From Wednesday, 8 February, we had the opportunity to be part of the Seedstars Launchpad. Held on campus, this startup “bootcamp” lasted till Friday afternoon, and it was one of the best events I have experienced at Les Roches. The only instruction we had received before it started was to come with an idea — an idea we thought was good enough to someday become a project. So on Wednesday afternoon, we met the team from Seedstars and did a small activity that lasted from 18:00 till 20:00. Then, on Thursday, the real game started.
Developing an Attractive Product
From 9:00 until 18:00, we worked on different activities related to our idea in order to be able to present it by Friday afternoon. We had to answer questions about our idea to know exactly what the idea was and how it would work. Our offer, the problems we solve, how we solve them and our unique value proposition were some of the elements we had to figure out. It was interesting to put it this way, since personally I had never before considered all these factors when thinking about a product.
Entrepreneurship in Action
After identifying all of this, we created critical assumptions, composed by three elements: the problem, the solution and “all together.” The problem included finding out who our target market was and our solution — once we knew this, we could create the critical assumptions. Moreover, we had to prepare possible questions to ask our potential clients, to test the feasibility of the project.
Pitching Under Pressure
Finally, and probably the most exciting part of the Launchpad, was the moment when each group had to present its project to a jury composed of five people, including faculty members and external evaluators. This process is called the pitch. Each team had three minutes to present the product, and then they had to answer questions from the jury. In my personal experience, this was the most similar experience to a real-world entrepreneurship event.
During the Launchpad, we learned a whole new way of logic when it comes to creating a project. The Launchpad was a real-life experience of the procedure that is involved, and the different activities we participated in showed us a new side to entrepreneurship.
Taking Risks to Succeed
Overall, participating in the Seedstars Launchpad showed me that it’s not only the idea that is important, but also the many different steps involved in pitching and launching a business. It showed me that there is no need to get frustrated if the first project goes wrong, since that’s likely to happen, while I also understood that a project is most likely to succeed if you feel passionate about it, and if you believe in it more than anyone else in the world.
Thank you, Seedstars, for this wonderful experience!
Author: Sebastian A. Elias
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