When your teacher opens class with “break shit a lot,” you know you’re in for an interesting eight week ride. It was day one of Tech Talent South‘s graduate class, a startup roller coaster where junior level developers and designers work in teams to execute their very own minimum viable product. So far students came up with app project ideas, chose the three most viable ideas, and accomplished some initial market testing. Customer discovery will be a reoccurring theme as the teams build out the apps over the coming weeks. Stay tuned and be some of the first beta testers.
the teachers
TJ Muehleman, is a Georgia Tech grad that has been a developer for over 15 years. TJ cofounded both We & Co (restaurant job matching service) and Standard Code (dev shop), and is a graduate of Flashpoint, Georgia Tech’s intensive customer discovery program.
Michael Tavani is a Dunwoody native and the founder of Switchyards (startup incubator) and Scoutmob (online deals company) and host of On Doers.
the projects and teams
Localist
Marketplace for local artists, clothes makers, farmers, and food makers to sell their goods to local buyers. Currently narrowing down to what kind of goods they want to focus on.
Team- Garey Simpson, Sam Skinner, Ernest Son
AVillageLike.Me
A tool will help you in your quest to find places to live or visit that are identical to the unique ares that you love the most in your own city. Gauging interest via an initial MVP.
Team- Aaron Groch, Jared Ables, Majid Wallace
InternSted
A marketplace for tech companies to find local available interns and possibly entry level folks. Testing interest from startup founders and students.
Team- Murtaza Iqbal, Tricia Whitlock, Jaime Panaia
a few thoughts from TJ and Michael on customer discovery
There’s a confidence in loving your own ideas, beware of assumptions/personal biases
Know what the market wants before you go off and spend dough to build it
Ask folks open ended questions, let them drive you to a problem & watch for body language
Worried about unveiling your big idea? Don’t be. “Ideas are worth nothing, its the execution of the idea” – TJ
