Workshop: Team formation and investigation of different market opportunities for early-stage start-ups applying for an EXIST grant

After a short introduction by Marcel Werle (ENI), the first part was about raising awareness of the team's strengths and weaknesses in order to identify knowledge gaps or missing competencies of the team. The second part dealt with a method for mapping different markets ("Market Opportunity Navigator"). "This was about selecting the best possible market entry strategy in iterations. At the beginning, it's about opening up the perspective and exploring different market opportunities," says Werle. With the help of coaches, participants could explore different use cases in the context of potential customer groups. In the exchange with the teams, it turned out that many startups had thought about different possible applications, but the evaluation possibility to assess the potential of the application had been difficult so far. This aspect was supported by the structured approach of the method, according to the feedback of the participants. This was followed by a short exchange about first interview experiences, which Andrew Clifton summarized as follows: "Don't talk about your products, talk about your customers' problems". Finally, there was a summary and reference presentation of all the topics discussed in preparation for the EXIST application. The goal of the upcoming workshops is to develop a qualitative assessment of the challenges and market opportunities in order to finally choose a first market entry strategy.

ENI is part of StartupCampus 0711 and offers further support services for founders in addition to the workshop series.