any grants on offer or perhaps you just don't want to be involved in the bureaucracy that grants come along with.

Anyway Kick Starter (Beta) is a site where you can put your project up and ask people to fund it. People with a cool idea will attract people who are sick to death of boring old crap. They will give you money, like in this example.

Its the perfect way to fund culture and its proof that people will actually give money to things they think are worth paying for.

With the new micro-possibilities that are open to more or less everyone on the internet, Kick Starter is going to be one of many sites where people can get some dough together to make the world that little bit richer with culture and ideas. God knows we all need some in this media-syndicated world.

Oh by the way, its only available in America, so people reading at home in Australia, you can't use it. Don't worry though, it will only take an Australian about four years to invent the same thing, going by the rate of technological advances in the country. Oh but by that time the internet will be censored anyway. Tough luck.