SkillUp

Everything in this page is a dump of ideas regarding how SkillUp could shape up for an MVP. We are currently prototyping ideas, trying them and out and getting the word out to people.

If you are interested in learning more or have comments, questions and suggestions, please email me@dannyforest.com.

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What is SkillUp?

SkillUp is a Gamified Social Skill-Development Platform for the 21st century.

What is the platform?

It is an online app where you can find and create quality content to learn new skills in a social setting using gamification, accountability and mentorship components.

Concepts and Ideas Brainstorm

Entertaining education
Expert-proven learning
Anti-school learning
Gamified education
Peer-to-peer guided education

What is the problem?

Traditional education doesn’t teach skills required to thrive in the 21st century
People cannot find THE best resources to learn
Learning is “boring”
Learning could be more social
High quality learning is not easily accessible
You can’t learn on the go
Learning material is often structured as old-school classes
There’s close to no accountability in learning
It’s hard to find quality mentors/tutors
Information overload
Education is simply not cool
Wrong mindset that only fancy schools matter
Most platforms charge for it

How does SkillUp solve the problem?

Universal, discrimination-free online platform
By having a mix of proven methods/steps of learning a specific skill, as well as community created and reviewed content.
Gamify the process
Provide different ways to bring in friends and family.
Strong presence of influencers
Have premium, carefully crafted content by experts
Have a mobile version.
Have strong support for audio
No classes
Letting others jump in to help you (private or public)
Skills everyone should acquire, ranked according to impact it can have
Skills delivered based on ranking and how much people want them

Why does it matter?

Prototype screenshot of Content Creation (Level Building) in SkillUp

People don’t have THE CONTENT PLATFORM to go to. Youtube is too random, Quora and Medium are limited to text (audio tops), Instagram is a social media platform, Pinterest is lifestyle driven. This should be the default platform, it should be so useful and entertaining, that it becomes a go-to platform for people.
With the advent of technologies like AI, a little of people will not be adaptable enough and will lose their jobs.
In this Knowledge Economy, only people who have learned multiple skills and combine them in creative ways will be able to succeed
Having only one highly technical skill is only relevant for the top 1% of the elites.
It becomes difficult to find the content that fits your needs, from the people who’ve actually done it.

How does SkillUp get quality content?

Peer reviewed/accepted content
Content created by experts who have social proof
Content created by people who have mastered the best ways to learn a particular skill
We provide a set of custom, high-quality content created by select professionals
We let anyone create learning material for a skill and get it upvoted/downvoted by others who try it.
We have a suggestion engine to present the best content for each people based on their personality, interests, and the highly-rated content.

Who is it for?

To them, from them.

Gen Z, iGen, or Centennials: Born 1996 and later

Millennials or Gen Y: Born 1977 to 1995

People not satisfied with their current life/work situation.
People wanting to become polymaths.
People looking to accelerate their learning of anything.
People seeking entertainment that has value to their personal development.

Two stakeholders:

Consumers consume content and the reason why they want to consume more is to utilize their time productively, learn new skills so they can accomplish the goals. In the process they get rewards, following on their own and access to premium membership.
Generators Invitation to anyone who objectively feels they can practically and in an entertaining way deliver these skills through bite-size content (text/video/audio/imagery - or all combined. Share and showcase what worked for them, in a useful way. They design and create new bite-size (1-10 minute) content. Both personal and professional development skills.

Why would they use it?

Social currency, they grow their following, build their personal brand, earn money. The more consistent they are, the more rewards they get such as top influencer, top rated, badges, higher percentage of profit and they get featured - Focus on the long-term benefits (recognition). Possibly to give them a way to hack the platform. Or that can be a reward for the top influencer of the month. And strong focus on ability to develop engaging community of generators you follow, people that like the same skills and people that resonate with your brand.

How will the product work?

Account creation. Pick interests. Quick self-assessment. Offer suggested skills to learn. Offer “templates”. Allow them to create their own if they want. Log progress daily. Provide “notebook” to take notes. List of resources. Ways to quantify and qualify all activities. Ask for help (expert or community). Leaderboards, charts, stats. “Claps” for accountability and gamification. Progress bars. Sharing on social media. Influencers.

Based on interest / skills / goals / positions people want too focus on

Points (Keep score, determine win states, connect to rewards, provide feedback, display of progress)
Badges (Representations of achievement, flexibility, style, signaling of importance, credentials, collections, status symbols)
Leaderboards (Ranking - feedback on competition, Personalized leaderboards - friend relative variant)

Basically, it's a very glorified version of this: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1rDn5tgMh0yBjGLgAXph7EDEMf6sfCA8Omx_O3SkSWjE/edit?usp=sharing

How is it social?

Claps, influencers, sharing on social media, leaderboards, co-ompetitive.

How is it entertaining?

Gamification concepts: claps. Leaderboards, progress bars, bite-sized “achievements”, UI with particle effects

How does it help with accountability?

Clapping, asking for help, leaderboards, notifications

How does it support “mentorship”?

Asking for help, networks of mentors for each skill