d.studio week 4: the CEOs return…

What do Paul Lambert, Eesmyal Santos-Brault, Winnie Lai, Lindsay Watt, Colin Doylend, Amelia Ufford, Steve Rio and Octav Druta have in common?  They are all CEOs of exciting new companies.  And they generously shared their time and expertise with students from the Sauder d.studio.

The idea of the project was to provide the students with direct experience with young CEOs/entrepreneurs and to introduce them to the business canvas which is a visual tool for recording observations and developing some insights into how a business ticks.  The business canvas itself is the brain-child of Alex Osterwalder and you can download info on it here: http://www.businessmodelgeneration.com/downloads/businessmodelgeneration_preview.pdf

The students worked in teams of two — grabbing some time with the CEOs to interview them, observing the business from the web and so on.  Their task was then to use the model (in some way, shape or form) and present their findings to the CEOs.  Some groups were modest in their offerings staying close to the confines of the project statement, while others ventured into the realm of cubes, mobiles and lots of recommendations to the CEOs.

The CEOs represent a diverse range of businesses:  Matygo, The HiVE, ClinicBook, Placeling, Rain City Strategies, De-Brand, BriteWeb & SunnyTrail.  Their feedback to the students and their own reflections on their journeys around the development of their businesses were golden.  Lots of great advice to students around how to communicate to audiences — put the idea up front and the why next or around thinking of the d.studio as a safe place to risk and try out new ideas.  Go big.  Go bold.

We also had visitors from other parts of Sauder and UBC.  Carol Leacy (Entrepreneurship@UBC), Deven Dave (Executive Director, W. Maurice Young Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital Research Centre), Denise Withers (Sauder’s Learning Design Manager), and Andrew Riley (Sauder Marketing and Communications).  A big thanks for their participation.

Next week, we’ll debrief this project — and I’ll learn a lot — which is good!

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