Last week, I had the opportunity to participate in an entrepreneurship Launchpad organized by startup accelerator Seedstars. Held over three days, the event was intense — and a lot of fun!
Day by Day at an Entrepreneurship “Bootcamp”
We kicked off the Launchpad (also called Bootcamp) on Wednesday with an introduction night where we played bingo, attended a presentation about Seedstars, and tested our skills at giving a 30-second pitch where we presented our business ideas. The following morning, we started with theory about how we should test and develop our ideas in order to see if they would be successful or not. After lunch on Thursday, we listened to an inspirational speech by Guillaume Beauverd, an entrepreneur from Switzerland who was a good example of how the real life of an entrepreneur is. During the afternoon, we also collected feedback on our business ideas and we even managed to get our first customer.
The Final Showdown
On Friday morning, we once again started off with theory from Seedstars that we applied to our business ideas afterwards. For the rest of the day, we had to prepare our three-minute pitch that we were going to give in the afternoon. In front of a jury, which consisted of Les Roches management team members and faculty, we pitched our idea and answered questions on the spot. After listening to all the pitches, the jury had to choose the most innovative idea and the top three business ideas. This was a great end to two and a half days of intense work and brainstorming.
Building Entrepreneurial Skills
Seedstars and the Launchpad taught me that entrepreneurship is not easy, and it is not a straight pathway to success. However, the experience gave us plenty of tools and tips on how we can test our business ideas before we make an investment. They also taught us how to prepare and perform a professional business pitch, something that I had never done before, but which was a great and fun practice experience.
Inspiration for the Future
My impressions from this Launchpad are very positive and I truly enjoyed it! It was a great learning experience and I definitely got more inspired to start my own business in the future. The inspirational speeches showed me that anything is possible if you have the passion, motivation and belief that your business idea is going to succeed.
Author: Alice Andersson
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