Reflection – Learning Launch 

 Challenge 

 When I was at the university , I participated in an entrepreneurial fair with a team of other 3   students , and the challenge was to create a new , innovative product or service that satisfy an   existing need in the society . This was a very big challenge for me and my teammates due to the   importance of the fair , because if we won that fair , we get funded by the university to implement   the idea . Additionally , it was a challenge because we got a very restricted timeframe to do this   ( approximately 2 - 3 months ) and we had to have a finished product / service almost ready to scale it .   Also , part of the challenge was that we were industrial engineering students and we were taught   about doing a business case and using a lot of data to develop new ideas and to decide if an idea   was good , so thinking differently ( with a Design Thinking approach ) was a big challenge for me . 

 Selection 

 After doing a proper research of different groups of people in our university and city , and   understanding what was their true needs and desires , we come out with an innovative hygiene   product that we thought it would satisfy the needs of an specific group of the population that has a   specific need . This specific group of the population was suffering all their lives about a problem   ( excessive sweating ) , but there was no product in the market that helped them in a proper way   against this issue . So , instead of doing financial projections and trying to meet a return rate , we   decided we need to test the idea doing experiments . 

 We decided to do a learning launch to learn about our idea and to see how the customers react to   it . Also , we selected a learning launch because it was a fast and cheap way of testing our idea in the   field , and the best way we can truly learn how the potential customers interact with the product . At   the same time , we select doing a learning launch to truly accomplish the challenge and create a   product that truly satisfy a real need and not a fake need . It is like what it was explained in “ the IBM   story ” were their team experiment their new way of doing a trade show in “ Sibos ” in Amsterdam .   In this case , we experiment the prototype of our product in supermarkets to learn from it and to   see if our assumptions were correct . 

 Application 

 After deciding that we wanted to do a learning launch we contacted 4 big supermarkets in our city ,   and we tell them our idea and explained them what kind of experiment we were planning to do .   They were excited about our new product and accept the idea of doing the learning launch in their   facilities . The learning launch consisted on showing the prototypes of the new product in the   hygiene aisle of the healthcare / hygiene sector of the supermarkets , with us promoting it and talking   with the potential customers , explaining the benefits and the way of using the product , and showing   an example of how the product works . We conduct this experiment during the peak hours on   weekends to try to learn the most about it . 

 The learning launch was implemented effectively because we could hear what customers thought   about our product and we could prove the assumptions we had ( that there was an unsatisfied need   in people with excessive sweating problem ) . At the same time , we could learn about the experiment   on how customers feel about their excessive sweating problem , and how excited they feel in   knowing there were a product like the one of us . 

 Insight 

 The learning launch give me an insight about the true problem of the people suffering with excessive   sweating . It makes me understand the true reason why people were suffering about that issue and   the true need they had in nowadays world . The learning launch also makes me understand that the   best way to see if an idea is good is to test it through real experiments were customers participate ,   not just doing financial projections and analyzing historical data . In addition , this insight makes me   think different about the challenge , by understanding that the most important thing was not   winning the contest but helping the people who suffer of excessive sweating and do not know how   to solve it . 

 Finally , Design thinking , in general , help me to think about innovation in a new completely different   way . In away that I was not taught , with customer empathy . I understand that observing and   listening the customer is the best way to accomplish a good innovation that really make an impact   on people , instead of just imagine a profitable product without thinking about the customer . 

 Approach 

 Next time I would use the same tool ( Learning launch ) because I think it is a “ must ” when testing if   an idea is good and to understand the true need of the customers . But I would do something   different related to the places in which we made the learning launch . In my case , I selected 4 big   supermarkets to perform the experiments , and I did not take into account that those kind of   products also get sold in small corner stores /grocery stores / convenience stores and not just in big   supermarkets in the city . So , through restricting the experiment to just the big supermarkets , I could   miss any important insight about the customer´s problem and needs . That is why , the next time I   use a Learning Launch I will stop and think with my team in which places I have to do the experiments   so I can learn the most of them , instead of rushing into the first places I think are the best to make   the experiments . 


EMAIL: 
ID_NUM: 
NAME_STUDENT: 
PHONE_NUM: 
STREET_ADDRESS: 
URL_PERSONAL: 
USERNAME: 

### Task: You are a PII (Personal Identity Information) Detection. Given a essays written by students, you have to identify ONLY the following:
NAME_STUDENT - The full or partial name of a student that is not necessarily the author of the essay. This excludes instructors, authors, and other person names.
EMAIL - A student’s email address.
USERNAME - A student's username on any platform.
ID_NUM - A number or sequence of characters that could be used to identify a student, such as a student ID or a social security number.
PHONE_NUM - A phone number associated with a student.
URL_PERSONAL - A URL that might be used to identify a student.
STREET_ADDRESS - A full or partial street address that is associated with the student, such as their home address.
### Input: Reflection – Learning Launch 

 Challenge 

 When I was at the university , I participated in an entrepreneurial fair with a team of other 3   students , and the challenge was to create a new , innovative product or service that satisfy an   existing need in the society . This was a very big challenge for me and my teammates due to the   importance of the fair , because if we won that fair , we get funded by the university to implement   the idea . Additionally , it was a challenge because we got a very restricted timeframe to do this   ( approximately 2 - 3 months ) and we had to have a finished product / service almost ready to scale it .   Also , part of the challenge was that we were industrial engineering students and we were taught   about doing a business case and using a lot of data to develop new ideas and to decide if an idea   was good , so thinking differently ( with a Design Thinking approach ) was a big challenge for me . 

 Selection 

 After doing a proper research of different groups of people in our university and city , and   understanding what was their true needs and desires , we come out with an innovative hygiene   product that we thought it would satisfy the needs of an specific group of the population that has a   specific need . This specific group of the population was suffering all their lives about a problem   ( excessive sweating ) , but there was no product in the market that helped them in a proper way   against this issue . So , instead of doing financial projections and trying to meet a return rate , we   decided we need to test the idea doing experiments . 

 We decided to do a learning launch to learn about our idea and to see how the customers react to   it . Also , we selected a learning launch because it was a fast and cheap way of testing our idea in the   field , and the best way we can truly learn how the potential customers interact with the product . At   the same time , we select doing a learning launch to truly accomplish the challenge and create a   product that truly satisfy a real need and not a fake need . It is like what it was explained in “ the IBM   story ” were their team experiment their new way of doing a trade show in “ Sibos ” in Amsterdam .   In this case , we experiment the prototype of our product in supermarkets to learn from it and to   see if our assumptions were correct . 

 Application 

 After deciding that we wanted to do a learning launch we contacted 4 big supermarkets in our city ,   and we tell them our idea and explained them what kind of experiment we were planning to do .   They were excited about our new product and accept the idea of doing the learning launch in their   facilities . The learning launch consisted on showing the prototypes of the new product in the   hygiene aisle of the healthcare / hygiene sector of the supermarkets , with us promoting it and talking   with the potential customers , explaining the benefits and the way of using the product , and showing   an example of how the product works . We conduct this experiment during the peak hours on   weekends to try to learn the most about it . 

 The learning launch was implemented effectively because we could hear what customers thought   about our product and we could prove the assumptions we had ( that there was an unsatisfied need   in people with excessive sweating problem ) . At the same time , we could learn about the experiment   on how customers feel about their excessive sweating problem , and how excited they feel in   knowing there were a product like the one of us . 

 Insight 

 The learning launch give me an insight about the true problem of the people suffering with excessive   sweating . It makes me understand the true reason why people were suffering about that issue and   the true need they had in nowadays world . The learning launch also makes me understand that the   best way to see if an idea is good is to test it through real experiments were customers participate ,   not just doing financial projections and analyzing historical data . In addition , this insight makes me   think different about the challenge , by understanding that the most important thing was not   winning the contest but helping the people who suffer of excessive sweating and do not know how   to solve it . 

 Finally , Design thinking , in general , help me to think about innovation in a new completely different   way . In away that I was not taught , with customer empathy . I understand that observing and   listening the customer is the best way to accomplish a good innovation that really make an impact   on people , instead of just imagine a profitable product without thinking about the customer . 

 Approach 

 Next time I would use the same tool ( Learning launch ) because I think it is a “ must ” when testing if   an idea is good and to understand the true need of the customers . But I would do something   different related to the places in which we made the learning launch . In my case , I selected 4 big   supermarkets to perform the experiments , and I did not take into account that those kind of   products also get sold in small corner stores /grocery stores / convenience stores and not just in big   supermarkets in the city . So , through restricting the experiment to just the big supermarkets , I could   miss any important insight about the customer´s problem and needs . That is why , the next time I   use a Learning Launch I will stop and think with my team in which places I have to do the experiments   so I can learn the most of them , instead of rushing into the first places I think are the best to make   the experiments .
### Output: 