I had the opportunity today to meet up with another American expat here in London, the multi-talented Kate Matlock who is here doing a masters in design studies.  She was great fun to talk to, and of course it’s always nice to spend time with another American while abroad. We had decided to meet up so that I could hear a bit more about a wonderful food-related event she is planning that sounds very exciting.  I’m planning on having plenty of other opportunities to blog about Kate’s event however what really intrigued me was the way in which this event came about.  One of her classes, she explained, had a professor who set a group project over the course of about two months which required the students to plan, develop, create, release, promote and make profitable a product, service or event.

Now, I am all for speed when it comes to startup projects.  In fact, without it, and a drive that keeps things moving a breakneck pace, it’s easy to become bogged down with details, loose momentum or miss opportunities.  But even at my most optimistic I doubt I even considered turning an idea into actual profit in six weeks (give or take).  Kate and her classmates must have felt the same way.  It’s an assignment that approximates an episode of The Apprentice – but without the professional design and concept team to put together an actual product.

But after we chatted for a while about the concept she and her team had created, the enthusiasm with which she was met by experts in the field and the goals she had set and met already over such a short span of time, I’m beginning to wonder if the professor might not have been on to something.  The problem doesn’t seem to be time, necessarily, for Kate and her group, but in coming up with an idea that catches the imaginations of those around them enough to make people drop what they’re doing and get involved.  Whether that involvement is signing up for a website, buying a product in a store or, in Kate’s case, giving an impromptu lecture on what raw foods can keep you healthy, the key seems to be getting people involved with something they can be passionate about.

I would love to organise an event based on the idea that it is possible to take a concept to profit in 6-8 weeks.  Small teams could brainstorm, assign internal roles and compare contact books beforehand but all work on the actual product, service or event would fall within that two month window.  Difficult? Unlikely? Of course.  But, as Kate is hoping to prove for a grade, for fun and for profit – certainly possible.