What is T_Incubate?
T_Incubate is the startup incubator for teens and twens. It provides a range of services that keep teams with great business ideas on track when the initial startup magic fades. Hackathons and Startup Weekends are great. There are heaps of adrenaline, Wow! and What if? in the room. Everyone is excited about the seemingly unlimited creative power they own. The high-paced environment leads to results these pumped individuals would never have dreamed of.
However, it is hard work to get from the headlines level of a business idea pitched to a feasible MVP. These are the most common reasons:
- Interpersonal skills make or break businesses.
- Daily live with all its tasks and chores, social obligations and distracting habits creeps in quickly and suddenly there is seemingly no time to advance the pitched idea.
- Teams lack skills or access to resources for building a functioning MVP or at least a model of what they have in mind.
Charlotte Martins, the organizer of the first Startup Weekend I joined (on Zero Waste and in Shanghai a couple of years ago), shared this wise insight with me:
“The team is more important than the idea. Sometimes you have a compelling concept but the leader loses the people. There is no way they will be successful.”
Charlotte Martins
How do we do it?
Hone social skills
Conflict management, communication management and healthy decision making as a group are key for long-term commitment of highly talented, diverse team members. This is the pre-requisite for innovation that has the chance to sustain. Most people are not born with these skills and schools do not teach them. When our team comes in, we teach the basics and then continuously coach for steady personal growth.
Adapt project management
When motivation decreases, it is helpful to keep focus with the help of a high-level project plan, regular meetings, aligned deliverables and other agreements. This can be as free and flexible or rigid and rule-based as each team finds useful. There is never a one-size-fits-all in project management but there a several best practices that are usually worthwhile to consider.
The agile project management toolbox contains everything teams possibly may need
As with most really important stuff, only very few people learn this at educational institutions as we know them today. A project with some stretch is the perfect context to apply and internalize them naturally.
Connect with our network
It takes a village to raise a startup. Young people usually do not have access to a wide range of people and organizations that are capable and willing to help either for free or a manageable fee in an un-bureaucratic way. We are happy to connect and advocate as needed with.
How does it work?
The typical T_Incubate project lasts three months, from pitched idea to presentation of fully functional MVP or model.
Each T_Incubate team is self organized and decides how to achieve the goal of presenting a fully functional MVP to judges and supporters after three months. Participants can meet for a daily standup or synchronize results with the help of a digital collaboration tool and only meet once a week.
However, they will receive input, guidance and practical help when needed for the topics mentioned above.
These are typical activities where our team comes in:
If are interested, let us discuss your needs and expectations. We would be pleased to create a framework that gives young innovators the stability and structure they need to grow.
In case you are a non-profit, a school that caters to special needs, in general an organization with a big vision and a tiny budget, do not hesitate to contact us, either. We are more than happy to customize a pro-bono solution.