Startupper’s perspective: 4 questions to Maria Rahamägi
Maria Rahamägi is an entrepreneur and educational technology activist. She is the founder of Edumus, an online school for elective subjects where high school students can learn interesting and practical courses taught by the industry professionals. She is also part of EdTech Estonia and head of its hackathon.
Although a lot of hackathons are still being organised, criticism towards the format has risen. It’s being said that hackathons produce short-term solutions and most of the teams won’t be able to carry their ideas out in the long run. What is your take on that?
All big changes start from small increments of innovation. A hackathon's goal is to create prototypes of new approaches within a limited time frame of 48 hours and limited resources, to be able to test out if these will make sense to invest in the long term. Thus most solutions are bound to fail, we will not know which until we try.
Second important value of hackathons is the learning and networking experience. As we have put more emphasis on workshops during the hack, especially the participants who have not attended hacks before, will learn how to develop and present their ideas. These are useful skills both in entrepreneurship and whichever industry they might work in.
All big changes start from small increments of innovation.
What makes a good hackathon?
Participants make a good hackathon. It is all about their readiness to dive in, develop something new and learn during the process. Ideas nor teams are never ready, the learning curve is meant to be steep.
As our hack will be online, meaning we will not have a location for the participants to gather at, creating the true hack experience will be a bit more difficult. Our workshops and mentors will help the teams to keep on track, but I would also recommend the teams to find a way to get together amongst themselves. It is much easier to work together in one physical space than on one’s own and being together is much more fun too. That I can tell from my own experience.
What are the most important steps for a newly formed team to stay on track after the hack, after the mentorship?
If during the hack you fall in love with the idea and get some validation from the test users and mentors, then definitely don't stop. The best way to continue developing the idea is by keeping close contact with your potential clients, finding a mentor and joining other programs which support young startups, such as Prototron.
From where should one with an idea start, to actually bring the idea into reality?
The best way to start would be to figure out the problem you would like to solve and validate if the problem exists and is it big and significant enough. To help teams with that we have a problem validation workshop a few days before the hack with Helen Kokk who will guide the teams through the process.
Once there is a problem to solve and a solution that could relieve or fix it, a way to make it financially sustainable should be found. Will you sell some products or a subscription? Who will pay for it? To help figure this out we have a business modelling workshop with Yrjö Ojasaar on the second day of the hack.
And last, but not least, there is the question of how to explain it all to a potential investor, because in most cases big ideas require some. Gleb Maltsev who is an experienced pitch coach will bring it all together by teaching the teams how to introduce their ideas in just 3 minutes in a way that is understandable and memorable.
I would love to say that starting a business is as easy as one-two-three, but it isn’t. Quite the other way around. But once you have your vision and have figured out the next three goals to move towards, this vision will make you feel like you are halfway there. And I have found that a healthy dose of optimism is something that keeps me going and that’s most important.
I would love to say that starting a business is as easy as one-two-three, but it isn’t.
EdTech Hack 2022 | October 14–16 | Online
Startup Estonia and EdTech Estonia are looking for innovative and sustainable ideas that could change the world of education. Join the EdTech Hack on October 14–16, form a team and develop a prototype for your idea in 48 hours!
Learn more and register: https://hack.edtechestonia.org
