Plucky

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  Overview of Available App-Screens

Inspiration

Corona has managed to change and influence our daily lives as heavy and quick we have never expected before. Here in Germany, within the course of a week it has become normal to stand in form of empty shelves in a supermarket, having to figure out where to get the food we crave. The question that follows in our heads is: Where does these fruits and veggies we love so much actually come from?

Especially as we consider it so much of a given, to find it fresh and always available in the stores. If you follow up on those questions, you come to all those farmers in Germany. Did you know, that one of them is on average feeding 140 people? Those farmers are growing asparagus, strawberries, cauliflower, carrots and many more things. Harvesting those things was usually taken over by seasonal workers who are coming from Eastern Europe, for example from Bulgaria and Poland. As basically whole Europe has shut down its borders, they cannot come this year.

Also, Germany has prohibited it by law that those seasonal workers enter the country. So who should do the harvest? Many students and other people in Germany have lost their jobs due to Corona as stores and restaurants have to stay closed. Those are now desperately looking for a way to pay for their living. Also, the society now becomes aware of the jobs that are actually keeping the system running and how those are barely receiving any appreciation for what they are doing day by day.

What we do to solve the problem

So as farmers are in need for local seasonal workers and many people generally in need for a job and for an opportunity to make an impact, we are offering a platform that matches those needs. Farmers can present themselves and for what they need help for. The people looking for a job - we call them Pluckies - can get in contact with them and get a job.

So everyone will be happy and we are making sure that the food supply in Germany stays up! Furthermore, we are making sure that appreciation for farming and agricultural products is significantly increased in our society, resulting in a long-term feeling of solidarity and appreciation within our society.

How we built it

Plucky is built by an interdisciplinary team of 8 people. We have experts in business modelling, marketing, UX, UI design, farming, and programming on board working towards our mission. We started brainstorming about what we can do to react to this crisis. Quite quick we came to the conclusion to build such a platform focusing on user experience that really makes it easy for workers and farmers to connect. We have spent a lot of time talking to workers and farmers to find out what their requirements are and what they are lacking in current solutions. We figured, that especially that we need to set clear expectations for the workers who are applying for such a job. Also, we found it crucial to accompany and simplify the match-making process as much as possible. All the time we came along with many ideas how to make our solution better, simpler and easier. Also, we have many ideas how to scale Plucky to make an impact even beyond Corona. During the Hackathon we focused on building an MVP that enables the basic functionality in a holistic way. Stay tuned for what is next!

Challenges we ran into & what we learned from them

Almost all members of our team have never met before. In fact, we came together for the Hackathon with the motivation to make an impact that matters. Still, working together virtually, exchanging ideas and even doing pair-programming became a habit for us that only thaught us more. We had to learn to focus on the the essential and structure our ideas to really structure what we are doing. And we are doing great with that!

Accomplishments that we are proud of

We are super proud of our site: we are combining the highest standards of design with a web-application that is providing value for our cause from the start. We are continuously re-inventing ourselves and continuously thinking about how to create value for our users and how to improve their experience. This is what drives us!

What's next for Plucky

As mentioned, we have so many more ideas for our platform! We want to get into the main App-Stores, to get directly into the pockets of our users. Also, we want to further simplify the process of connecting farmers with potential workers, so they can focus on creating value for their customers and their actual doing while we are making their life easier.