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Summer Startup Update Week Two: Getting stuck in

25 November 2019

The second week of the UCE Summer Startup Programme introduced our students to the more formal aspects of the programme, with daily speaker sessions and one-on-one check-ins with mentors throughout the week.

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Hannah Duder speaks to the Summer Startup students on her experience in the programme and what she’s achieved since.

This week, we were lucky to have a range of expert speakers visit UCE to share their experience and wisdom with the Summer Startup students. Programme alumni, Hannah Duder (Indigo & Iris) and Oliver Hunt (Medsalv) joined us on Monday to talk about their own Summer Startup experiences, and their tips on how to get the most of the Programme. 

In a first for the Summer Startup Programme, Wednesday started off with a short yoga session, led by Alysa Greenland from the recently-opened O-Studio. Property and tech entrepreneur Thomas Clement also spoke to the cohort about his own entrepreneurship story and what he’s learnt along the way.

The Summer Startup students began their Wednesday with a yoga session run by Alysa Greenland. The Summer Startup students began their Wednesday with a yoga session run by Alysa Greenland.

On Thursday we heard from Qingqing Bi from the UC Business school, who spoke about the psychology behind the entrepreneurial journey, including some practical suggestions of different ideation methods. To wrap up the week, Oliviah Theyers-Collins gave students her top tips on how to speak to customers in a way which delivers the best insights. 

With so much amazing expert advice, we asked a few students to share with us the most important thing they learned during the week. 

Caitlin Buchanan is working on an overhaul of UCE-supported club 180 Degrees Consulting. She said that the most crucial thing she has learnt during week two was the need to step back from your idea, and really question why it is needed, and what it is designed to achieve.

The BioBale team, Kaspar Soltero and Stephanie Beattie, are developing a biodegradable hay wrapping solution for farmers. As BioBale is currently conducting market research, they particularly valued the advice on how to develop a good survey, and the types of questions that produce high-quality data.

Stefano Barfucci is developing TOR, a business creating machines that construct tunnels for utilities, search and rescue, mineral exploration and irrigation. The most important thing he took away from this week was to shift his mindset from trying to prove his idea to trying to disprove it, so he remains critical of his own ideas, despite being invested in them.

Finally, Caitlin Dow’s biggest discovery of the week was that one size doesn’t fit all when it comes to sales and distribution methods. This has lead to Caitlin thinking more carefully about how she will get her eco-friendly, laser-cut earrings to the market. 

Week three of the Programme will focus on validation and developing the value proposition of each venture, plus a ‘speed mentoring’ session in which all the students will receive quick-fire advice from a range of experts.

The UCE Summer Startup Programme is a chance for students to work on fast-tracking the development of their ideas into realistic business ventures for 10 weeks over the summer. To find out more about the UCE Summer Startup Programme click here.

For further information please contact:

UC Centre for Entrepreneurship (UCE) by emailing uce@canterbury.ac.nz


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