I found out recently that my business, Octopus Immersive, has been accepted into the creative technology business support programme run by The Studio in Bath. I applied because the programme promises something I’ve been craving: in-person, hands-on workshops tailored to growing businesses, plus a peer network and access to people who’ve already built successful companies in this space.
My goals are simple enough: sharpen my marketing and lead-generation approach, tighten my value proposition, and build real relationships with others in the industry. I’m planning to document the experience here, partly as a record for myself and partly because someone else might find it useful.
The first workshop was last Friday, a frosty morning that started with a bus ride from Bristol to Bath—a small but welcome change from my usual work-from-home routine. The session opened with intros and an icebreaker involving decks of cards, each printed with slightly odd exploratory questions. The aim was to circulate, swap cards, and exhaust the questions. It worked better than expected; you learn a lot about people when everyone is holding a bizarre prompt.
After a short presentation on what to expect from the programme, we moved into a team activity: design a business concept using four random cards—problem, user, challenge, twist. My partner and I were handed a particularly quirky set: a user who isn’t creative but is curious to try something, a ritualistic event, a pun in the name, and an element of embarrassment or vulnerability. We ended up inventing an “escapism room” filled with interactive tactile sensors that trigger audio. The system constrains tempo and key so that even a total beginner can make good-sounding music. Every so often the user is thrown into “solo mode,” which feels like having the training wheels suddenly kicked away. I’d happily try this room myself.
Later we shared the skills we can offer one another and started pairing up with “buddies” for the programme—someone who can help keep you on track and fill in gaps you don’t have covered. Each founder then gave a 60-second pitch. For now it was mostly an introduction, but by the end these pitches are meant to be lead-generating, investment-ready things. That’s one of the areas I’m hoping to improve. It was also reassuring to see how many people in the room operate in similar creative-tech territory. Running a small business can feel oddly solitary; this cut through that a bit.
After the session I grabbed a coffee with a couple of the other founders, which helped the day settle in. I’ve taken part in online business-support programmes before and often walked away feeling disconnected or underwhelmed. Being in a room with real people makes a remarkable difference. You could feel a shared enthusiasm to get something real out of it. I left the day much more hopeful than I expected, and the networking alone already beats most of the creative/startup evenings I’ve attended in Bristol.
I plan to write up each workshop here. The posts are mainly for me, but if anyone else is thinking about joining something similar, maybe the notes will help.
Leave a Reply