developing Surf the Job
what we actually did
All stages of product development (understanding customer needs, branding, launching our Minimum Viable Product - the platform).
73 customer interviews (with both students & companies such as Nestlé, Deloitte, Ageas etc.), pitched to 12 investors / industry mentors and closed contract with an incubator and 4 startups, resulting in 30 matches.
I learned how to do low-code development with Bubble, how to position a startup, how to pitch and most importantly, how to think about businesses and how startups get going.
👩🏻💻 Surf the Job was a finalist of the Forward Pre-Acceleration Program, by the Católica Lisbon Centre for Technological Entrepreneurship, Mango UP, BET Ventures and Startup Lisboa.
what the platform looked like
the story behind Surf the Job
Surf the Job was created by two business graduates, Maria Lucas and Mariana Kobayashi.
As we ventured into the job market, we realised that most students are not sure what the "dream job" is, ourselves included. Especially in the business areas, there's so much to try.
We needed to experiment with more roles. After helping more than 30 of our peers with job applications and finding the opportunities that were right for them, we wanted to simplify the process for everyone.
Simultaneously, transitioning from being a student to a paid contributor is quite hard, particularly in Portugal. As a student, everyone expects you to do everything for free, often even after you graduate.
We set out to tackle the youth employment & unpaid internships issue whilst making it fun to design your future. We partnered with startups so you can get experience in your dream job before graduation.
It started as a slightly different idea but as we interviewed both students and companies, we also adapted our product into flexible internships for students adapted to today’s working culture.