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Carbon Mileage is a venture from Houston, Texas that incentivizes air travelers to make carbon-conscious choices to enable a sustainable aviation ecosystem. Currently incubating at Moon Creative Lab, the Carbon Mileage team underwent a quick sprint to better understand decarbonization within the airline industry and plan their next course of action.&nbsp;<hr><h3>Key Learnings:</h3><ul><li>Defining a problem statement.</li><li>Identifying key users and stakeholders.</li><li>Understanding users through research.</li></ul><hr><figure class="image image_resized" style="width:75%;"><img src="https://moon-website-prod-images.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Carbon_mileage_pledge_9f7a3bbd54.png" alt="Carbon mileage pledge.png"></figure>The Moon team recently met with Carbon Mileage, one of the ventures selected to be part of our Boost incubation program. Over the course of two days at our Palo Alto studio, we dug into the problem the team is seeking to solve: incentivizing decarbonization in the airline industry. Two days might seem like a lofty goal, but for us, we thrive in a short-time bound environment. Rather than spending unreasonable amounts of time reworking the same problem over and over again, two days allowed the team to make quicker decisions and confidently map out all necessary steps.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Before the workshop began, the team outlined three main goals they were wanting to achieve during the two days:&nbsp;<ol><li>Define the problem statement.&nbsp;</li><li>Name the biggest assumptions and build a user research plan to de-risk them.</li><li>Commit to a product hypothesis.</li><li>Work on team building to sustain momentum remotely.&nbsp;</li></ol>&nbsp;<h3>Defining a Clear Problem Statement</h3>Before any project starts, it’s important for the team to align on a clear problem statement before identifying a possible solution. By defining a problem statement, this prepares the team to further investigate different solutions through proper research and confidently act on the best proposed solution.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Carbon Mileage defined their clear problem statement as, “How might we engage air travelers in decarbonization efforts?” which evolved from the original statement that fixated on the idea of an incentivisation program. The original problem statement felt narrow and closed-minded to how much broader the team could explore decarbonization efforts. By switching the problem of only having an incentivization program to thinking more broadly towards engaging customers, this allowed the team to think much deeper into possible solutions.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<h3>Analyzing Target Customers and Stakeholders&nbsp;</h3>After defining the problem statement, it’s important to analyze who the true stakeholders are, also known as the target audience of the Carbon Mileage program and all those who would be involved in Carbon Milage’s solution. The team outlined four main stakeholders: airlines, air travelers, travel organizers, and sustainable fuel suppliers. Beyond identifying stakeholders, it’s important to get to know them even more by determining what motivates them to act a certain way or make specific purchasing decisions. By specifying key motivations, Carbon Mileage can leverage this information as a way to build engagement amongst target users and explore solutions to their problem statement.&nbsp;&nbsp;<h3>Mapping Out the User Journey To Better Understand the User Experience</h3><figure class="image"><img src="https://moon-website-prod-images.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/carbon_mileage_2_d30c966b9b.png" alt="carbon mileage 2.png"></figure>Aligning the user journey with the product hypothesis allowed the team to visually see where in the target audience’s journey it would make the most sense to implement Carbon Mileage.&nbsp;The team first explored, “How might Carbon Mileage reward travelers?” Some ideas included priority boarding, travel status, points redeemable for sustainable merch, and additional airline miles. Then the team explored how this might align with reduced carbon emissions. Ideas included buying carbon credits to compensate for annual travel and traveling with lighter bags to reduce fuel usage.&nbsp;While listing all of these ideas out is important, what makes the ideas even more tangible is creating concept cards to help paint a clearer picture of what direction the team feels is the ideal solution. By creating prototypes of the ideas, the team is able to confidently visualize the possibility of an idea before acting on it.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<img src="https://moon-website-prod-images.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Carbon_Mileage_bd0574516a.png" alt="Carbon Mileage.png">&nbsp;<h3>Name Assumptions and Build a Research Plan to De-Risk Them&nbsp;</h3>With these concept cards, the team then built out a user research guide to de-risk any of their previous assumptions. By gathering early feedback from Moon team members, the Carbon Mileage team was able to commit to a product direction during the workshop.&nbsp;What was unique about this user testing experience was that it was the first time Carbon Mileage team members asked open-ended questions and avoided leading questions about their product. A leading question might look like, “Would you pack lighter if it meant to be rewarded by product credits?” rather than open-ended questions like, “What is the first thing that comes to mind about air travel?” The reason for asking open-ended questions versus leading questions was to widen the knowledge base for the team, unleashing new insights into what potential customers might bring. Many times teams lean on assumptions to answer the root of their problem rather than exploring the truest needs of their users.&nbsp;Taking the exploration even further, the team created a landing page to test the value proposition with users. Why a landing page? It’s quick, it’s tangible, and it’s the first exploration of the product that might speak to potential customers.&nbsp;<h3>What’s Next for Carbon Mileage &nbsp;</h3>The team agreed that there needs to be even more exploration of de-risking the most critical assumptions by engaging further user research with key stakeholders, focusing on travelers and airlines. Additionally, there needs to be a design experiment to test the theory that IF consumers were rewarded for choosing carbon reduction efforts, they would do so.Since this workshop was only two days, the team agreed that this would need to happen at a later time. We look forward to learning more about Carbon Mileage in the coming months as they begin to explore further together with Moon.If a workshop similar to this sounds interesting to you and your team, Moon would love to hear from you. Contact us at <a href="mailto:hello@mooncreativelab.com">hello@mooncreativelab.com</a> to start the conversation of how we can help your organization, team, or startup begin digging deeper into the root of the problem you’re seeking to solve.&nbsp; &nbsp;

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<h3>Meet the 16 global startups that joined our incubation program in Fall 2023.</h3><hr><figure class="image"><img src="https://moon-website-prod-images.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Boost_group_89f5006e5a.png" alt="Boost group.png"></figure>&nbsp;In July 2023, Moon Creative Lab launched three new programs: <a href="https://www.mooncreativelab.com/spark">Spark</a>, <a href="https://www.mooncreativelab.com/boost">Boost</a>, and <a href="https://www.mooncreativelab.com/orbit">Orbit</a> to help organizations and individuals unlock their creative potential to start new businesses. For the first time, we opened our doors to entrepreneurs around the world, inviting participants to join our in-person 3-6 month intensive early-stage incubation program, Boost.We received applications from a range of industries and spanning more than 10 different countries. After a rigorous review and interview process with Moon leadership, we selected 16 startups to leverage Moon’s talent, and each other, to help build for traction, receive real feedback from customers as quickly as possible, and potentially earn funding at Moon’s Demo Day in April 2024.<h3>&nbsp;</h3><h3>Moon Welcomes Boost’s Fall 2023 Participants&nbsp;&nbsp;</h3>Since October, Boost participants have worked together with Moon Mates to build on their ventures and develop their skills as founders. We’ve seen product pivots, company rebrands, customer discovery, and countless other experiments to find market traction and build products that customers love.&nbsp;As we prepare for the end of this Boost cycle, Moon will be offering select teams the option to extend their incubation period with us for another 3 months as a prerequisite for Demo Day in April.&nbsp;We want to extend a sincere congratulations to all of the entrepreneurs, ideas, and startups that have been a part of the first Boost cohort:&nbsp;<h3>&nbsp;</h3><h3>From Individual Entrepreneurs</h3><a href="https://delight.fit/">Delight</a> is a call center automation and personalization service with a multilingual phone bot. Delight launched in October 2022 by its founder Hiroyuki Anno.DEW is an eco-friendly cleaning supplies subscription service. Founder Yuka Usami launched its first product, aq, in September 2023.&nbsp;<a href="https://dotsfor.com/">Dots for Inc.</a> offers information access to rural Africa. Dots for Inc. was established in October 2021 by its founder Carlos Oba.Fankey/ Xylocopa is a fan activity data management system. Founded in September 2022 by Yamaguchi Kiminori.&nbsp;<a href=" https://www.hyouka-ai.com/en/top">Hyouka</a> is an AI and camera based survey using hand gestures. Founder Aki Kutvonen launched Hyouka in 2021 and moved to working on this project fulltime in 2023.Loyal (formerly known as MCM) is blockchain based music copyright management. MCM is founded by Yusuke Sunakane.&nbsp;<a href="https://matchhat.com/landing">MatchHa</a>t is a platform to help filmmakers find talent and collaborators . The idea for MatchHat began in 2017 and development began a few years later together with teammates in 2020. MatchHat is founded by Soraya Umewaka, CEO, together with co-founder Sheenan Tenepre, Tech Lead.<a href="https://www.menux.jp/">MenuX</a> is a digital platform for sports and entertainment merchandise. Founder Eri Koyano has been working on MenuX together with her cofounder since 2022.&nbsp;Minute Style is a marketplace that curates daily outfits suggested by personal stylists using their existing wardrobes. Founder Eri Kobayashi has been working on Minute Style since December 2019 and launched the beta in 2020.<a href="https://voice-ping.com/">VoicePing</a> is a virtual office with real time translation. VoicePing is founded by CEO Nakajima Akinori, CEO, and Jack Nguyen, COO. VoicePing has been in production over the past 18 months and has gained over 2,000+ daily active users.WhyMe/Insaight is an AI based consulting platform. Founder Takayuki Suzuki has been working on WhyMe/Insaight since early 2022.&nbsp;<h3>&nbsp;</h3><h3>Entrepreneurs From Mitsui</h3>Carbon Mileage is an awards program for energy efficient airline travel. Founder Junya Fukui joins us from the Americas Energy BU.Eureka is an educational program focused on space. Founder Naoya Shiraishi was a previous Spark participant and encouraged to apply to our Boost program. Shiraishi joins us from the Educational Tech BU. &nbsp;<a href="https://yukiobata.wixsite.com/my-site">ISSHO</a> is a software platform for employee engagement. Founder Yuki Obata has been working closely with Moon in the months leading up to the Boost application after successfully pitching the idea during Moon’s Design Challenge for Mitsui x Moon.&nbsp;<h3>&nbsp;</h3><h3>Ideas and Startups From Mitsui Business Units (BUs)</h3>Agritech is a sensor tech to help sustainable farming. Agritech’s team includes Alberto Takayama and Yoshihiro Katsuyama deriving from the Mobility I &amp; II &amp; Food BU.UpWaste is a digitized waste management platform. Founder Aris Munandar was a previous Spark participant and encouraged to apply to our Boost program. Munandar joins us from the Mitsui Indonesia BU. &nbsp;<h3>&nbsp;</h3><h3>From Boost to our Orbit</h3>No matter how far founders travel with Moon, they will always be a part of our Orbit! We believe that building a thriving startup takes ongoing support from a network of supportive individuals, and that’s why we built our entrepreneur community, Orbit. All Boost alumni will be invited to develop their skills at our networking events and encouraged to participate in Orbit, even if they are not selected to continue their incubation period at Moon.Be sure to check out <a href="https://www.mooncreativelab.com/en/orbit">www.mooncreativelab.com/orbit</a> for the most up to date events! &nbsp;&nbsp;*These were the idea/business descriptions at the time of writing this article. Entrepreneurship and new ventures, by nature, are constantly evolving, so these descriptions may change along the journey.* &nbsp;

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At Moon Creative Lab, we’ve always been focused on unlocking people’s creative potential to create new businesses, and we are always looking for ways to support as many entrepreneurs and startups as we can. And now, with our <a href="https://www.24-7pressrelease.com/press-release/501861/moon-creative-lab-expands-venture-programming-to-turn-brilliant-ideas-into-rockstar-businesses">recently announced three new program offerings</a>, we are broadening our reach more than ever!Our new program, <a href="https://www.mooncreativelab.com/boost">Boost</a>, is an incubation program to help startup teams and corporations gain traction for new businesses.&nbsp;Since we were founded in 2018, Moon Creative Lab has been a venture studio for powering the creation of new businesses globally for individuals, teams, and business units within Mitsui &amp; Co. Our new programs will expand our support for Mitsui &amp; Co as well as outside corporations and startup teams that want to incubate their early stage business.&nbsp;&nbsp;Boost Your Early-Stage New Business&nbsp; Our Boost program is an intensive 3-6 month incubation program that will help new businesses build traction and potentially earn $300,000 USD in funding.* Boost focuses on a human-centered approach to new business creation with expertise in user research and testing and prototype creation. By joining our Boost program, participants will receive:<ul><li>Hands-on support and mentorship from our diverse and creative team of global experts in design, engineering, product, marketing, and more.</li><li>Help finding co-founders, team members, or strategic partners.</li><li>Working space at Moon’s Silicon Valley or Tokyo studio.&nbsp;</li><li>Potential collaboration with Mitsui &amp; Co. and its global network.</li><li>Helpful SaaS tools to build your business.&nbsp;</li></ul>&nbsp;Earn Funding After completing the Boost program, participants may compete in Moon’s Demo Day where they can pitch their business to Moon’s Investment Committee to earn $300,000 USD* of seed funding from Moon.&nbsp;The Many Ways We Can Work Together If you, your team, or your company have started working on a new business idea and are looking for additional support in building and testing prototypes with real customers, we’d love to help bring your innovative ideas to life! <a href="https://www.mooncreativelab.com/boost">Head here to learn more and apply for Boost.</a>Haven’t yet started working on that “crazy” idea but want to learn more about new business creation? Check out our hands-on learning program, <a href="https://www.mooncreativelab.com/spark">Spark</a>. And if you’d like to connect with others and become part of our diverse, creative, and fun community, check out <a href="https://www.mooncreativelab.com/orbit">Orbit</a>, our series of in-person events.&nbsp; *Participating startups will be able to pitch for an investment of $300,000 USD on a post-money KISS/J-KISS at a $3M valuation cap – 10% of your company prior to dilution. <a href="https://www.mooncreativelab.com/boost">Click here for details.</a>

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I’m excited to announce the biggest change we’ve made at Moon Creative Lab. Today, we’re launching three new Moon programs –&nbsp;<a href="https://www.mooncreativelab.com/en/spark">Spark</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.mooncreativelab.com/en/boost">Boost</a>, and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.mooncreativelab.com/en/orbit">Orbit</a> – that will help organizations and startup teams unlock their creative potential to start new businesses.&nbsp;Since Moon was founded in 2018, we have been working closely with Mitsui &amp; Co. to transform our people and businesses globally. We hosted eight pitch events (in person and online), supported 150+ idea owners, and launched 10 successful ventures into the market – among many other achievements – and I’m so proud of the work we have accomplished together over the past five years.With today’s announcement, we’re enhancing our support for Mitsui &amp; Co. employees while broadening our reach to individuals, startups, and corporations outside the company, which will expand our community to make an even bigger impact through brilliant ideas and entrepreneurship.<h3>Why now?&nbsp;</h3>I often spend my time thinking about how to make a greater impact at Moon through books, in-depth conversations, and listening to thought leaders’ personal experiences and stories. One quote in particular that has stood out to me through and through comes from the wise Mark Twain, which reads, “Name the greatest of all the inventors. Accident.”&nbsp;Within our two studios, I’ve witnessed accidental connections blossom into meaningful conversations and even deeper collaborations, all of which happens not by design, but by happenstance. The effects we have on our expanded network of entrepreneurs, founders, and creatives have been an outcome of the environment we’ve created and the impact of our activities.Of course, we always start with a general course of action for every individual. But as every entrepreneur knows, the road to success is never straight or narrow, and there will be many detours along the way. These detours just might end up being better than the main thoroughfare. In fact, they might be the best road of all: happy accidents that lead to successful business outcomes.&nbsp;<h3>Nurturing more happy accidents&nbsp;</h3>Our new program offerings invite individuals to work in a unique environment with people from different backgrounds, careers, industries, cultures, and passions to work, learn, and transform – together. Mitsui &amp; Co. employees, anyone curious about entrepreneurship, employees from outside corporations, and first-time founders are invited to leverage Moon’s resources through our new Spark, Boost, and Orbit experiences.&nbsp;Our Moon programs are for anyone who would like to:<ul><li>Learn about human-centered new business creation.</li><li>Build new businesses with a diverse and creative team of global experts in design, engineering, product, marketing, and more.</li><li>Find co-founders and build a team.</li><li>Find potential joint venture partners to accelerate and scale their business.</li><li>Potential collaboration with Mitsui &amp; Co. and its global network.</li><li>Earn $300,000 USD in funding to scale early-stage startups quickly.</li></ul>Beyond expanding our efforts to create an even bigger impact, I am most excited about watching the transformation of people and businesses that will take place at Moon. You never know what happy accident at Moon might lead to the next greatest invention.&nbsp;Kaichi Yokoyama President &amp; CEO of Moon Creative Lab&nbsp;&nbsp;

Our Programs

About Moon

Our Stories

How a Two-Day Workshop Helped a Business Focus on a Better Solution

Moon Creative Lab Congratulates Our First Boost Cohort

Starting a New Business? Moon Can Give You the Boost You Need!

Expanding Our Reach: A Message From Our CEO

In The News

Moon Opens Doors to Palo Alto Startup Community

What Does Artificial Life Reveal About Us?

The Optimal Solution Between Remote and Office: Who Chooses Where To Work

Our Programs

About Moon

Our Stories

Boost - Moon Stories Blog

How a Two-Day Workshop Helped a Business Focus on a Better Solution

Moon Creative Lab Congratulates Our First Boost Cohort

Starting a New Business? Moon Can Give You the Boost You Need!

Expanding Our Reach: A Message From Our CEO

In The News

Moon Opens Doors to Palo Alto Startup Community

What Does Artificial Life Reveal About Us?

The Optimal Solution Between Remote and Office: Who Chooses Where To Work