Here is a glimpse at the schedule-
Monday: ODNC2 Orientation and an Ice-breaker Session
Tuesday: Just Ship It with Bubble and Co-Building & Questions in Bubble.
Wednesday: Mastermind Training Session, Slack Onboarding Session, and [Global Build Weekend] — Info Session.
Thursday: Fireside Chat with Lolita Taub
Friday: [Workshop] Idea Generation with Arvid Kahl
The orientation you might think “boring, slow, and not necessary.” I probably even came in with a bit of that energy, but KP, Janel, and Morris from On Deck did a remarkable job. They touched on how to get the most out of the program and what we can expect. Most of the stuff I had already read or known about On Deck beforehand, but it was still nice to go back over as a reminder. The real bright spot of the day was the Ice-breaker Sessions. You get to meet many different cohort members in a short amount of time. They used Gatheround, and the style + format seemed to really fit the group well.
On Tuesday, there was “Just Ship It with Bubble,” and it was really cool to watch a pro build right before my eyes. I would be lying if I said I could keep up, but I was able to follow along with most of it. It seemed like most people could catch on super quick, possibly due to prior knowledge, but I have been very impressed with my fellow builders. They are also shipping things at an alarming rate which I love to see!
Hump day brought us the Mastermind Training Session, which is one thing I am very excited about. A way to get a tighter community within the cohort is always nice. The structure is a lot like a scrum meeting to start, then each person does a deeper dive into what they are working on or needs help on during that week. After that, there was a Slack Onboarding Session which sounds a bit like just a tutorial on how to use Slack, but because you are added into about a 100 different channels, it was a must-attend. Last but not least, we had an info session on Global Build Weekend. This is the second build weekend they are having, and I am so excited to be a part of it. I signed up as soon as possible and will be joining a team of people from all across the On Deck community.
Thursday brought us an amazing fireside chat with Lolita Taub. She dove deep on why building around the community is a secret weapon and how she views no code. One pretty cool thing is Lolita, and Josh Taub (who is in our fellowship) built an app to help unserved and underrepresented founders find angle investments, all using no-code tools. Lolita’s energy and passion for building and community investing were refreshing to hear from such a prominent VC. Amazing person to learn from and be around!
Arvid Kahl came through on Friday with an idea generation workshop. For me, ideas come pretty easily and often, but they are not all award-winning. Arvid really crystallized how important user interviewing and becoming one of your core users is. While you don’t need to be the person you are selling to, you need to walk in their shoes, be a part of their communities, provide value and give before you ask. An absolutely brilliant thinker, and looking forward to reading his books!
One week crossed off, and I continued to be blown away by ODNC. The people are truly excited for one another and willing to help however they can. I am very excited to build out more apps and projects using no code. It has been tougher than I thought to work in content, learning, 1-on-1s, and a day job. It is easy to see how week one would scare some people, but when you sign up for this ride, you better be ready to take full advantage, which I am.
