Pre-Start BW: Kick-Off of the Entrepreneurs in Residence

The goal of Pre-Start BW, a project funded by the Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts Baden-Württemberg, is to inspire interested students for entrepreneurial activities. The aim is to create the prerequisites for a later, successful application to start-up-related funding programs. We were able to recruit a total of six students for this program at ENI.

"In our selection of applicants, we decided to represent as broad a field of entrepreneurs as possible. In this way, we managed to attract students who still have to work on their idea, who are already further along in the start-up process, or who have already entered the market," says Prof. Dr. Alexander Brem.

This heterogeneous field of entrepreneurs met for the first time via a virtual meeting on 25.11.2021. In addition to the six future entrepreneurs, the project management, Dr. Andreas Wahl, and the ENI startup coaches also took part. During this kick-off, the entrepreneurs were each given an individually suitable task for the duration of the program. These tasks aim to identify clear problems from practice and to generate ideas to solve these problems and to transform existing problem solutions into business models. This also includes a comprehensive market analysis and the development of suitable marketing strategies in order to be able to take ideas to the global market. With the help of the coaches, these entrepreneurs will now work on their tasks in the coming months.

In addition, the entrepreneurs will take on the role of ambassadors. They are to share their experiences in the subject groups or student councils but also in selected lectures/seminars of the faculties of the University of Stuttgart that are weak in start-ups. In doing so, they will primarily present their own idea and their further course of action in order to be a close, practical example for other students and thus spread the idea of entrepreneurial activity. 

In any case, Dr. Andreas Wahl firmly believes that "over the next few months, during which the entrepreneurs will have free access to our resources, they will take the next step with our support. I, for one, am very excited to see what our entrepreneurs come up with. At the same time, I would be very happy if, through our entrepreneurs in residence in their function as ambassadors, we manage to inspire other students to take the path to entrepreneurship."