Sustainable start-ups get knowledge of TIAS Executive MBA participants

Eight start-ups with a sustainability business idea or innovation got ideas for business models from TIAS Excutive MBA participants  during a succesfull two-day workshop. Professor of Innovation Carla Koen led the workshop where start-up teams and individuals were brought together with TIAS Business Model Pressure Cooker.

"It was not only fun but also very useful for us MBA's and from what I heard it was also very useful for the companies and jury members", said one of the participants after the workshop.

Start-ups which participated agreed: "We joined the workshop to get an objective, fresh look at the business case by experts who do not have any stake in the business", said Jasper van Weerd van Lipocoat. He got insights on the strength and weaknesses of their market analysis, the earnings model and the importance of sustainability.

To be better prepared for the next fase

Barry Koperberg, general manager Wings For Aid said: "One of the key learnings for Wings For Aid is that we need to give priority to our primary value proposition, which is international humanitarian logistics. Other VP's get stronger when positioned as supportive to the central one. The second learning is that we need to 'clean up' our communications, since we now enter into discussions with Venture Capitalists. Kill our darlings, that's what we need to do. These two key insights, brought to us by the MBA team, are new and make Wings For Aid better prepared for the next stage of development."

The participants of the TIAS Executive MBA are at the final stage of the two-year program, which they complete while working. The participants come from different sectors and have different backgrounds. Their expertise, experience, and network could be valuable for start-up firms.