Edventures Quarterly Update: Apr-Jun 2023

June 27, 2023 •

Quarterly Updates

Edventures Quarterly Update: Apr-Jun 2023

This blog post was originally sent out via our newsletter last week. If you want earlier updates about our progress straight to your inbox and be among the first to test our prototype, make sure you sign up for our newsletter and join the Edventures Earlybird Community!

Dear Edventures community,

As we move through spring and into the summer months of 2023, we wanted to take a moment to update you on what we’ve been working on here at Edventures.

April

With the completion of the new designs for our self-hosted blog, we shifted our focus towards revamping the designs for the Alpha version. Originally scheduled for release in June, we adjusted our timeline to launch it at the end of August. In April, Ying-Chen spearheaded the task of updating and refining the designs for the Alpha version while exploring the Flutter framework. Flutter, developed by Google, offers the advantage of working seamlessly across devices, enabling the development of both native and web apps while maintaining a clean and efficient codebase.

Moving to Flutter was something we started thinking about already last year, but we tried getting the Angular prototype up and running since the steps needed to complete it weren’t that many. In retrospect, I realise that pivoting not only applies to business aspects but also technical decisions. Sometimes, when we are too close to a problem, we may overlook faster and better solutions. It’s a classic mistake, and I have learned valuable lessons from it. Our Angular prototype had gradually accumulated bugs, excessive branches, and undocumented code over the years, making it challenging to manage. As a Product Visionary, I have learned to be better at planning and organising technical development more effectively. I’ll be writing a blog post about these struggles and lessons learned, definitely with half of my face buried in the pillow of shame, BUT I think it’s good to be transparent about the mistakes we do as well and give people a better understanding of WHY things have taken much longer than they should have.

Sometimes, when we are too close to a problem, we may overlook faster and better solutions. It’s a classic mistake, and I have learned valuable lessons from it.

May

In May, we welcomed Odeyeme Bolaji to our team as a Video Content Creator. Despite his young age, Odeyeme brings a remarkable work ethic and creative skills as a Senior Designer at an agency in Lagos, Nigeria. He has been involved in campaigns for renowned brands like Pepsi and 7up, adapting their messages for the Nigerian market. Together, we have started working on our planned podcast, Founder Sessions by Edventures. We have been brainstorming designs and outlines for the podcast, where I will serve as the host, interviewing young founders worldwide who are in the early stages of their entrepreneurial journey, talking about their challenges, mistakes, and lessons learned. We have yet to begin recording interviews and finalise the launch date, as we believe in taking the time needed to ensure a high-quality podcast experience. If you know any founders working on something exciting and beneficial for the community, please shoot me an email. We would love to get to know them and potentially feature them on the podcast’s initial season.

We also had a proper sit-down within the team to organise and structure the work we had ahead of us to meet the milestones we had set up for June and July.

We have started working on our planned podcast, Founder Sessions by Edventures.

June

While I confidently mentioned in my last update that we were close to completing the prototype and launching it by the end of March, unexpected issues popped up. After resolving issues on the website (though we still have minor ones), we encountered frontend problems in the app. However, in all this mess, and ever since he joined, our full stack engineer Taha has been relentless in his efforts to make the Angular protoype work and he’s spent lot of time fixing bugs. I really want to take a moment to express my deepest gratitude for having him on the team but also for his work ethic and adamant problem-solving mindset.

I’m also incredibly grateful for Ying-Chen and her impressive work ethic. She has demonstrated the ability to quickly learn and adapt with minimal guidance from senior team members. Ying-Chen has been driving the frontend development of our new Flutter interface and has made substantial progress. Starting her Flutter journey in late April, she picked up speed throughout May and has now completed all the interfaces for the Alpha version. These interfaces feature a new design with a white background, gradient, and blue/pink accent colors, enhancing user experience and visual appeal.

While I have made mistakes in estimating completion dates before, I cautiously express my confidence that our Flutter frontend will be finished by the end of June. Ying-Chen deserves all the credit for this achievement!

With that being said, this month we have an exciting development to share with you: we will be launching a preview version for you to explore! Although it may not be production-ready, you will have the opportunity to navigate through our new interface and even chat with Anna! This milestone is just a few days away, and we are so excited about this.

This month we have an exciting development to share with you: we will be launching a preview version for you to explore!

Once we release the prototype for testing, we will actively gather feedback from our test users. If you are interested in participating and trying out our new prototype, please send us a message on any of our social media channels or via email. Our contact information can be found at the bottom of this page, or shoot me an email directly.

Thank you for your continued support, and we look forward to sharing more updates with you soon!

Live happily and prosper 🖖

Alexander

If you are just getting started

At Edventures, we always emphasise the mantra of ‘keep moving forward’. We want you to know that you have what it takes to be an entrepreneur, and we have what you need to make the process of becoming one as enjoyable as possible. We’ve made it as easy as texting.