Playground: A Sandbox Initiative

Frequently asked questions

🗓️

When was this project?

June to July 2021

⏱️

How long was this project?

The pre-production was around half a month, and its delivery was one (1) month-long.

💡

What problem were you trying to solve?

How can we assist students in developing their startup ideas despite the virtual nature of COVID-19?

⭐️

What was the goal of the project?

To generate student startups all over the Philippines through the provision of mentorship, product research & development resources, and networking with potential incubators

overview of the project

DSC Playground is a startup generation program designed to further and assist the tech-powered ideas of students within the Ateneo. The program is a month-long hackathon, engineered to equip individuals with the networking skills necessary to find co-founders, encourage the development of specialized tech-business ideas, attend to the product development of participant companies, and teach teams how to properly present a pitch to entice investors.

SKILLS HONED

TOOLS USED

about my role

Multiple hats, one head. As an Operations Lead at GDSC-L, which was a smaller organization at the time, I proposed this project and led the team when it came to gathering guest speakers and mentors, logistics for its online delivery, marketing and participant generation, and more.

HOW I PUT MY SKILLS TO WORK

👩‍💻

Design consultancy. Acted as a mentor for branding, UX/UI design, and pitch deck storytelling as well as design

📖

Instructional design. Organized the curriculum of the startup generation program by following the design thinking framework; and created/gathered the materials for a resource box.

🎨

Branding creation. Developed a branding for the project, specifically a font style, that referenced the branding of the organization.

🛠️

Events operations & logistics. Managed my team for the end-to-end logistics of the virtual hackathon, ensuring a seamless experience for participants, mentors, and guest speakers.

📣

Social media marketing. Designed visually engaging promotional materials and crafted messaging tailored to aspiring student entrepreneurs while leveraging Discord, LinkedIn, and Facebook to maximize engagement, driving sign-ups and maintaining an active community throughout the event

👥

Project management. Proposed and led the development of DSC Playground, and oversaw all aspects of program execution, from structuring mentorship tracks to organizing final pitch presentations, enabling participants to successfully develop and present their startup ideas.

📲

External relations. Reached out and communicated with guest speakers, mentors, and startup incubators that would be valuable for the event.

SO... what happened?

DSC Playground proved that virtual startup incubation was not only possible but effective. By focusing on structured guidance, accessible mentorship, collaborative tools, and real-world application, the program gave students the resources, skills, and connections needed to bring their startup ideas to life—even in a fully online environment.

Impact & learning

Proposing a sandbox initiative over the pandemic

Joining the organization that year, I knew that I wanted to propose a startup incubation program — something like Sandbox in South Korea or YC Combinator — that specifically targeted students in the Philippines. I submitted a Program Proposal Form (PPF) that detailed a month-long hackathon that would connect its participants to startup incubators in the country.

Creating the curriculum of the startup generation program

The program was designed to form teams, develop products, and prepare pitches. I based the program phases on the design thinking program: - Team Formation as "Empathize" where the team needs to learn about each other in order to choose a problem they want to solve - Ideation as "Define" and "Ideation" - Product Development as "Prototype" and "Testing"

Finding resource persons

We found resource persons for guest speaking and mentorship in our own circles. I contacted people on LinkedIn and within the Atenean community to provide some peer-to-peer learning. I believe that self-taught students can be effective teachers to other students because we understand how to approach learning the subject: what areas we need to focus on and what resources are the best to digest.

Acquiring participants from all over the country

Participant registration was our biggest anxiety. We were worried that students would be too busy with academics to focus and benefit from the program. However, we underestimated the time management skills of students and we were able to get over 50 students from schools like UST, TIP, PLM, PUP, AdMU, DLSU, University of Northern Philippines (UNP), and more.

Being a mentor for product design and no-code development

One of my biggest contributions to this project has to be my design expertise. I was able to impart some of my insights and experiences by applying my own self-taught knowledge of design in various genres (branding, pitch design, UX/UI, product, etc.).

Avocado Sustainability

Ateneo Innovation Jam

Bullet by Seisco