Innovated Alumni Spotlight: Deckle

Deckle participated in the 2021 InnovatEd incubation funding program which provided mentoring, funding, access to the University’s wide range of experts and hot desking in the Melbourne Entrepreneurial Centre at Melbourne Connect. We spoke with Deckle’s founder, Lexon Li to learn more about the app, lessons he has learned, what advice he’d share with EdTech entrepreneurs and more!

What was the inspiration behind Deckle?

Lex started as a fairly typical undergraduate student at the University of Melbourne. He undertook a Bachelor of Science, majoring in computing software systems. Like any student, he wanted to make new friends and enjoy his university experience, but by mid-semester, he soon found himself procrastinating and felt the workload piling up — resulting in another less-than-ideal semester.

Lex was in his third year of studies when the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic took hold. He joined InnovatEd to develop a solution to the problem of study motivation and social contact because he knew his peers were also facing the same problem.

Deckle is an app that lets users share tasks with friends in your community, to foster collaboration and help people stay accountable. Users can view each other’s to-do lists and join to work together.

We asked Lex, what is new at Deckle?

Deckle has been chosen to lead the University of Melbourne’s O-week program for the next 3 years. We previously participated in the InnovatEd funding program which “was awesome because it really kicked things off for us.”

Since then, we have added new features on the app. “We’ve added tasks in the form of a scavenger hunt so that students can collaborate. We also built a ton of features on top of it so the organiser, which is the University of Melbourne, can create a challenge on the app, and they can send announcements and tasks to make the experience better on a rolling basis. Participants can join by creating a group, assigning tasks to each other and earning awards. We’ve tried to keep users engaged so they can maintain the relationships they make with each other.”

I understand we still have a lot to do, but I hope by the next orientation we can do an even better job.

What piece of advice would you give to other students interested in the EdTech space?

“I’m motivated by everything that’s done by a user on the app. Every person that chats with me is awesome and validates what I’m doing. It shows that people are getting their lives changed in a way. I first explored the EdTech space during Melbourne InnovatEd Bootcamp.”

Over 2.5 intensive days, participants can grow a project right from identifying problems or pain points at the University to developing, testing, and shaping their ideas into commercially viable solutions. The Bootcamp also offers a unique opportunity to test your idea’s merit as you meet and connect with innovators and experts from across the University.

“Bootcamp was really fun! The days were interactive and encouraged you to get up and try stuff try, instead of just listening to lectures. I was paired with two other undergraduate students, and we were forced to go around and ask people what they think. It was such a great resource to have.”

Looking back to the day you started, what would you have done differently?

It would be good to start with the problem you are trying to solve. “If you find a problem that you’re passionate about solving, people can see it — through your pitch and your speaking… unless you’re a very good actor!” Having a student perspective is great because we are in proximity to the university. If there’s a problem that you’re facing as a student, then the university would try to find a solution for it because if students are not happy, the university is not going to do well. As a student, you’re in the heart of it all. For students who want to apply, think of a problem earlier — it’s a great opportunity.”

I would also be more open. “I still ask for user feedback, but it’s really about sending that LinkedIn message, about joining that random event that doesn’t help your business at first glance or going to that networking event to meet people. It opens a lot of opportunities.”

This mindset helped me secure the student orientation deal with the university. For example, Lex shares that “the InnovatEd program manager introduced me to an event at the university. It was a student market stall where you could sell arts and crafts and items such as ornaments. But I rocked up there with an app, not knowing what to expect. The person who coordinated the stall found out about it, and we started talking from there. I’d definitely encourage others to put themselves out there sooner.”