Rock Solid! LSE Generate prize winning entrepreneurs build rock solid start up teams

LSE Generate fosters a vibrant community of start up entrepreneurs right in the heart of London. The start up founders invited to participate in this unique experiment in entrepreneurial education are winners of LSE Generate funding competition. They comprised a diverse and highly international group of students and graduates working on a range of projects from social media apps, fashion venture to international film production.

The Rock Solid! Workshop is designed around tough and competitive team exercises under close-to-reality start up conditions:

• Ambiguity
• Complexity
• Time pressure

These activities are then combined with reflective dialogue amongst the whole group and also in smaller triads. The effect generated real experiential learning and meant that, unlike all too many intensive hack-a-thon events, activity was supported by genuine learning.

Judging by the reaction, the workshop really helped this group on new entrepreneurs. Media start-up founder,
Julie Lillesaeter said:

“I loved the workshop! Will definitely recommend it and the tool to others”.

Prior to the workshop, participants complete Dynamiqe, a unique psychometric software tool designed to enable entrepreneurs to plan their start up journey. This helps them to get in the “zone” and identify their learning needs. Crucially, Dynamiqe gave the participants insight into their preferred entrepreneurial profile and allowed them to target their desired future profile.

Rock Solid! began with an orientation game, called Dynamiqe Spatial, in which the participants were asked to select combinations of key words and move around the room according to their current and target entrepreneurial profiles.

Next, the participants were divided into four teams. In round one, two “start up” teams completed the competitive exercises (with rather ambiguous instructions with a few “bear traps”), requiring them to build a product and pitch it to the other two “investor” teams.

In round two, the roles were reversed. This meant that each team got to experience both the start up and investor perspective. For instance, in the pitching and negotiations, an interesting dynamic developed between the start up teams pitching the value and innovation of their product, compared to investors looking to understand the transparency and risk. Start up teams pitched the virtue of the creative “hacks,” while investors wondered if these innovations were actually allowed.

The key lesson for all teams is…gotta know yer costs! Investor teams wanted an account of how the start up teams arrived at their decisions and how much they have costed key items. Investors were attracted to innovation, but seemed to favour teams that were clear and transparent abut their decisions, the mistakes made and their cost assumptions.

The Rock Solid! Workshop was fortunate to have such a promising group of entrepreneurs. It looks forward to welcome more of these on future workshops so watch this space. And for more information on Rock Solid! Workshops, email Andrew_Atter@pivomo.com