International Center for Entrepreneurship, Henley Business School, Wrocław University of Economics and Climate-KIC Poland, invited start-ups from the Wroclaw Region to take part in a free -of charge consultancy program.
The aim of the programme was to support start-ups, especially with a value proposition development and/or adjustment.
The program was free of charge for entrepreneurs and took place in Wroclaw, Poland, on 1-5. April 2019, 10-13 June 2018, and 12-14. June 2017.
The number of places was (very much) limited!
Organizers didn’t cover the costs of accommodation or travel but, instead, offered a unique experience and valuable expertise in developing entrepreneurs and their businesses.
The form of the program: a short summer school, which combined teamwork, workshops and short experts’ talks.
Learning Outcomes for entrepreneurs:
In a program, entrepreneurs have had a chance to be supported by the international team of experienced coaches, professional consultants and by the open-minded students of entrepreneurship.
Each start-up was accompanied by one working team, which offered its full capacity to identify the weak area(s) of a start-up, analyzed it and came up with proposition(s) of the improvement(s).
How it all started:
In 2015 Henley Business School brought 30 enthusiastic students to Wroclaw where they took a specially designed 3-day entrepreneurship consultancy program, helping entrepreneurs to challenge or validate their start-up thinking.
The visit was organised in collaboration with the International Center for Entrepreneurship and the Climate-KIC Poland education team.
6 Entrepreneurs worked in a one day workshop with students and coaches in a stimulating process that led to entrepreneurs having a sharper focus for the venture plans and a stronger confidence in the words they use to explain their venture ideas to ‘outsiders’.
We repeated this success in 2016, bringing twice as many students, twice as many entrepreneurs and coaches.
The program in 2017 has been designed in a way to use the experience of the previous years and to offer a unique opportunity for all participants taking part in it.
In 2017, among the speakers were
- Keith Heron, MBA – Programme Area Director for PG Business and Management programs, Henley Business School,
- Andrew Godley, Professor of Management,
Henley Business School, - Agnieszka Klucznik-Toro, Doctor of Management,
director of International Center for Entrepreneurship, Start-ups Coach, Consultant - Sebastian Pucułek –
Business Development Lead Climate-KIC Poland, Coach and Academic Incubators start-up Mentor, - Dermot Corr –
serial entrepreneur, Tech Saturday Founder.
Overview of the program:
12.VI: Purpose of the day: Focus is on ‘helping entrepreneurs to help customers’. We help by gaining a deeper understanding of the entrepreneur ‘current situation’ & entrepreneur ambitions,
- Creative challenge
- Experiences of taking the technology to market, getting customer reactions and ‘passing the market test’ (Q&A)
- Using Design Thinking method to get customers involved (intro.+action)
- A facilitated discussion of the challenges of engaging with early customers
- Testing your VP/MVP: market making and implicit contracting (crossing the chasm) – how trust is gained through customer experiencing the VP and providing feedback for ‘error-reduction’ in the entrepreneurs’ hypothesis
14.VI: Purpose of the day: Consultants’ presentations for entrepreneurs
• Presentations & feedback
• Social event
Further information & comments:
International Center for Entrepreneurship 