Simsoft
Technologies LLC, an affiliate company of Simsoft Information Technologies and a partner of Tampa
Bay Technology Incubator at USF Connect, is this
year’s finalist in the Best Business Developed Serious Game category of
the Serious
Games Showcase & Challenge with MyStartup.
MyStartup is an
entrepreneurship game for Android where players try to succeed by correctly understanding
the concept of effective market demand, which means that only if a
demand for a product is actually backed up by a willingness and an ability to
pay does demand become effective or actual in the market.
In the game, players face the challenge of starting a successful
business in Oldbridge City – a city that has become the go-to choice for many
entrepreneurs due to its thriving industry. Players begin with picking a business
idea and determining if there is potential to build a profitable business
around it.
In order to assess the market potential of a business idea, players
can conduct market research surveys to collect consumer feedback. If consumers
are not interested in a specific product, players can select another one from
the idea panel.
In the game, consumers can give their feedback about any given business
idea or a produced prototype.
Players are expected to create a Business Model Canvas to increase
their chance of business success. It is a strategic management and lean startup
template for developing new or documenting existing business models. It is a
visual chart with elements describing a product's value proposition,
infrastructure, customers, and finances that assists firms in aligning their
activities by illustrating potential trade-offs.
Players are also advised to apply to an incubation
center where, unlike standard or technopark offices, they do not need to pay
rent or taxes over the first 12 months after their company is officially formed.
Once players have established their company and developed their
prototype, they are ready to get an offer from a city factory to start mass
production.
As the game progresses, players must take the correct course
of action in order to sustain the business and maintain their social worth
within the city.
Developers
consider the game’s most innovative feature to be its dynamic market demand
system that allows different business ideas to have different appeal throughout
the city changing overtime. As a result, the system determines the product
ideas that are currently trending.
The game
is intended for Entrepreneurs, Economists, and Casual Gamers and its ultimate
goal is having enough companies turned into profits while devising the
opportunity of one of them joining the exclusive unicorn club - startups valued
at over $1 billion.