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WORKSHOP:BUILDING A GREAT PROJECTSuzi Sosa

Executive [email protected]
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]

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So, youve got a big idea..

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January 1, 2011 | dellchallen ge.org |

We want to see it!www.dellchallenge.org
http://www.dellchallenge.org/http://www.dellchallenge.org/

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How do you make a great

project page?

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Focus: 5 Key Questions

What is your innovation?

Who gains the most?

Who pays?

What is success?

How will you achieve it?

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Other tips:

Look at the 2012 Winners: http://www.dellchallenge.org/discover/2012-award-winners/99

Provide a very clear, very simple description of what you will do foryour header sentence. This should be written in a way yourgrandmother would understand - very simple and clear. For example:Our project is an innovative school lunch program that will reduce

childhood obesity by 25% in 5 years.

Remember the judges will look at about 20 projects, so make yoursvery clear and easy to read. Use spacing and formatting to make iteasy to follow.
http://www.dellchallenge.org/discover/2012-award-winners/99http://www.dellchallenge.org/discover/2012-award-winners/99

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Focus: 5 Key Questions


Who gains the most?

Who pays?

What is success?

How will you achieve it?

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Identifying Your Innovation

Be extremely clear about what is your innovation. This is the mostimportant part of your project page.

Most ideas have one core innovation that sets them apart. Focus onyour main innovation. Be very specific and clear.

An innovation is not just about being new. Innovations deliversubstantial value and significantly more impact than the status quo.

You must demonstrate why your idea will deliver better results thananything else currently available.

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Describing Your Innovation

Start by clearly explaining what is the problem you want to solve.

Then simply and clearly explain what your innovation is.

Demonstrate why it is better than all other existing options. It ishelpful to use quantitative evidence or clear comparisons. For

example: Our program serves 10 times more people than all otherexisting programs.

Clearly explain how your innovative product, program or service leadto a positive change. For example, When children eat our lunches theyconsume 50% fewer calories and lose up to one pound...

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Evaluation Criteria: Innovation

Is the innovation clearly articulated?

Do I understand what the innovation is?

Is the innovation a clear improvement above all existing options tosolve the problem?

Does this innovation produce the desired results or does it seem likelto in the future?

Does this innovation have the potential to have a significant impact othe world?

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Example: DSIC


Our innovation is....

We are the worlds largest accelerator for student soci al innovators. Ourinnovation is to combine student competitions with mentorship and

education to activate hundreds of student entrepreneurs. Unlikeother business plan competitions, we do not focus on one winner. Wengage over 200 teams, equaling over 1,000 students, each year.We combine both online and offl ine resources, such as our webplatform and our university partner network, to give students theresources and support they need.

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Who gains the most?

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Identifying Who Gains the Most

You must identify a specific beneficiary of your program. Who willbenefit from your product, program or service?

It is NOT specific enough to say humankind children or society.You must be more specific. Who wants this?

All innovations solve an unmet need, usually for a group of people bucould also be for a group of animals or a part of the planet. What isthe unmet need you are solving?

Whose unmet need are you solving? Who will benefit the most fromthis? Who is your target customer or target client?

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Describing Who Gains the Most

Start by providing specific detail to the client or customer you want toserve. Try to be very clear.

For example: primary school age children single mothers ruralIndian men ages 25 - 40 refugees or students who love soccer

Then explain why your innovation is needed by this group. What isthe unmet need you are solving? What is the problem or pain you arsolving for them? Why do they need this? How will their lives bebetter after your innovation?

You can also mention secondary clients/customers/beneficiaries.

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Evaluation Criteria: Who Gains?

Does this innovation serve a clearly defined target group? Does theteam clearly understand who their customers or clients are?

Does this innovation solve an unmet need? How significant is thisneed?

Is there evidence the target group wants this innovation? Has theteam interacted directly with potential customers or clients?

Is there evidence that the target group has benefitted from thisinnovation?

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Example: DSIC

Who gains the most?

Our primary customers/clients are....

Our primary customers are university students from any university around theworld. They benefit from our program by developing the skills and confidence

needed to launch their social innovation projects. We currently have over 25,000students in our online community. Our program compliments their universityeducation and connects them an ecosystem of resources. We also serveuniversity faculty to whom we provide curriculum, training and support to betterteach social entrepreneurship and help student social entrepreneurs.

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Who pays?

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Identifying Who Pays

People will pay for your services if you provide something to them that isof value. All organizations - whether for-profit businesses or not-for-profiNGOs - need someone to pay for the services.

Who values what you are providing? How do you know they value it?How much will they pay for it?

Is this a one-time source of funds or an ongoing, sustainable source offunding?

You must be very specific about who will pay. It is not enough to saydonors or customers. What is the profile of your donor or yourcustomer?

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Who Pays - Non-Profits

Many non-profits depend on a third party payor model. In this modethe person who receives the services (the beneficiary) is not the samperson who provides the services (the donor).

You must deliver value to both the beneficiary and to the donor.Donors have a choice of who to give their money to, so they must

choose you because you provide them with something they value.

There are many types of donors: individuals, small businesses, largecorporations, philanthropic foundations, governments, etc. You mustbe specific about what types of donors will support you and why.

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Who Pays - For-Profits

For-profits usually sell their innovations to a customer.

Who will be your paying customers and how much will they pay? Onwhat basis do you believe this?

Many social enterprises use segmented pricing, so different types of

customers pay different prices. For example, a hospital might providefree or low-cost services to poor customers and might provide marketrate services to wealthy customers. You may or may not havedifferent customer segments with different pricing.

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Evaluation Criteria: Who Pays?

Is it clear who will pay for this innovation? How do we know they willpay for it? Why will they pay for it?

How much will they pay?

How big is the group of people who will pay for this?

Is this one-time or ongoing funding? How sustainable is the fundingfor this project?

Will the funding model allow the project to grow?

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Example: DSIC

Who pays?

Our primary funders are....

Our primary funders are corporations who sponsor our competitions. Thesecompanies support our programs because it enhances their global brand, buildsaffinity with a large population of university students and provides a globalvolunteer opportunity for their employees (as mentors and judges). Currently DeInc is our main corporate sponsor, and they provided $5 million of support for thisprogram. We are looking to add five new corporate partners in 2013.

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What is success?

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Identifying What is Success

You must be clear about what is the specific impact you want toachieve.

The more specific and quantitative you can be, the stronger yourproject will be. For example, We want to provide health care services tover 1,000 children living in the Kibera slum.

You can articulate success in terms of both outputs and outcomes.Outputs are measures of volume (how many people, how many books,how many trees, etc). Outcomes are measures of transformation (% whscored higher, % that were not chopped down, etc.)

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Identifying What is Success

What will you achieve with your innovation?

What will be changed because of you?

What are the specific, quantitative measures of your success?

What is the potential return on investment (ROI) of your idea?

What is the value you have created?

What is your impact story?

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Describing What is Success

Be specific about what will be different as a result of your project.

Dont make broad, sweeping claims about reducing illiteracy orreducing crime.

Instead, make very specific predictions about what you can

accomplish: We will teach 2,000 primary school age children to readin 5 years.

Embed your quantitative impacts inside a visionary story.

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Evaluation Criteria: Success

Is there a clear definition of success?

Does the team have a specific goal (or set of goals) that they want toachieve?

Is this goal objectively verifiable and measurable?

Is this impact significant? How has the team helped us to feel thatthis impact is significant? Why should we care?

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Example: DSIC

What is your success?

Our goal is to....

Our goal is to spark a global movement of student social innovators. To reachthis goal we plan to activate more than 100,000 student social entrepreneursthrough our competitions. In 2013 we will engage more than 15,000 students,and we have been doubling this number year after year. We also track oursuccess through the progress of our projects. Specifically, we want more than50% of our Semi-Final projects to launch and advance to the next project phasewithin two years.

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How will you do it?

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Identifying How Will you Do It?

This is the very beginning of your tactical plan. It does not need to becomprehensive.

Instead, focus on what are the top tactical priorities for your project.

What will you do tomorrow to move your venture forward? And the

day after?

Be very specific about the tactical decisions you are making toexecute your idea. Name specific people, organizations and partnersthat are key to your success.

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Describing How Will You Do It

How will you start?

Who might you partner with?

Where will your funds come from?

How will you grow?

What are the key risks you face? How will you overcome them?

How will you make this happen?

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Evaluation Criteria: How

Is there a clear and specific plan for how this project will achieve itsgoals?

Does the team understand the most important operational priorities?

Is there a balance between the strategic vision and knowledge about

immediate next steps?

Is there a sense of commitment to action? Have they providedevidence of what they have done to date?

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Example: DSIC

How will you do it?

We will achieve our goal by....

We will achieve our goal by: 1) doubling the number of project entries each yearOur 2013 target is at least 3,000 by the deadline on January 28th; 2) engagingmore than 100 University Partners to promote the DSIC on their campuses; 3)

building a Student Ambassador program to create a local presence on eachuniversity campus; 4) recruiting and training more than 750 Dell employeevolunteers to serve as mentors and judges; 5) identifying and securing five newcorporate partners for 2013; and 6) growing our programs in new internationalmarkets, such as India, China, Mexico and Brazil.

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Can you do it?

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Ideas Are Not Enough

You must persuade us that you (and your team) have what it takes topull this off.

Most often, the skills required are not what you derive from aclassroom. Show us that you are a leader, a risk-taker, that you havegrit, perseverance, optimism, passion.

We want to feel that you are ON FIRE about your project!!

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Any questions?

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Get started now.

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Good luck!

Suzi [email protected]

DELLCHALLENGE.ORG
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]

2012 si workshop

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