Inspiration
The inspiration for this project came from a group discussion within our team. With all of our team members attending the Ivey School of Business, we each enjoy coming up with startup ideas. A problem we identified is that once we came up with a startup idea we liked, it's hard to find other entrepreneurial minded people to discuss and possibly build the idea with. Although platforms do exist to exchange and discuss startup ideas, it is not always easy to connect and start working with someone who is a total stranger.
What it does
This is where PitchStart comes in. PitchStart is a web based platform for young entrepreneurs at unversities to connect, share, and develop their ideas with others at their school. By focusing on a niche campus community and beginning with a launch at Western, we can gain a competitive advantage to other platforms from our feeling of comfort and familiarity. On the platform, users will be able to post ideas, comment on and like other peoples Pitches, and connect with others through a chat function.
How we built it
Two of our members developed the web platform using the MERN stack. To work efficiently, we divided the work into a backend and a frontend, using APIs to connect the work we did. Doing this allowed us to work smoothly and save time that would have been spent collaborating on the same code files.
Challenges we ran into
The major challenge we faced developing this project was the time constraint. We had 24 hours after receiving the problem statement to identify a need, come up with a solution to that need, and develop a prototype of our solution. To counter this we focused only on the most important aspects of our project, which we decided was the functionality to post a pitch idea and comment on that post.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
We are most proud of how we compartmentalize the project work cohesively as a team. We split the work into business planning and application development, delegating two members to each. Kevin and Jonny developed a feasibility plan, pitch deck, budgets, and an executive summary while Tyler and Jack implemented the UI, the backend with API routes, the database, and managed the hosting process. Although all of our team members are pursuing a dual degree for Business Administration and Software Engineering and therefore had knowledge in both domains, each of us had more skills and interest in certain areas.
What we learned
Though this process we learned and developed various skills, such as how to:
- Develop an app in an agile team environment
- Balance the technical implementation and the business feasibility of an app
- Identify individual strengths and divide work accordingly
- Create a web platform using the MERN stack
What's next for PitchStart
The next steps for PitchStart is to finish development of the web platform and launch to the Western University Community. After establishing ourselves at Western, we will expand to other campuses in Canada, and then to the US. We also hope to add more features such as the ability for investors to to invest directly through our site.
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