Having initially been tasked with the goal of writing a business plan and a supporting presentation, my mind began to wonder to all sorts of dark places. I am but a humble student of computer games after all. What could I possibly bring to the table for such a project? This was a question I would ask myself for some time.
Just how did this project begin? It all started with a brainstorming session with my teammates Sacha Corcoran and Meghan Halton. From very early on in this process Sacha had mused a few interesting ideas and this laid a solid foundation for what we felt was needed in later ideas. When Meg had suggested her idea of a communal plant growing business, ears perked up. Both Sacha and Meg discussed the intricacies of this idea at a tentative pace. After what we would later agree was a very porductive brainstorming session, Meg instructed us to perform SWOT Analysis on each of our respective ideas. This was all well and good… except that yours truly did not have an idea.
That was, of course, until I had an epiphany at the very early hours of the morning (or the late hours of the night). Tossing and turning, unable to sleep, I would ask myself; “What could Limerick benefit from?”. Then, as if my life was a cheezy 90’s sitcom, I remembered various conversations I would overhear from family members about where they get various poultry, fish and the like. Thus the idea of CookWest was born. The main idea was to develop a means of letting people know where the good produce is in Limerick through an online recipe learning service.
After using SWOT Analysis to evaluate our ideas we deduced that, although it is a fantastic opportunity, Meg’s idea had a lot of initial costs associated with it. We decided, instead, to run with CookWest. It’s from this point that the idea really stopped being ‘my’ idea. Meg and Sacha were fantastic in terms of realising the motives and benefits of this service. They used their creativity and innovation to enhance what was my original concept and subsequently shaping it into the service we have laid out in this presentation.
Look at me, this humble student of computer games. I know right? Looking back to the beginning, I would not have expected to come out the other end enjoying it as much as I did. I have learned that having teammates who share the same mindset as you, whilst still being unique, is an absolute godsend. Business plans are a great use and the more I fleshed out the idea, the clearer it became.
All in all, this was a learning experience far beyond what I was expecting.
Want more about CookWest and our other ideas? Follow these links;
- The Business Plan (includes the Executive Summary)
- The Presentation – as mentioned above.
- The Finances
- The Organisation Document
The titles and SWOT Analysis of each of our idea’s;