It was our pleasure to learn more about ENTREPRENEDU Mentoring & Coaching Programme with Fabio Biscotti, Business Development Specialist of E. Amaldi Foundation.
Please, briefly introduce yourself and tell us more about ENTREPRENEDU Mentoring & Coaching Programme’ goals and benefits?
I am Fabio Biscotti, Business Development Specialist and Mentor of E. Amaldi Foundation within the ENTREPRENEDU Mentoring & Coaching Programme. The aim of the programme is to provide advanced and comprehensive entrepreneurial training to young students and entrepreneurs who want to develop their own business idea in the world of deeptech technologies.
The ENTREPRENEDU Mentoring & Coaching Programme is structured to provide all-round training on the fundamentals that a young entrepreneurs should know in order to integrate knowledge that is often not deepened in the academic sphere, especially in those European regions defined as low/moderate innovation regions.
In my view, the mentoring offered by the ENTREPRENEDU programme represents a unique opportunity for mentees to further develop their best business idea through intensive support focused on their needs.
The Programme includes 6 mentoring modules and yours is about “Your Idea Pitch: from Tech Feasibility to Product Development”. Can you tell us a bit more about the module itself? What mentees can expect from it?
The aim of the module is to guide mentees through the challenging entrepreneurial path that ideally starts with the technical conception of a project and continues with the development of a product or a service, until its marketing and communication phase.
In particular, the module is focused on the exploration of different critical steps of this process:
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First and foremost the “technological feasibility”, conceived as preliminary but fundamental project’s analysis process. Students and aspiring entrepreneurs will benefit of an overall understanding of the main topics related to the design and performance of a technical feasibility study; they will receive theoretical references as well as methodologies, practical tips and examples to refer to.
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Secondly, the delicate transition phase from the tech feasibility to the product development: we’ll explore how the “design thinking approach” can help entrepreneurs to manage this process thanks to the explanation of methodologies, tools and tips to design, prototype, and test a product. As well as to retrieve feedback information to tailor their products or services on customer needs.
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Finally, we’ll try to understand how to best communicate and present the idea to a potential customer or investor. Basic concepts about the different kind of pitches and some tips to perform an oral or a written pitch will be provided.
Obviously, this is the general programme of the module, but we all know that personal interaction is the value of initiatives like this so I will enjoy engaging with mentees to tailor the meetings especially to their specific reactions and curiosities!
The participants of the Programme are winning teams of three HackTheBusiness competitions organised by ENTREPRENEDU. In your opinion, what are key potential takeaways for our participants after they conclude the Programme?
Mentees can benefit from several important aspects. Firstly, they will develop a strong set of entrepreneurial skills, including an understanding of how to assess technical feasibility, how to develop their business model, how to quantify the funding needs, etc. In addition, they will gain a great deal of practical experience: the programme is not limited to theory, but allows participants to apply what they have learnt directly to their own projects. Their problem solving skills will improve significantly. Activities such as design thinking and feasibility studies will help them tackle the challenges they will face as entrepreneurs.
Another great benefit is personalised guidance and feedback, as each participant receives advice specific to their project, which really helps growth and development. Participants will also come into contact with peers, mentors and industry experts, which can lead to valuable collaboration and support in the future. They will gain confidence in presentation and communication, which is crucial for gaining support and funding. In addition, they will gain a solid understanding of market dynamics, learning how to research the market, understand customer needs and analyse the competition.
Finally, since the programme promotes innovation and creativity, mentees are encouraged to think outside the box and develop unique solutions that can stand out in the market.
