Livin' the start-up life
Time is going by so fast! It's hard to believe three weeks have already come and gone. I spent the first weeks of the placement discovering Glasgow, a truly beautiful city, getting to know my social enterprise and exploring Scotland.
I work for a brand new social enterprise called 'This for That'. This start-up is a digital platform that allows organizations to share their excess resources with the organizations that need them. This for That was born out of a need for more collaboration in financially-constrained communities. By helping big and small organizations share resources, This for That helps to build strong bonds in communities and organizations across sectors.
This project was started by ice-cream architecture, a community design and citizen engagement firm. A start-up team working alongside an architecture firm makes for an unconventional and incredibly cool office. I have the privilege of working with a dozen architects, designers and artists on a daily basis. Being used to work in well established corporations and large public institutions, I find that this dynamic working environment is a breath of fresh air!
My main responsibility this summer will be to develop the social impact reporting featured on the platform. I came in to this internship with a preconceived idea of what I would be measuring, only to be told a completely different story after my arrival. I had to do a complete 180˚ and come up with a new strategy for figuring out social impact metrics! Turns out that I am responsible for measuring the social impact not of the entire organization, but of each transaction on the platform. These impacts will be shown to users on their individual 'performance dashboards'.
I am lucky enough to be working with mentors who encourage me to think outside the box and go along unconventional paths. After all, the early stages of development of a digital social innovation platform are all about creativity and experimentation. What will users want to see? Could this feature be added? Does this layout work? Is this fun enough?
In the three weeks I have been at This for That, I have gained privileged insight into the effort, time and thought that go into building a business from scratch. It's both hard work and tons of fun!
And when I'm not working, I explore Glasgow as much as possible. Glasgow is a lively city of pubs, art, music, architecture and beautiful bridges. Running along the Kelvin River up to the botanical gardens is always a highlight of my day! Weekends are spent on adventures outside the city: after a lovely day in Stirling and a weekend of partying in Edinburgh, my next stop will be Fort Williams and the Highlands.
I would write more, but Tuesday = comedy night at the local pub. Does listening to Scottish jokes while drinking Scottish beer count as cultural exchange? Aye!
