Get to Know Wishful, a Business Track New Venture Competition Team
 With the New Venture Competition (NVC) finale right around the corner (be sure to register and tune in March 30 at 6:00 pm), learn more about team Wishful, a venture offering curated experience gifts. Team Members: Shrey Kapoor (MBA 2021), Chrys Nikopoulos (MBA 2021) What inspired you to start your company? We are both power gifters—we’re constantly vying to see who can give the better gifts to our friends and loved ones. We realized that the best gifts were often not physical items, but shared moments. But there is no way to gift thoughtful and meaning ful experiences like that (we don’t think that a piece of paper with a bar code on it is thoughtful enough!). Additionally, we have combined Latino, Greek, and Indian roots; cultures that love celebrating life’s moments. How has the Rock Center helps with your entrepreneurial journey? Are there any other HBS resources that you have been using? We’ve been using Rock Center’s Enterpreneurs-In-Residence (EIR), pitch deck, and MVP building sessions to hone and develop our pitch and product. Our founding team has been a part of Harvard i-lab for the last two semesters, and we’ve engaged in multiple workshops and networking sessions with mentors and fellow entrepreneurs. How have you been preparing for the competition? We’ve been thoroughly focused on running and launching our minimal viable product (MVP). Traction is the best way to showcase growth and promise, and we’re hyper-focused on launching our product for the student community in Boston. We launched our waitlist for Harvard and are sharing our expertise on the best experiences that Boston has to offer to our mailing list. What part of the NVC journey has been the most helpful for your team? The pitch clinic was super helpful, and mentorship associated with NVC has been a great value add for us in terms of the next steps; hiring, fundraising, and product development. How did you go about creating your competition pitch? Do you have any advice for someone looking to create a pitch? Iteration is the word. Shrey attended the Startup Bootcamp SIP last year, and the professors and mentors gave tons of actionable feedback on deck making and pitching. This, coupled with EIR sessions, really helped us analyze our strengths and weaknesses and make appropriate choices. What advice do you have for aspiring entrepreneurs? Execution is key. If you can find quick and dirty ways to test your product and iterate continuously, do so before hiring people and building a high-fidelity product. |
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