During a course at Malmö University, my co-founder Ellie and I came up with the idea for a sustainability tool to measure websites. We formed a team called Merely Emissions and started to work on the project, facing challenges and adjusting our plans to meet the course requirements. As the university project ended, we saw the potential for our idea to become a startup and participated in the Level Up program offered by Drivhuset. Now, we are continuing the journey independently, reaching out to industry professionals and refining our product.
The backstory – 3 months of theory and ideation
Course start (3 months before the project started)
The project that eventually became my very first startup was actually born out of a course I took at Malmö University called “System Development and Projects 1”. The primary objective of this course was to give us students a hands-on experience of what it’s like to work in a software development team. To ensure that we truly understood the dynamics of the field, we dedicated the first three months of the course to studying different methodologies and terms that are frequently used in software and product development.
During the course, we learned about software development and product development. We gained practical experience in system architecture, understanding project requirements, different process structures, and testing methodologies. We also discussed the ethical considerations and moral implications of these topics. Lastly, we explored the idea that there is no one-size-fits-all solution in software development.
Project ideation
During month 3 of the course, my friend Ellie and I came up with the idea of creating a sustainability tool to measure websites. Well, she came up with the idea, and I thought it sounded amazing! 🤪
Once we had agreed upon an initial concept, we sat down and started writing the idea on slides we could present to the other 200 people who also took the course. We had to get 2-4 people on board with our idea or join another project.
When we were done creating the slides, we sent them in, and some weeks later, we had to decide which other potential projects we would like to join if ours did not make it.
The four other projects I decided I would like to join if ours did not make it was:
- EnTillTack – This was supposed to become an ordering web app when you were in a bar, so you did not have to get a waiter’s attention or walk to the bar yourself. 🍻
- Stickling – This became a trading market for people to change seedlings with each other. A platform for people who love plants! 🌱
- Pingo – A Bingo board for nights out that is missing that extra spark. Pingo was supposed to be a bingo board where people were able to create their own bingo boards before going out and competing with each other for the night to see who could get the most amount of bingos. 📝
- Blaze and Blast – A top-down shooting game. When they showed some concept photos and talked about it, It reminded me of a game I used to play when I was younger. 👶🏼🎮
Merely Emissions, the university project started
WE MADE IT! 🎉 Ellie and I had got three other amazing students onboard. We were now 5 team members: Ellie Fagerberg, Arvid Berndtsson, Hannah Lindbäck, Henrik Persson, and Menel Abdennour. We were set for a great start.
The start of an exciting journey
Now, we had to start understanding the course limitations and what we were supposed to do according to the course, not just what we wanted to do. Unfortunately, significant changes had to be made to our ideas because they were way beyond the scope of the course. Something else we realized was that writing documents would take up most of our time in this course.
Due to the need to create and manage a large number of documents, we divided the tasks among ourselves. Hannah was responsible for verifying the documents, as we had to adhere to a template created by the “Document Verifier”, who was now Hannah. Henrik and I handled the requirements and organized them in structured Excel sheets for easier navigation. Menel volunteered to work on the design document while Ellie and Hannah were assigned the project plan. This did not mean that they were the only ones writing these documents, but we divided their responsibilities in this manner within the group.
As a group, we started writing down and discussing the project idea, if there was anything we would like to change, and so on, but we ended up with the same idea that was presented by Ellie and me some weeks earlier. Once this was done, Henrik and I started with the requirements and specified what was required for an MVP (Most valuable player). With no market research or any information, we guess what our MVP would be.
We also decided to separate our team into two sections, frontend and backend. Ellie and Henrik took the frontend, while Hannah, Menel, and I took the backend.
And so we were off! 🚀
Reflections on Merely Emissions a few weeks in
We thought it would be a fun course, but it was not. It was and probably will be one of the most stressful courses during my time at Malmö University. The flow of how a project is supposed to be run was so outdated that sometimes suggestions of running stuff according to RUP were altered since it was “modern”, according to teachers. In these situations, I was delighted that I had participated in software development projects before. I knew this was not how it is done anymore (at least not everywhere).
Regarding the programming part, we had done 80% document writing and 20% code and design in week three since the course required that everything be documented. This meant we had spent 72 hours on documents, rewriting templates, reviewing each other’s changes, and so on. Seventy-two hours because we were only allowed to spend 18 hours a week on the project due to restrictions of the course and the other courses we also had in the meantime.
Drivhuset – Could this be a startup?
Ellie and I discussed if this project might be more than just a university project. Could this be something that other people might be interested in? At Malmö University, we saw an ad for “Level Up – Drivhuset’s Pre-Incubator”, which sounded perfect for us, an excellent way to explore our idea. We asked our team if they would be interested, but they were okay with leaving it as a school project, so Ellie and I went alone.
During our different meetings with Drivhuset, we found ourselves in a predicament. When creating a startup, you need (or it is recommended) to have some market research to determine if the product is feasible and if there is an interest in such a product. This, however, was something other than what we could do since we had the course demanding that we create stuff every week. So we had to go with, build first, think later, instead of the recommended approach, think first, build later.
Once our weeks in the Level Up program were over, we stayed in close contact with Drivhuset and updated them on our project. We kept having bi-weekly meetings to update them and get their input on the project since we were also trying to run it as a business. (To clarify, this was not part of the 18-hour-per-week limit.)
Merely Emissions, the university project came to an end
In early July, the university project “Merely Emissions” ended. As we said goodbye to our other project members Ellie and I were excited to continue the journey without the needs and requirements of the university course.
Now it was time to do it the right way. We started sending out personal emails to people who worked within the field of sustainability to get an insight into how the product that we are working on could possibly be something that companies are looking for.