This is a project developed within the Entrepreneurial University framework, funded by the Romanian-American Foundation.

The Idea Challenge is a two-part program meant to guide student teams through kick starting a business idea.The objective for the participating teams is that by the end of the summer they have a clearly defined and validated business idea and an implementation plan in building their product, all under the guidance of Mark Wilson, professor at the University of Rochester.

The program consists of two main events: Ideas & Planning Workshop and Pre-Seed Workshop.

Workshop kit

Each team will receive two physical workshop kits that they will use during the Ideas & Planning Workshop. Each kit consists of flashcards and other materials that are required to follow the workshop and complete the tasks. 

Ideas & Planning Workshop

8-10 July

During this 3-day workshop, participants will attend hands-on classes on how to plan the development of their start-up and business idea. The focus will be on project management tailored specifically for their startup.

Good project management is key to having a successful startup. Though there are a lot of project management courses available, they are usually generic and concepts only vaguely apply to a certain situation.

The Ideas & Planning Workshop tries to fill in this gap, by having prof. Mark Wilson advising teams on how to apply project management concepts and tools for their specific startup. Starting from a basic simulation and ramping up to using professional tools, this course will help startups build a clear action plan for the summer.

Participants that will come with an idea in mind will have a clear action plan for the whole summer.

Schedule

8 July

• 4 PM – 6 PM workshop
• 6PM – 8 PM working dinner (teams will work on their own)
• 8 PM – 10 PM workshop

9 July

• Teams have an assignment to work at on their own

10 July

• 4 PM – 6 PM workshop
• 6PM – 8 PM working dinner (teams will work on their own)
• 8 PM – 10 PM workshop

Result

At the end of the 3 days, teams will have clear GANTT chart with action points in defining their work for the summer, until the Pre-Seed Workshop.

Prizes

The teams having concrete, achievable plans to build potential businesses will be selected to take part in the second part of the Idea Challenge program, the Pre-Seed Workshop.

Pre-seed workshop (August)

During the second week of IP Workshop, there will be a 3-day workshop where paticipants will further develop their business idea and present their progress. Participants will attend several critical workshop modules. After a 7-minute lecture, teams will have one hour to work on analyzing and adapting the presented concepts to their business.

Each team will be paired with industry specialists that will work together with the team on the assignments. This is an amazing opportunity for the teams to work together with mentors as if these mentors where part of their startup.

Further details about the contents and expectations of this workshop will be discusses during the first workshop.

Enrollment

To enroll for the workshop sessions you need to fill in the enrollment form and pay the registration fee.
The team registration fee is 160RON and it includes 2 workshop kits. For each extra kit that you would like to have delivered, you need to pay an extra 90RON.