CS3216 : Week 8

Hello friends!

It’s been awhile since I’ve last posted on my CS3216 Journey. Things have been tight with all the submissions and midterms that came along but not to worry as we’re still on track and gearing up for the final stretch! With the final project on the way, I’ll be sharing with you guys the journey of the NEW ExchangeBuddy (Here is the link to the current version if you want to know what is it about!) and hopefully it’ll be able to give you a more genuine and factual insight of how is it like trying to start something up at the infancy stage! Take note, we’re going to launch on the week of

24^th OCT! REMEMBER THIS DATE OK!

Flash back to the beginning of the final project whereby 10 projects will be taken up by 10 groups. 3 weeks ago, we had external and internal pitches. During external pitches, established startups such as Shopback and Quickdesk came down to pitch projects and there were about 14 companies. On the other hand, there were about 7 internal pitches. This add up to 21 pitches! To be honest, I was confident yet worried on whether ExchangeBuddy is able to juice interest from my course mates as I didn’t manage to execute my pitch well on the pitch night. Furthermore, the established companies were able to provide monetary incentives while me on the other hand, I’m still a student living on pocket money. However, luckily for me, I found myself a team of like-minded budding team mates who are eager to bring forward this cause and make a difference to the world. We decided to work together because of the possibility of CONTINUING ExchangeBuddy after the module. There were other extremely talented course mates who were interested to be part of this project but unfortunately, we could only be in a team of 4 and hence I wouldn’t be able to work with them this time round. However, I do look forward to work with them once the course is over!

Flash front, we are now on the 3^rd week of development and things are going well. In terms of marketing, I had the marketing plan from now till Dec planned out and here are some of the stuff which we are currently doing (but I won’t be sharing everything! You’ll need to like our Facebook and Instagram to check out the SURPRISE!). I will be involved in all of these initiatives and I’m fortunately to have assistance from my talented friends whom I would like to credit these initiatives to.

1. Contacting universities
2. Facebook Page
3. Instagram – #aweekOnExchange ( YOU DEFINITELY NEED TO FOLLOW THIS. COOL STUFF)
4. Designing of A1 poster (Yu Ann)
5. Maintaining ExchangeBuddy content (Kiat Han)
6. Promotional Video (Sue Mae)
7. Special Video
8. International Study Fair 1^st Oct
   1. Managed to get ExchangeBuddy’s branding out to students who are intending to travel overseas and I’m surprise to hear of NSFs who knew about ExchangeBuddy.
9. N-House sharing 5^th Oct
   1. Had a booth during N-house Open Day and I was impressed by the number of driven young minds who wish to create value. Also, we received more than 10 internship interest applications. Internship is definitely an aspect we will look into after re-gearing and strategizing at the end of the term
10. NOC connect sharing 15^th Oct

In addition to marketing efforts, ExchangeBuddy have gotten through the final round of the NUS innovation grant and I will be pitching to them on Monday, 10^th October! Let’s hope NUS believe in us because we’re going to make it happen!

And that is all of the wrap up of the past 3 weeks! Do stay tuned to this site for updates about the growth of a startup

AND REMEMBER 24^Th October! Get ready to be part of this crazily fun student community!

Ciaos !