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Lean Startup proponents No business plan survives first contact with the customer. And, no UIF project survives first contact with an institutional stakeholder. And, look at all the findings your cohort colleagues uncovered... In some instances, you are able to advocate on behalf of campus functions that need further resources...'''''Loyola Maryland: "We thought that that the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs should be helped out. We learned this office works with Faculty and Graduate students. There is only one person. Next we will create two intern positions... one for a graduate student and another for an undergraduate student."''''' In other instances, candidates uncovered great support...'''''FHSalzburg: "We thought it would be more difficult to find someone to take over the channel setup and further work in MS Teams (an IT solution). We learned there are 2-3 people who could integrate this task into their work if there is a well-developed concept. Next, we will tell you… create a concept and present it to stakeholder/course director."'''DON’T SELL'' And, in some instances, candidates encounter educators who are just not able to connect to their somewhat-new ideas:Bogazici: "We thought we could convince professors to give short seminars, talks, etc. We learned faculty needed an extended period of time to teach something important. Next, we will talk with people from the entrepreneurship ecosystem to try and deliver short seminars." (Actually, on number of campuses students are teaching short workshops that expose their peers to new disciplines... it's just not something that traditional faculty are willing to try. ) The point of a Lean Startup interview is not to pitch and sell people on your idea, but rather find out about the values and needs of the person you are interviewing. What keeps them up at night? What are the key issues they feel students face? The candidates should use this information to figure out whether their hypothesis about the value proposition to this stakeholder was right or not (the one they sketched out on their Change Model Canvas). So, if you get negative reactions or feedback, ask yourself ''why? '' to make some inferences about the underlying motives in a way that can help you refine your hypotheses. Maybe your idea better resonates with a different stakeholder on campus. That’s why it’s important to interview as many stakeholders as possible. And, your business model canvas changes each time you test your hypothesis and learn more about it.
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|title=Team Reflections
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Oftentimes people in high-level positions hear big ideas from students and think (a) dollar signs, and (b) abandoned projects when students graduate. They don’t necessarily know that Fellows are resourceful and capable of executing successfully with an eye towards sustainability. Thankfully, this student continued to interview other stakeholders, finding diverse perspectives that were far more supportive. The key thing for this student is going to be to start executing in a bootstrapped way, learning from their next experiment, gaining traction and further support.
