In seinem zweiten Monat mit beta-i hat Jonas bereits einiges über sich und seine Geschäftsidee gelernt und beschlossen, diese anzupassen.

Time is passing fast, it’s the end of November already. This month has been filled with action: re-planning, pitching and pivoting. I have made many new contacts and I reprioritized the undertakings I am tackling.

It all started with the Web Summit – a huge event with 70.000 people from the tech industry – here I Lisbon. I was a volunteer and therefore had the chance to hear inspiring talks, get to know other start-ups, pitch a new idea and generate leads. New idea? Yes, I am switching paths: I will keep the Lacrosse platform alive, but I will focus the big chunk of my time on a new project.

Why?
The entrepreneurial journey is about experimenting. Build, measure, learn are the three steps of the feedback loop approach in the lean start up methodology. Building the platform has been fun and I am adding value to the Lacrosse community in Germany: Since I launched about a month ago, I registered 181 visitors with 516 views. To give you an idea, this is already 6% of the active Lacrosse base in Germany, all without marketing. The problem, however, is that Lacrosse players in Germany do not earn money playing the game of Lacrosse. It is the other way around: Lacrosse teams only exist because of people willing to put in their time without pay. Also, when driving to gamedays, players have to cover the cost. Thereby there is only a very slight chance of making a living by teaching Lacrosse skills online. I started the project out of love for the game and I will keep producing content that helps players in the community to improve their game, but I am shifting my focus.

My new entrepreneurial undertaking, that I am incredibly excited about, it is part of the educational space and focuses on sentimental education. One very important building block of character that I think is missing in today’s educational system. The problem we focus on is the increased anxiety and depression in western countries. With the support of an innovation specialist from my host company, I am working on testing my assumptions. Talking to new contacts about the idea, I am getting great feedback and ideas to develop it further.

At the WebSummit I pitched the idea and was able to generate leads to follow up on, once we launch. It is so fun to ideate, create and execute. At the same time, I am growing my network by being part of makeSense, a volunteer organization promoting social entrepreneurship. This will benefit me in the long run by having a community to built upon once the product is ready.

I have sketched out the roadmap for the next month starting with the customer discovery as the Value Proposition Canvas Methodology suggests. After the first interviews this month, I hope that by this time next month I can tell you more concretely where the journey is going. All in all, I am excited that this idea has the possibility to impact many people and hopefully improve their lives. It is based on the UN Sustainability goals 3 and 4 – good health/well-being and quality education.

That’s all for now. Best, Jonas