GradBuddy, an app which helps MBAs pivoting careers turn their cases and problem sets into practice for the product or finance job they’re after — and proof they can do it. The 'Hustle Challenge' helped me validate the problem & hone in on a solution. Sprint 1 was all about iterating on the design to get to a compelling prototype. Now, I'm focused on getting usability feedback & working on putting together a group of alpha testers to test v0!
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In trying to decide how to focus on generating demand & interest for GradBuddy, I started really scrutinizing the core of my offering. Of course, the demo at the end of Sprint 1 made me realize I had positioned (and thus built) my app backwards. I wanted to ground students in their day-to-day coursework & responsibilities as a means of helping them direct their workflows toward their future careers. I realized, I need to ground students in their desired future careers and then use that as the grounding mechanism & context layer for the workflows I want to facilitate. To get more information & break out of my element, I decided to speak with other grad students, outside of MBAs & Cornell, but still those looking to get into tech or business roles. I setup a table at IENYC and asked passing students to do a 20 minute interview with me in exchange for $20. 6 interviews later, and I had validated the pivot & even gotten some more prospective pilot sing-ups - including someone at IENYC's career department, who mentioned she'd want to test & be a customer if they found value. While it's not complete just yet, I'm working on a navigable job finder & recommendation engine to help students better understand where to focus their time & energy in pursuit of the role they want. My goal is to allow users to navigate jobs & see what skills they're missing so that they can craft the right projects/outreach to bridge the gap and help them develop the skills they want. The Loom recording currently showcases the app at it's current state, but I'm hoping to have it ready & available before the end of the month.
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