One of the main goals of every accelerator startup is to prepare young entrepreneurs for what is waiting for them in the real business world. This is how we came up with the idea of startup game, designed for all startups in the SPARK startup program from Mostar in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which would teach them how to actually lead a company, encourage competition between startups and motivate them for work and progress. In addition, accelerator could monitor the startup progress.
Spark didn’t want to keep the game for themselves, so they applied to the Digital Cities project to develop the game further and share it with other accelerators. With two startup accelerators from the United Kingdom – Supreme Factory and Acorn Aspiration, and together Spark started developing the Play, Learn and Earn game with the Blockchain layer. The teams behind the Digital Cities project, British Council and HM Government, decided to support the project.
Everyone knows that the best way to learn something is through games. This is why we decided to do the gamification of our startup process and came up with the startup game “Play, Learn and Earn”.
The game is designed for startups, but also for startup accelerators. Startups learn about the business world in a fun way, run their own company and compete with other startups, while startups accelerators easily track the progress of all startups. Through the game, startups get a certain amount of virtual money they spend on accelerating their startup. Any activity that has a real-world value exists in the game (e.g. renting space and equipment, mentoring, education, startup conferences and the like). If startups do their task with quality and timely, they will be rewarded with a bonus virtual money. Conversely, the money will be taken away.
Find out more about “Play, Learn and Earn” startup game launch event on the link https://goo.gl/EJbnid
Try it now: https://game.spark.ba
The first activity was to exchange knowledge and experience between SPARK and startup accelerators from the United Kingdom. Thus, Ivona Ćorić, the finance and business startup manager from SPARK, visited Dot Forge (tech startup accelerator in Newcastle), Accelerate Places (coworking space in Manchester) and participated in the WoManchester – IWD Celebration 2018 event. Ivona returned full of positive impressions – it was very interesting to compare practices from Bosnia and Herzegovina and the United Kingdom.
Meanwhile, in Mostar, five developers and one designer work on the Play, Learn and Earn app, with support from SPARK r&d and startup departments. The startup game will soon be finished, and all its features will be presented soon at the event.
Leave a Reply