The clock is ticking loud, as our time at Silicon Valley is almost over – today was our last full day here in San Francisco. Tomorrow, we will all board different planes and head to Munich for the final pitches of the #valleychallenge. No wonder the stress levels within our three teams are reaching new heights. Everyone is busy with last minute changes and adaptions, refining ideas, fine-tuning presentations, practicing the pitches … But you know what’s amazing to see? Motivation rules!
The third week of the #valleychallenge has started, and a lot has happened since we all arrived in San Francisco. The typical phases of collaboration and cooperation – forming and storming – are obviously under way.
That’s nothing to worry about, as this is what naturally happens when you put 19 individuals who have never worked with each other before, who mostly didn’t even know each other before, in a new and foreign environment and expect them to just work it out.
This is not an easy task, for neither of our participants. But it is actually working out just fine – for a simple reason: curiosity. Because curiosity is key to learning, to innovation, and to success.
One thing that makes the #valleychallenge really special is our global approach: Everyone at WACKER had the chance to apply, from every region, function and position. The result is now a really divers set-up of participants: Our teams come from Germany, China, USA, Sweden, Vietnam, Korea and Brazil, forming a cross-section of the WACKER world.
Working in such a multi-national environment is both challenging and rewarding. For once, I can say it clearly boosts creativity and productivity: When you work with people from different countries and backgrounds, with different experiences and different mindsets, they are very likely to come up with ideas that would never have crossed your mind. As markets and customers differ, the local market knowledge and insight coming from every team member is extremely valuable – because what works in Germany might
A crucial aspect when it comes to finally having their ideas and business models assessed by our jury is their presentation: on pitch day, our teams will only have a few minutes to convince the ‘investors’ of the jury to finance their ideas…
In the last days, our three teams have been elaborating on their first ideas, discussed different angles and worked on their first prototypes. For this, they are situated in special co-working spaces, which are currently quite popular. But why is that so?
“Everything begins with an idea.” This actually sums up pretty well today’s activities at SVC! Generally speaking, we have a clear goal: Looking for new ideas for business models. The problem is, ideation and innovation aren’t that simple. You don’t come up with great new ideas just like that! That’s why the three teams today worked on finding ideas in a dedicated format: an ideation workshop. […]
When we started setting up WACKER Digital’s Silicon Valley Challenge, I caught myself thinking: “Why Silicon Valley? What’s so special about it anyway?” – just like probably some other people wondered, too.
Well, today, we did a tour through the famous Silicon Valley. And I’m starting to get a first glimpse of what it is all about and why it is so special indeed.
Finally, we’re here: More than four months after launching the project and inviting people to apply, after working through 368 fascinating, inspiring and exciting applications, after preparing a demanding yet stimulating agenda … finally, we are all here in San Francisco.
Tomorrow, WACKER Digital’s Silicon Valley Challenge will officially start!