BI SELECTION CRITERIA
Est. 2019
STUDENT REFLECTIONS
“Where do ideas come from? For me, ideas come from family discussions, late night thoughts and from watching movies and series. I learnt it is very important to share thoughts and ideas as a group, because we build on each other’s thoughts and ideas."
“Networking Collaboration” - first step towards Entrepreneurship. Have I become less creative as I have gotten older? Yes, I have because I fear rejection, failure and judgements. I can overcome them by support, less judgements and flexibility. I have to be confident creatively and believe in my innate ability to achieve my goals. I learnt the importance of empathy, understanding the users’ needs by putting myself in the user’s shoe to produce insight. Empathy is concrete and insights are abstract. Journey maps and empathy maps basic tools of insights. Using brainstorming and brainwriting tools of ideating without being too hung up, I have significantly developed my ability to ideate and making sense by capturing all ideas and not judging, through visual demonstration, building on others’ ideas and positive encouragement."
"Learnt the importance of “How might we “questions for building prototypes. Got exposed to the invention cycle that starts with imagination moving to creativity, innovation producing entrepreneurship and so the cycle continues. Fail, fail, and fail. Persistence is failing. I acknowledge that by changing my attitude, reforming my thinking and looking at the process and not the result, I can simply change from low confidence, low passion to high passion and high confidence. How can you pursue entrepreneurship without resources? I can do it with drive, self-motivation and creativity. I learnt the golden circle of entrepreneurial vision, mission and values / goals. I am considered a risk taker. The different risks for the potential opportunity o f a product would be market, product, team and financial risks. I learnt two lean principles of customer discovery and customer validation. Why. Why, Why, Why, Why? One o f the 3 tools of lean management and agile programming. If I won’t believe in it, I won’t succeed.
Got educated on the importance of having a lawyer in the startups to protect intellectual property, my idea and business with legal documents, knowing partnership rights and business rights. I will take the value of visuals throughout my life – ‘focus on the audience as they are your hero’. Trust and collaboration happen differently for different people based on each one’s pace, mindset and background. Networking is so important for innovation since it connects people together. In conclusion, to me, innovation is building on each other’s’ ideas and thoughts.” - Ghina Arallah, Session B Spring 2019
“We need both innovation and routine work in our everyday lives as they both serve different purposes. The process of coming up with creative ideas can be a long process, a creative idea is rarely ever generated instantly. There is no such thing as a bad idea and everyone possesses the ability to be creative. It is difficult to unlock the power of creativity with a fixed mindset; a growth mindset is needed."
"Design thinking can be a great process for solving problems or coming up with new ideas. The most important piece of developing empathy is listening and putting yourself in the place of the speaker. Generating insights is crucial for innovative thinking and it is very important to interview people in order to gain insights and understand their needs. It is important to have an open mind. I concluded that prototyping is very necessary when improving an idea as it allows a person to test the idea to see if there are any weak points and to see if there are areas of improvement. I learned about the importance of inspiring and influencing others."
"Confidence and passion don’t necessarily correlate to each other all the time but passion and confidence are a great combination when trying to achieve something. A good leader can spread motivation throughout his/her people. A good leader should have a growth mindset and should promote innovation and motivation. Observation and interaction are necessary when trying to identify the needs and wants of people. Entrepreneurship is both an art and a science. A vision in life serves as a fuel for our motivation. It takes a lot of patience and trial/errors in order to create an attractive idea. In order to succeed in my business, I have to learn the process of customer development. It is very important to segment a market and very important to differentiate between a burning need and a vitamin need. It is very important to set priorities when it comes to gathering financial resources. Motivation is essentially what promotes productivity and makes people do their best at their jobs, without it, individuals might lack enthusiasm. There are different IPs such as trademarks, copyrights, patents, and trade secrets. Lawyers are a very important part of a business. The visual aspect of a presentation is very important.
I learned that every member is equally as important in a team and it is very important to organize and divide the work between the members of the team, to motivate and spread positivity among team members. Change is very essential for the growth of a company. Having different cultures can promote diversity and innovation within an organization. I understand the importance of setting goals and long-term visions for the future and now know how to overcome failures and use them as fuel for motivation.” - Karim Selim, Spring 2020.
“Constraints are not necessarily negative, they help with my ideas. Synergy helps build on things. Failing gave me the opportunity to do things better. Empathizing is a key element in the design thinking process. Journey maps helped me get a detailed version of someone’s story that helped recognize their need. I learnt it is crucial to identify customer gaps, find their needs and wants to provide the right products. A diverse team helps bring out different perspectives. It’s important to have legal advice during a startup, I now value legal help. Innovation starts from the bottom of the organization.” - Karan Soni, Summer 2019
“People who are determined to be entrepreneurs must believe in something bigger than themselves. When I think of great entrepreneurs such as Steve Job, he succeeded not because he wanted to be rich, but because he desired to impact the world. Great ideas do not come from one source or one person but by people putting their minds together."
"As a creative person, I have come to the realization that great artworks or inventions come from trial and error, you must have the confidence to believe in yourself, even though your first creation will turn bad, it will improve with time. I think empathy is important to be able to understand the customer, to know their needs and desires. I genuinely believe that listening to customer’s feedback is very important. I personally like empathy maps. Prototyping is very important in creating an effective product in the market place."
"Business model canvas is an important tool for startups as it makes things simpler. It is worth knowing the legal matters of running a business. Change in a team is important as it helps keep the team moving forward, for example I had to change my attitude towards some team members to better communicate with them. It is important to stay true to core values. I realized that people at the bottom of the organizational hierarchy play a big role as they communicate with customers face-to-face." - Omer ElNour, Session A Spring 2019