Within 100 days, the teams go through the following seven phases: Ideation, Research, Customer Insights, Prototyping, Business Model and finally Business Plan and a Pitching Phase.
By observing and interviewing users, customers and experts, the students derive requirements and solution approaches and develop and test prototypes. Gradually, they develop a business idea into a business model, for which they draw up a viable business plan that should lead to an application for an EXIST start-up grant from the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection. They also practice pitching and presenting their own start-up idea to a potential jury.
The students work exclusively on their own ideas, but receive a free contract with our partner TFU. This allows them to access the network of the Startup and Innovation Center. A wide variety of startup events and networking among each other and in the local startup scene are essential building blocks for the potential founders. As experienced coaches, Prof. Dr. Daniel Schallmo, Prof. Dr. Jens Pätzmann and Prof. Dr. Klaus Lang will be at their side throughout the entire time. With their many years of experience in design thinking, business model innovation and founding, they will be able to offer optimal support and provide valuable feedback on their ideas during the weekly coaching sessions. This time, the coaching team is additionally supported remotely by Prof. Dr. Christopher Williams, as well as on-site by the two research assistants Sarah Leible and Verena Mattes and the student assistant Marlene Huber (from the master's program "Digital Transformation and Global Entrepreneurship" at HNU).
This time, the Founder Teams are made up of ten students from four different degree programs: The HNU Bachelor's programs "Game Production and Management" (GPM) and "Information Management and Corporate Communication" (IMUK), as well as two "Economics" students from Thailand and Jordanian exchange students in the "Logistics Science" program complement each other with their wide-ranging competencies. Currently, the three teams are working on phase 5, the business model of their start-up idea, and will complete the Founders Kitchen at the end of July. This gives them a good chance of receiving the EXIST start-up grant and equips them for the further realization of their idea after the start-up practical semester.
Team 1: (Eventplanning) Sophia, Awni, Dougkan and Mohammad
One of the teams is working on an event planning solution in which they will bundle all strands of planning in an innovative way and make the process as simple as possible for users from the B2B market through an AI-supported chatbot. In order to exploit the plannability of events as far as possible, the settings are visualized in advance and continuous support is provided. By offering a platform to suppliers, they support local event service providers and by positioning them according to compatibility and user rating, small companies are not disadvantaged. The international team combines skills from GPM (Dougkan Montour), IMUK (Sophia Nagl) and logistics (Awni Haj-Issa, Mohammad Alturk): The necessary organizational background knowledge, digital skills in user experience, web development and design lay the foundation for the realization of the business idea.
Team 2: (Tabletop Boardgame) Alban & Arthur
Another team is working on a video game-inspired strategic "team vs. team action board game". The special feature: Compared to other game genres (in the board game area), there are hardly any similar products with symmetrical team division on the market. The two GPM students Alban Cela and Arthur Naimowitsch face the challenge in the realization of the product and the development of the appropriate business model. In this way, they want to acquire the entrepreneurial perspective on games in their practical semester in addition to the developer's view. They can apply the knowledge they have learned in their studies to create prototypes and are familiar with the iterative process. The feedback of the coaches is additionally very valuable here due to the very different competence backgrounds: The project is thus viewed and optimized from all perspectives.
Team 3: (Markitty - pet placement) Huy, Vanessa, Minnie and Mook.
The third team is working on a solution to ease the burden on animal shelters in the placement process. With an innovative online platform, they are modernizing pet placement while adequately preparing new owners for the pet in question. Most animal shelters have websites that are not very user-friendly. Online placement relieves the burden on shelters and pets while saving potential new owners time in the process. Gamification will make the selection process user-friendly for the end customer; these private customers will pay for their membership. Additional funding for the project is expected to come from sponsors, donations and the fees that breeders have to pay to be represented on the platform. The team particularly liked the incentives for change and innovation they received during the iterative process leading up to the current idea. At the same time, they like the independent work and the possibility to develop presentation skills more and more. To implement the idea, the two Thai exchange students Chutikarn Sathakurai and Siriyakorn Ketpanich combine their business knowledge with the skills of GPM students Vanessa Nguyen and Anh Huy Le.
