Lessons Learned – Gunilla

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During the technology-based entrepreneurship course I have learnt a lot. Both regarding the theoretical material with the lecture notes but also through the course book Technology Entrepreneurship has been very given. I have understood the difference between an entrepreneur and a technology entrepreneur and what advantages and difficulties that they have depending on previous knowledge base.

Moreover, the guest lecturers have been very enhancing to the course content. Receiving external knowledge and experience has been great for the understanding of entrepreneurship and what it actually means to run a start-up. I had a clue about it before but I definitively know more about it know.

If I should criticize some part of the course, I would have liked more theory and focus upon concept regarding entrepreneurship and running a start-up. At times I thought there were too many guest lecturer and too little focus upon knowledge. I would have liked more lectures based on the book and in deep knowledge about theory and concept. The way the course is built now, I had my own drive in reading the book and taking on new theory.

One thing that has been very given is the events that I have been participating at. The first one was the lecture at House of Innovation and Epicentre. It was amazing to see that they have chips in their hands that helps them open the doors and so fourth. The lecture was very giving and makes you really look forward to the future of technology. The same week I went back for the Bootstrapping your Start-up event, which I blogged about on Intropreneur. I had never heard about the concept before so that made it specially interesting, Also, the people talking at the event had real life experience of bootstrapping which made it very tangible and knowledge-enhancing. This Monday I visited Pirate Summit Stockholm and their pitch competition. What was very interesting about that was that it was very similar to the pitches made in class and I must say that you guys keeps a high level!

Thanks for this course, it have been very given! Especially, since I know have at least four new friends the group work, one frim India, one from China, one from Italy and one from Greece, its been a pleasure getting to know you all!

 

Lesson Learned

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The course is over  and I want to thank Professor Serdar for teaching.

I believe the objectives of the course were clear: define and analyze the successful factors in technology-based entrepreneurship in order to develop a startup with a defined methodology  and learn how to analyze situations from a strategic perspectives.
All the contents analyzed during the lectures were are useful for those who want to start a new business, those who are managing an existing one but even for the students aiming to work in a consolidated company as it provided elements valid through all the business areas.

One of the main lessons learnt was to be not too much tied to the technology of the innovation. In proposing a new idea, most of the investors do not have the required expertise to understand the technology under the idea. Also, I learnt that it is not beneficial to explain all the technological details during a presentation.  What the investor wants to know is the problem, the solution proposed, how the business makes money and the costs faced. This elements  are not so obvious for an entrepreneur without a business background.

Another important knowledge acquired was that listening to the customer is fundamental for the success of the business. Firstly, it is important to establish who are the customers going to buy the products as it is not always clear. Secondly, the company has to be able to understand how the product should be to meet the customer needs. A product made according to the engineers needs is not likely at all to penetrate the markets.

Furthermore, the guest lectures provided us the practical knowledge useful to understand how a startups is run. They gave us suggestions and clarified some entrepreneurial doubts. Most notably, I enjoyed the guest lecture by Bill Schacht. Probably, as a result of the market in which his business operates, he knows how to capture the attention of the audience.

As far as I am concerned, before starting the course I had no intention in starting a new business. However, the topics faced during the course inspired me bringing myself to take into consideration the adventure of a startup. I learnt that starting a new business puts at risk great part of the life and not everyone is able to make this decision.

The dynamic approach held by Serdar during the frontal lecture was really beneficial for all of us as students: he induced us to interact and to think personally. This is what I appreciated the most. I agree on taking into account for the grading the participation both in-class and outside. However, not all the students embraced this invitation as an incentive to participate and grow personally.

Moreover, we, as entrepreneurs, must be able to think, take decisions under pressure and in short time. The teacher tried to pose us in a situation as much as close to the real environment. But the rest depends on ourselves. We must have the initiative to learn and understand the issues in-depth.  This course was a useful training for the startups world, allowing us to learn our mistakes and get feedbacks from professionals in the area. In particular, the presentation of the ideas held on the May 9th was a special event and a crucial moment for us to learn as entrepreneurs. I got important feedbacks that I hope to exploit in my future career as entrepreneur.

 

See you and good luck to everyone!

Helping start-ups

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  1. The start-up Anchr App

I met with the Start-up Anchr on the 18 of April and their founder, Marcus Skagerberg who is in our class, to discuss their start-up background, idea and business strategy. They are making an app that I believe will be of great use, especially for international visitors and exchange students, who are their first test users, but also other people seeking information based on a particular place. I find their business strategy very interesting and I look forward in using their app. I wrote about them on our class LinkedIn page earlier and you can read about them here: http://anchrapp.com

 

  1. Moggi – a start-up for cats

I came across this start-up at the Pirate Summit event Monday 23 of May. They participated in the pitching competition and afterward I sent an email discussing their venture strategy. The idea is a color connected to the app who shows the cat’s medical state and when you need to visit the vet. I was wondering how come they chose only cats and why they didn’t also include dogs, rabbits, and other pets that people have high medical fees of. I was wondering if it was their strategy to begin with cats and then diffuse to other pets. The answer to that is that it is their strategy, which I belive might be a good strategy if comparing with Amazon who begun merely as an online store for books. Its smart to begin within a specific niche in the beginning of a start-up phase, to more easily get market introduction. If you have a cat and would like to try it out, you could help them with feedback to their product, here is a link: http://www.moggie.me. Unfortunately, I don’t have any cat, which stopped me from trying it out.