University students frequently experience stress and emotional overload due to exams, assignments, deadlines, and academic pressure. Although there are different resources and tools related to mental well-being, students may not necessarily use them consistently or integrate them into their daily routines.

The purpose of this interview was to understand how a university student currently deals with stressful situations, what strategies they use to feel better, what motivates them to maintain certain habits, and what difficulties appear when trying to manage stress.

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• Interviewer: Catalina Alvarez
• Interviewee: Juan Miguel Fonseca
• Profile: University student
• Date: August 13, 2026
• Interview format: Semi-structured interview
• Problem explored: Wellness Made Fun

The questions presented below were prepared before conducting the interview and were used as the initial interview guide.

However, since this was a semi-structured interview, the conversation was adapted according to the interviewee's answers. Some questions were rephrased, skipped, expanded, or followed by additional questions when an answer revealed information that was relevant to the problem.

For this reason, there are some differences between the initial interview plan and the exact questions asked during the recorded interview. The objective was to maintain a natural conversation and explore the interviewee's real experiences instead of strictly following a fixed questionnaire.

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#	Question	Purpose
1	Tell me a little about yourself. What does your normal routine as a student look like?	To understand the interviewee's context, daily routine, and general student profile.
2	What situations at university usually make you feel stressed or overwhelmed?	To identify the main situations that generate stress in the interviewee's academic life.
3	Tell me about the last situation in which you felt stressed because of university. What happened?	To obtain a concrete and recent experience instead of only general opinions about stress.
4	What do you normally do to take care of your emotional well-being or to relax?	To understand the strategies the interviewee currently uses to regulate stress and feel better.
5	Have you ever used an app, website, video, or another tool to manage stress or feel better?	To understand whether the interviewee uses digital wellness resources and what alternatives they prefer.
6	What makes you maintain a habit or activity for several days or weeks?	To identify the factors that generate motivation, consistency, and engagement.
7	When you are very busy or stressed, how easy is it for you to make time for your own well-being?	To understand whether academic pressure prevents the interviewee from taking breaks or caring for their well-being.
8	If you could change something about the way you currently manage stressful moments, what would you change?	To identify frustrations, limitations, and opportunities for improving the interviewee's current coping strategies.

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CORRECTIONS

The interview with Juan Miguel showed that academic stress is mainly associated with exams, studying, and the pressure of completing academic work. However, he already has personal strategies to manage this stress and does not currently use digital wellness tools.

A particularly relevant insight was that Juan Miguel understands the importance of taking breaks when stress starts affecting his productivity. However, he also recognizes that some of the distractions he chooses are not always healthy and can generate more stress later.

Academic stress — 00:00:49–00:01:09

“Principalmente cuando tengo un parcial, por el tema de que tengo que estudiar, a veces trasnochar [...] tengo que hacer muchos ejercicios y hacer repeticiones.”

Current stress-management strategy — 00:02:17–00:02:29

“No, lo intento siempre tener autocontrol o, por lo general, hablo con alguien más que esté como en mi misma situación [...] para tranquilizarme.”

Taking breaks — 00:02:57–00:03:29

“Prefiero [...] tomarme un descanso y distraerme para poder volver a hacer las cosas de buena manera.”

Main opportunity identified — 00:03:45–00:04:14

“Tal vez las distracciones que elijo, que no son tan sanas [...] prefiero salir a rumbear y luego tal vez quedo estresado un domingo, que me queda todo a última hora.”

The interview suggests that the opportunity is not simply to remind students to take breaks, but to help them choose short and healthy activities that reduce stress without negatively affecting their academic responsibilities later.

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Interviewer: Catalina Alvarez Interviewee: Juan Miguel Fonseca Date: August 13, 2026 Duration: Approximately 4 minutes and 18 seconds Format: Semi-structured interview

00:00:00 – 00:00:05 Catalina: Bueno, estamos con Juan Miguel Fonseca. Cuéntame un poco sobre ti, ¿cómo es normalmente tu rutina como estudiante?

00:00:05 – 00:00:39 Juan Miguel: Bueno, por lo general me levanto muy temprano para llegar a la universidad y coger parqueadero. Entonces, por ende, siempre me gusta desayunar en la casa. Llego a la universidad, me alisto, veo qué tengo en el día. Si es un día atareado, me voy al EML, al quinto piso, y ahí hago como la mayoría de trabajos, socializo y ya. Si no es un día atareado, prefiero dormir dentro del carro y pasar el día ahí. Luego almuerzo, por lo general almuerzo en la universidad, nunca llevo almuerzo, y termino clases y me devuelvo para la casa.

00:00:39 – 00:00:45 Catalina: ¿Qué situaciones de la universidad suelen generarte más estrés o hacerte sentir abrumado?

00:00:46 – 00:01:09 Juan Miguel: Yo creo que principalmente cuando tengo un parcial, por el tema de que tengo que estudiar, a veces trasnochar, y ahí yo no soy tanto de aprenderme las cosas, sino que tengo que aplicarlas. Entonces, tengo que hacer muchos ejercicios y hacer repeticiones, porque memorizarme algo se me hace muy difícil. Prefiero aplicar la misma solución para varios ejercicios.

00:01:09 – 00:01:15 Catalina: ¿Y la última situación en la que sentiste estrés por una situación de la universidad, qué pasó?

00:01:17 – 00:01:39 Juan Miguel: Yo siento que tengo muy buen autocontrol a pesar de que tenga estrés. Entonces, a pesar de todo, si no alcanzo a terminar de estudiar, pues nada, voy a lo que es e intento aplicar los conocimientos. Digamos, en este caso en un parcial, que es lo que más me estresa. Entonces, si no alcanzo a estudiar todo, llego a la clase y aplico hasta lo último que pude estudiar.

00:01:41 – 00:01:45 Catalina: ¿Qué haces normalmente para cuidar tu bienestar emocional o para relajarte?

00:01:47 – 00:02:10 Juan Miguel: Tengo una frase que digo a muchos compañeros y es: “Los tiempos de Dios son perfectos”. Puede sonar broma y también lo cogemos de broma, pero es una frase que me tranquiliza mucho, porque sin importar qué, las cosas van a su ritmo y a su tiempo. Entonces, cuando yo me afanaba mucho por una entrega o por un parcial, siempre intentaba ser tranquilo para no tener ese estrés todo el tiempo.

00:02:10 – 00:02:17 Catalina: ¿Has probado alguna aplicación, una página web, un video o alguna herramienta que te ayude a manejar el estrés y para sentirte mejor?

00:02:17 – 00:02:29 Juan Miguel: No. Intento siempre tener autocontrol o, por lo general, hablo con alguien más que esté como en mi misma situación o que haya pasado por lo mismo para tranquilizarme.

00:02:29 – 00:02:36 Catalina: ¿Y entonces qué hace que tengas un hábito o una actividad durante varios días o varias semanas? ¿Como que te mantengas...?

00:02:36 Juan Miguel: ¿Activo?

00:02:38 – 00:02:48 Juan Miguel: Yo creo que lo que hace es como el interés, o tal vez la intriga, o cómo llegar a tener ese objetivo, cómo llegar a esa meta. Es lo que me hace decir como: “Bueno, tengo que meterle y mantenerme haciendo esa cosa”.

00:02:50 – 00:02:54 Catalina: Cuando estás muy ocupado o muy estresado, ¿qué tan fácil es sacar tiempo para hacer algo por tu bienestar?

00:02:57 – 00:03:29 Juan Miguel: Yo creo que es muy fácil, en el sentido de que si estoy muy estresado o muy ocupado, prefiero, con ese nivel de estrés que a veces manejo, tomarme un descanso y distraerme para poder volver a hacer las cosas de buena manera. Entonces, no sé, estoy muy ocupado haciendo un trabajo, veo que ya le he metido mucho tiempo, entonces paro, digo como: “Sé que de lo estresado que estoy no voy a rendir lo mismo”. Paro, me tomo algo, juego algo o hablo con alguien y vuelvo después de un tiempo a seguir dando porque sé que ya no estoy tan estresado como antes.

00:03:29 – 00:03:34 Catalina: O sea, ¿podrías decir que la mayoría de las veces que te sientes así sí te tomas una pausa para hacer algo por ti?

00:03:34 – 00:03:36 Juan Miguel: Sí, totalmente de acuerdo.

00:03:36 – 00:03:42 Catalina: Y si pudieras cambiar algo de la forma en la que manejas actualmente esos momentos de estrés, ¿qué cambiarías?

00:03:45 – 00:04:14 Juan Miguel: La forma en que manejo mis momentos de estrés, yo creo que sería tal vez las distracciones que elijo, que no son tan sanas. Entonces, no sé, puede ser que a veces tenga un trabajo para el lunes y es un fin de semana. Sé que puedo trabajarlo el viernes, pero prefiero salir a rumbear y luego tal vez quedo estresado un domingo, que me queda todo a última hora. Entonces, yo creo que cambiaría las cosas que elijo para tener otro punto de atención.

00:04:15 – 00:04:17 Catalina: Listo, Juan Miguel, muchas gracias por tu tiempo.

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The interview does not fully validate the initial assumption that students need another traditional mental wellness application. Juan Miguel already has strategies to regulate stress and does not currently use digital wellness tools.

However, the interview reveals a more specific opportunity: students may already take breaks to manage stress, but the activities they choose during those breaks are not always beneficial and can sometimes increase stress later.

Therefore, a potential direction for the problem could shift from simply providing mental wellness information toward exploring engaging, easy-to-use, and healthy ways for students to take effective breaks during stressful academic periods.

University students have irregular gaps between classes sometimes short, sometimes several hours long and coordinating that free time with friends or classmates is often difficult. The purpose of this interview was to understand how a university student currently manages and coordinates the free time they have between classes, how they decide between solo and social activities, what tools they use to organize plans with others, and what frustrations appear when schedules don't align.

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• Interviewer: Karin Guerrero
• Interviewee: Alejandro
• Profile: University student
• Date: August 13, 2026
• Interview format: Semi-structured interview
• Problem explored: Free Time Matching at University

The goal wasn't to confirm answers to a fixed set of predefined questions, but to understand how Alejandro actually thinks about his own free time something that's hard to fully anticipate before the conversation even starts. Because of that, the initial questions worked more like a map of topics to cover than a strict script. Some questions blended into one another as the conversation flowed, and a couple weren't even needed because Alejandro had already answered them while talking about something else.

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#	Question	Purpose
1	How do you usually distribute your free time between classes during a normal week?	To understand the interviewee's general schedule and how much free time they typically have.
2	How do you plan what to do during those free periods?	To identify whether free time is planned in advance or decided in the moment.
3	Do you prefer doing these activities alone or with others? Why?	To understand the interviewee's preference between solo and social activities depending on the task.
4	Tell me about a time you organized a plan with someone during a free period. What happened?	To obtain a concrete, recent example of how coordination actually happens.
5	What do you usually do when the person you wanted to meet isn't available?	To identify fallback behavior and how flexible the interviewee is when plans fall through.
6	Have you ever run into someone unplanned during a free period and ended up doing something together?	To explore the role of spontaneous, unplanned encounters.
7	Which days or time slots are easier to coordinate with others, and which are harder?	To identify patterns in scheduling difficulty across the week.
8	If you could change something about how you use or coordinate your free time between classes, what would it be?	To identify frustrations, limitations, and opportunities for improvement.

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What?
Alejandro decides what to do during his free time between classes.

How?
During exams he studies alone; otherwise, he checks who's around to hang out with.

Why?
Focus matters more when deadlines are close; company matters more when they're not.

What?
Alejandro arranges to meet a friend during a free period.

How?
They message back and forth, proposing and adjusting times until both are free.

Why?
There's no way to know availability in advance, so it has to be negotiated in real time.

What?
The person Alejandro wanted to meet isn't available.

How?
For schoolwork he finds someone else; for casual plans, he just does it alone.

Why?
Group tasks require company; downtime doesn't.

What?
Alejandro imagines what he'd change about his free time on campus.

How?
He points to a lack of green spaces, like a grassy area to actually relax in.

Why?
Without a good place to stay, leaving campus becomes the default even when inconvenient.

Alejandro doesn't need a new way to organize his day. He already manages well with habit, WhatsApp, and sometimes meeting friends by chance. The real problem is different: plans only work when people's free time matches, and there's no easy way to see this before it happens. Right now, coordination happens through messages back and forth.

There's also a second need: a good place to spend that free time. Alejandro said the green spaces on campus are limited, so it's less nice to stay on campus during breaks.

So the opportunity is not just showing when students are free. It's showing who else is free at the same time, so there's less need for back-and-forth messages. But this only works if there's also a good place to spend that time together.

#Audio: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1u5CTYHkfihQDNBAPdOEb13qoNVIFPC5P/view?usp=sharing

• "Por ejemplo, entre clases de los martes tengo un hueco de cuatro horas, y los jueves tengo dos huecos de tres horas cada uno."

• "Usualmente depende del momento del semestre. Si estamos en época de parciales, es muy común que aproveche esos huecos para adelantar tareas. Pero si hay poco de eso, prefiero verme con gente."

• "Si es algo como comer, busco hacerlo con amigos. Si es para estudiar, suelo hacerlo solo porque me concentro más así."

• "Si es solo para pasar el rato, no importa tanto que la persona no esté disponible, lo hago solo."

• "Sí, me ha pasado que voy caminando de una clase a otra dentro de la universidad y me encuentro con algunos amigos, y terminamos yendo a comer o a hacer algo juntos."

• "Es muy importante que tengamos el mismo espacio de tiempo disponible, porque de eso depende si podemos ir a comer juntos o hacer algo..."

• "Diría que antes de las nueve de la mañana no suelo hacer cosas académicas..."

• "Entre las nueve y las cinco de la tarde sí suelo aprovechar los huecos para hacer trabajos, talleres y otras responsabilidades de la universidad."

• "Me gustaría que se integraran más zonas verdes, como una terraza con pasto, algo más agradable y cuidado. Que hubiera más espacios así, más verdes, para poder pasar el tiempo entre huecos sin tener que salir de la universidad."

University students who drive to campus regularly run into the same wall: not enough parking spots for the number of cars trying to get in. Even though some universities offer partial solutions, students still face long waits, uncertainty, and situations that feel out of their control before they've even started their day.

The purpose of this interview was to understand how a university student currently experiences the search for parking on campus, what specifically frustrates her about the process, what she does when things don't go smoothly, and whether an early concept for a mobile app that shows real time parking availability.

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• Interviewer: Felipe Boada
• Interviewee: María Lucía
• Profile: University student
• Date: August 14, 2026
• Interview format: Semi-structured interview
• Problem explored: Parking Without the Wait

The questions presented below were prepared before conducting the interview and were used as the initial interview guide.

However, since this was a semi-structured interview, the conversation was adapted according to the interviewee's answers. Some questions were rephrased, skipped, expanded, or followed by additional questions when an answer revealed information that was relevant to the problem.

For this reason, there are some differences between the initial interview plan and the exact questions asked during the recorded interview. The objective was to maintain a natural conversation and explore the interviewee's real experiences instead of strictly following a fixed questionnaire.

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#	Question	Purpose
1	How often do you actually bring your car to campus?	Gauge how exposed she is to the parking problem day to day.
2	How would you describe your current experience looking for parking at the university?	Let her describe the problem in her own words, without steering her toward a specific complaint.
3	Normally, how long do you end up waiting in line to get a spot?	Put a number on the friction — how much time is really being lost.
4	Has a parking line ever made you late to class?	Check whether this is a real academic consequence, not just an annoyance.
5	What would you say is the single biggest problem when it comes to parking here?	Get her to name the pain point, in priority order.
6	Before you even try to park, do you know whether a lot is full, or do you only find out once you get there?	Understand how she currently makes decisions with little to no information.
7	What do you actually do when a lot is full, wait it out, or go look for another one?	Understand her coping behavior once she hits the problem.
8	Have you ever had to hand over your car keys to secure a spot?	Introduce a specific, common practice worth exploring further.
9	And how do you feel about that?	Get at the emotional side behind that practice.
10	How useful would it be to check real time parking availability from your phone before leaving home or arriving on campus?	Test the core value proposition of the app idea.
11	If a lot is full, would it help to see an estimate of how long the wait usually is?	Validate a secondary feature meant to ease the anxiety of not knowing.
12	What do you think about an app flagging which open spots are the "leave your keys" kind?	Check whether surfacing this information actually solves the discomfort she described earlier.
13	Would you use a feature to reserve a spot ahead of time?	Gauge willingness to use a more proactive feature.
14	If an app like this existed, would you actually use it?	Get a clear, final read on real intent to use the product.

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Unlike a case where the interview pokes holes in the original assumption, this one holds up: María Lucía's experience confirms that campus parking really is a source of daily stress, not just a minor inconvenience. She describes the process as "quite complex." Waits of up to 40 minutes, the risk of arriving late to class, and having to hand over the keys to a car that isn't even hers, something she was clear about, saying "I don't like doing it."

More importantly, the interview validates the direction of the solution, not just the existence of the problem. She wasn't lukewarm about the app concept. She was enthusiastic about all three core pieces: seeing real time availability before leaving home, which she called "very useful," knowing in advance if a lot requires leaving keys, and reserving a spot ahead of time, which she said she'd use "100%."

So the opportunity here isn't "build something to fix parking" in the abstract. It is specifically about giving students information and control earlier in the process, before they're already stuck in line.

Audio

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There are a lot of different places for eating breakfast, lunch, snacks, desserts or drink some coffee around the university. But, is there a place where to find the diverse offer? The answer is sadly negative. This hinders the possibility of people to know new places, prevents the gastronomic offer diversification and obstructs the growth of establishments with potential.

Finally, nowadays the most powerful way in which a place can make itself known in the community is by voice to voice, using advertisements or being located on a concurrent place.

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• Interviewer: Samuel Mauricio Carrillo Cruz
• Interviewee: Juan Felipe Salazar
• Profile: University student
• Date: August 13, 2026
• Interview format: Semi-structured interview
• Problem explored: University gastronomic offer

The questions presented below were prepared to guide the conversation. However, since this was a semi-structured interview, the conversation was adapted according to the interviewee's answers. Some questions were explored deeper when the interviewee revealed relevant insights (such as the feeling of insecurity in certain areas), maintaining a natural conversation and exploring real experiences instead of strictly following a fixed questionnaire.

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(Questions are classified by Type and Phase to maximize curiosity and avoid bias)

#	Question	Purpose
1	"To start, tell me a little about your routine. When you are at the university and get hungry... where do you usually go?"	To know the usual behavior, preferred places, and establish the initial context of the interviewee.
2	"And why do you choose those places?"	To understand the underlying motives and decision drivers behind their routine.
3	"Since you mentioned you go mostly for the proximity, right? You also go for the price, do you feel it's affordable?"	To confirm that the main motives (price and proximity) were correctly heard and understood.
4	"Thinking about all the places... have you ever felt that you always end up eating the same thing because you don't know what else is out there?"	To identify a pain point and validate if the lack of information is a real problem for the user.
5	"How do you usually find out that a new restaurant opened... is it purely word of mouth from your friends, or do you see advertising...?"	To discover the communication channels the user currently relies on to learn about new food offers.
6	"Remember the last time you wanted to try something different... but ended up going to the usual place. I need you to tell me exactly what happened..."	To dig into the real barriers or frictions that prevent the student from changing habits (This revealed the crucial insight about insecurity).
7	"Now, if you had a magic wand... and could invent the perfect way to discover all the gastronomic offer... how would you imagine it to be? And what information would you absolutely need to see?"	To invite co-creation and understand the ideal expectation of the user regarding a potential solution (key features like location, reviews, and prices).
8	"Lastly, I would like to ask you if there is anything else about the food around the university that frustrates you and you haven't told me."	To provide a final, open space to capture any additional frustrations that didn't emerge earlier.

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What?
Juan Felipe is deciding where to eat lunch while studying at the RGD building.

How?
He acts practically and routinely. He doesn't spend time or mental energy looking for new options; he goes on autopilot to usual nearby places (like Juan Burrito or Toninos). He seems comfortable with this routine to avoid "walking around too much."

Why?
His absolute priority is to optimize his time and protect his student budget. His academic load makes him seek the immediate convenience of the known and accessible, avoiding uncertainty.

Who?
Juan Felipe, a busy, practical university student on a budget who centralizes his academic life in the RGD building.

Interview Excerpt: "I spend a lot of time studying at the RGD, so in order not to deviate too much and not walk around a lot, I just go right there because it's the closest, it's tasty, and it's very accessible to the pocket."

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What?
Juan Felipe wants to eat something different near the university, but he evaluates the situation, gives up, and returns to eating the same old thing.

How?
He behaves with evident resignation and mild frustration. He recognizes options like The Box, but his attitude towards them is avoidant. The negative variables in his mind outweigh his appetite for variety.

Why?
He perceives too many barriers: the laziness of walking long distances, the suspicion of higher prices, and critically, the fear of insecurity (fear of having his backpack stolen if left unattended in certain areas). He prefers to sacrifice variety rather than expose his physical security or his wallet.

Who?
Juan Felipe and, indirectly, the student community whose previous experiences with theft have shaped their collective perception of insecurity.

Interview Excerpt: "...I stop myself a lot from going there because... one, I have to walk extra... two, the price is a bit high... and three, and most important, The Box is a bit insecure. There are many cases of friends and acquaintances who leave their bags around and in a moment they just steal them."

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What?
Juan Felipe finds out that a new food place has opened near the campus.

How?
His behavior is passively receptive. He finds out by casually scrolling through Instagram posts or listening to his friends' word-of-mouth. He is not an active seeker; he waits for the information to reach him.

Why?
He trusts his close social circle and the content he consumes organically. Word-of-mouth acts as an indispensable filter for quality and price. He doesn't want to risk going blindly; he needs someone else to have validated the place first to feel safe.

Who?
Juan Felipe, his close group of friends, and local advertising accounts or profiles on Instagram.

Interview Excerpt: "Many times through Instagram, a lot of people from the U post photos or videos like 'hey there's a new place here near the university, come check it out', and it's also by word-of-mouth from friends and acquaintances."

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What?
Juan Felipe is imagining the perfect solution to discover food around campus without wasting time or money.

How?
He behaves reflectively and constructively. He envisions a solution that instantly eliminates his physical barriers: a single, nearby place (at the RGD) that sells food from various distant locations. He emphatically demands to see fair prices and clear recommendations.

Why?
He yearns to solve the problem of fragmented food offerings and mistrust. Centralizing everything solves the laziness and the risk of insecurity. Seeing recommendations and clear prices gives him control and the guarantee that he won't lose money on low-quality fast food.

Who?
Juan Felipe (acting as a visionary user expressing deep needs) interacting with Samuel (the interviewer facilitating the ideation).

Interview Excerpt: "It would be setting up a single place that is close to me, for example, the RGD... and that right there they sell everything that is around the university. That they sell Juan Burrito, Toninos, everything from The Box, and also at a very good price."

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The interview confirms that students face a real problem regarding the discovery of gastronomic offers around the university, but the lack of a centralized platform is only a part of the issue. The real friction preventing students from exploring new places isn't just ignorance of what's out there; it is a combination of distance, fear of inflated prices, and a strong perception of insecurity in certain areas of the campus.

The opportunity lies not only in creating a directory or an app to show different places, but in finding a way to centralize the access to that food (bringing the food closer to safe, highly populated study areas like the RGD building) and integrating social validation (reviews) with total transparency in pricing.

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University students who play sports often depend on a fixed training partner to stay consistent, but when that person isn't available, motivation and attendance drop. The purpose of this interview was to understand how a student currently finds training partners, what tools they use (or don't use) to find them, how willing they are to train with strangers when university affiliation acts as a trust filter, and what gaps exist in the digital solutions they already know about.

• Interviewer: Juan Jose Ortiz
• Interviewee: Santiago Cadavid
• Profile: University student, plays soccer and other sports
• Date: 14/08/26
• Interview format: Semi-structured interview
• Problem explored: Sports matching at university

The goal wasn't to confirm answers to a fixed script, but to understand how Santiago actually thinks about finding training partners. Because of that, the initial questions worked more like a map of topics to cover than a strict script: some answers revealed information ahead of time (for example, about the gap in team-sport apps), and the conversation adjusted accordingly. At the end, the product idea was presented to validate receptiveness, following the same logic of closing with the "magic wand" question before showing the concrete solution.

#	Question	Purpose
1	Tell me a bit about yourself: what sports do you play or would like to play, and how often?	To understand the interviewee's sports context and activity level.
2	Who do you currently practice that sport with? How did you find those people?	To understand whether he relies on an existing network (friends, team) or had to actively search.
3	Have you ever stopped playing a sport you enjoyed because you lacked a consistent partner? Tell me what happened.	To detect the real impact of the problem (dropout), not just the inconvenience.
5	How do you usually look for people to train or play with? Do you use any app, WhatsApp group, social media, bulletin boards?	To identify current tools (or lack thereof) and check whether an existing solution is already being used.
6	When you do manage to find training partner(s), what makes you stay consistent and keep training together for several weeks?	To understand what generates commitment and consistency (important for designing the "match" or follow-up feature).
7	If you had to prepare for a tournament or competition, how would you find partners at your own skill level?	To explore the specific tournament case, which is part of the stated problem.
8	Would you feel comfortable training with someone you don't know but who is also a student at the university? Why?	To validate the key assumption behind the solution: using university login as a trust filter.
9	How do you think this could be solved?	"Magic wand" question — let him speak freely before showing the app idea.
10	(app presentation) What do you think? Would you use it? What would you add, or what would concern you?"	To validate receptiveness to the concrete solution.

What? Santiago stops going to the gym during periods when the person he usually trains with stops going too.

How? He becomes unmotivated and tends to skip sessions; he himself admits that when his partner doesn't go, he feels like skipping too. His attendance is conditioned almost entirely on the presence of another person, rather than on his own discipline.

Why? Because his initial motivation to train depends on shared accountability: going together creates a mutual commitment (reminding each other of the schedule and workout type) that acts as an accountability mechanism. Without that social reinforcement, consistency quickly weakens.

Who? Santiago Cadavid and his roommates or university friends, who serve as his main support network for sports.

What? Santiago imagines the scenario of preparing for a soccer tournament and needing to find training partners at a competitive level similar to his own.

How? Santiago shows a lack of a clear method. He ends up mentioning scattered, unreliable alternatives: soccer clubs around Bogotá or Instagram accounts like "La Cabra Chismosa."

Why? Because outside the controlled environment of university classes, he has no centralized or reliable channel to filter players by skill level; he depends on informal sources (social media, word of mouth) that don't guarantee the other person has comparable ability, which is critical in a competitive context.

Who? Santiago Cadavid and, indirectly, the community of soccer players in Bogotá who organize through social media and informal clubs.

What? Santiago evaluates whether he'd be willing to train with a stranger he met through social media or an app, knowing that person is a university student and that they would meet on campus.

How? He responds confidently and without hesitation that he would feel comfortable, but immediately adds a condition: that comfort depends entirely on the location. His tone shifts from acceptance to caution when he imagines the same encounter "somewhere else, away from the university and far off."

Why? Because he associates the university campus with safety and legitimacy: the fact that both are verified students of the same institution acts as a trust filter that removes fear of the unknown. Outside that environment, he loses that guarantee, and uncertainty about the other person becomes a barrier.

Who? Santiago Cadavid and an unknown university student he could match with through the app.

What? Santiago recalls having seen apps that help find training partners specifically for tennis or padel, where users contact each other and agree on a court convenient for both.

How? His attitude is one of partial recognition: he acknowledges the idea looks great but immediately points out its limit ("I only know that for tennis or padel"), making clear that the solution he knows doesn't cover his actual sports needs

Why? Because there's a disconnect between the variety of sports he's interested in and the current tech offering, which is concentrated in a very specific niche (individual/pair court sports). This leaves him without a digital alternative for team sports or broader variety, which are exactly what he practices most.

Who? Santiago Cadavid and the mobile development team

Santiago doesn't need a new way to organize his sports schedule; he already knows which sports he wants to play and when. The real problem is matching and trust: his consistency depends almost entirely on having a fixed training partner, and when that partner falls through, motivation collapses instead of holding on its own.

That matching is currently resolved informally and unreliably — social media, scattered clubs, word of mouth — and none of these channels filter well by competitive level. There is one clear condition under which he'd trust a stranger: that both are verified students of the same university, which acts as a safety filter but loses its value outside campus.

Additionally, the apps he's aware of are limited to individual court sports (tennis, padel), leaving no digital coverage for the team sports he actually plays (soccer, basketball, volleyball, gym).

So the opportunity isn't just "connecting people who want to play sports" — it's specifically:

1. Using university affiliation as a trust filter for strangers.
2. Enabling matching by competitive level, not just availability.
3. Covering team sports, a gap current apps don't address.

#Audio: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GjlgQy2zDRrj4xfga_RYds6Lo8wwqkUo/view?usp=sharing

• "Usualmente voy al gimnasio de cuatro a cinco veces por semana... me apasiona mucho el fútbol, el tenis, el básque, voleibol, el waterpolo, todos los deportes, la verdad." "Si él no falta, pues yo claramente no va a faltar, pero si él no va, me dan ganas como de faltar."

• "Cuando voy al gimnasio con las personas con las que vivo aquí en el apartamento aquí en Bogotá... Normalmente de dónde conoces a la gente con la que vas a practicar esos deportes? Amigos." "Todo el tiempo lo voy recordando a la persona todos los días que vamos a ir a entrenar o cuándo vamos a entrenar y qué vamos a entrenar y la hora en la que vamos a entrenar."

• "Probablemente en las clases de fútbol que ofrece la universidad por medio de banner, hay uno pues conoce gente que le gusta ese mismo deporte, quizás algunos pueden estar por encima de mi nivel y otros muy por debajo." "Excluyendo clases donde buscaría gente... honestamente, pregunta difícil, pregunta difícil, la verdad."

• "Sí, porque si lo pones en ese contexto, sí me sentiré cómodo porque estoy en la universidad. Si fuera en otro lugar, aparte de la universidad y lejos, no me sentiría cómodo."

• "Pues yo he visto por ahí que hay aplicaciones que te ayudan a conseguir gente, por ejemplo para realizar partidos de tenis... cada uno se contacta con el otro y buscan una ubicación cercana a una cancha cercana a los dos y ahí juegan." "Porque nada más conozco eso que hace de tenis o de pádel, y hay mucho más deportes que una persona quiere practicar y no hay un lugar donde uno puede encontrar personas con esos intereses."

• "Sería muy bueno que en la aplicación se pudiera especificar el nivel real de la persona con la que va a practicar el deporte... uno trata de jugar con gente de su mismo nivel para foguearse, estar preparado para los distintos torneos."

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https://youtu.be/PBI8vPQFAGc?si=4MPw_rlbnOd3zMGF

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyxNsnLU7lM

https://www.canva.com/design/DAHSU0kf8sA/IMLnM93OcnOF_R-JkoU-Hg/edit

For the MS2 brainstorming activity, our team met through Google Meet in the evening for approximately 15 minutes. During the call, we opened a shared Canva board where all team members could add and discuss ideas at the same time.

We used the different problems explored during our interviews as the starting point. Each member shared ideas related to the needs, frustrations, and opportunities identified with their interviewee. While one person explained an idea, the rest of the team could suggest improvements, complementary features, or alternative approaches, and we continuously added them to the board.

During this first stage, we focused on generating ideas freely without judging their feasibility, prioritizing quantity and variety. This resulted in proposals related to several of our problems, such as stress-relief challenges, break reminders, parking reservations, real-time parking availability, verified food prices, peer reviews, walking-time filters, safety information around campus, sports events, and tools for coordinating free time.

Each team member's contributions were visually organized on the Canva board, allowing us to keep evidence of the collaborative process and clearly identify the different ideas generated during the session.

After everyone had contributed, we briefly reviewed the complete board together and discussed which ideas appeared most relevant or interesting to continue exploring in the next stage of the Design Thinking process.