On-boarding week @ L’Openlab, #3 cohort !
Article has been originally published on the Storify of l’Openlab last February
Last week we welcomed the 3rd cohort taking part in the Startup Challenge at l’Openlab, a collective, scientific and artistic workshop based at the Center for Research and Interdisciplinarity in Paris. Here we go for 6 months with 13 new projects, all very diverse but very promising !
DAY 1 : Welcome on board !
On Monday, we gave a warm welcome to the 13 new projects : a very nice group rich in diversity in which people are coming from every background and are covering many topics from education to biotechnology to artificial intelligence to environment to design… In a word: a truly interdisciplinary and cool group, happy to learn, share and explore all the opportunities — just the way we like it :)
Why we are here ? And what is the deal between us ? This first meeting was also the opportunity to set the rules of the games.
We truly believe that the role of the university today is to support the next generation and to help people achieve their goals, that’s why we have created l’Openlab 3 years ago, following the crazy ambition to become the first fablab/project accelerator in the university (we are part of Sorbonne-Paris-Cité universities group @USPC_news).
The deal we propose to the startups which want to join us is very simple : you have a free access to the co-working space, machines and ecosystem; and in exchange we just want engaged people who are ready to share their skills, resources and experiences with the other teams and the ecosystem. In a word:we believe in PEER-TO-PEER, which is probably one of the most valuable asset in a community.
On Monday we also had a first elevator pitch session to introduce all the projects and to know each other. It was a very cool session full of feedback ! At the end, I think that almost everyone had understood what the others are doing… and believe me: for a complex project in biotechnology for example it’s not that easy to make education or design people like me understand the very purpose of the project !
First lunch break at @criparis for the new startups that have started to settle down !
Time to discover the fablab itself and to start the training on the different machines : 3D-printing, laser cutter, form, CNC mill… It’s gonna be the very heart of the prototyping activities during the next 6 months !
DAY 2 : Hey, what is your problem ?
Yoni Dayan @YoniDayan_ (EdTech/MOOC entrepreneur and teaching assistant @ NovoEd) and Claire Schaffer (Openlab team and co-founder of GiroMela) co-hosted the second day for a lean and user-driven session. The goal of the session was not to give an exhaustive list of all the frameworks and methods which structure “modern entrepreneurship” but to guide the teams with the market research, set their hypothesis, target their customers… and to get the first feedback on the field to validate their ideas.
While mornings were focused on special sessions and exercises (lean, business, funding…), the afternoons were dedicated to mentoring with various people skilled in entrepreneurship, edtech, biotech, communication, design, machine learning, hardware, business… and more ! A big special thanks to all the mentors of the week ! :-)
DAY 3 : The business of utopia
Artemis Llamosi (PhD and entrepreneur in biotech) and Tudor Tarlev (Hackerspace explorer, blogger, serial entrepreneur @tudornotes) co-hosted a session on “business models”… and tried to demystify this step ! After a quick introduction, they coached the teams and help them to fill in a business model canvas which is a strategic management and entrepreneurial tool that help entrepreneurs to explore their value propositions, resources, cost, revenue, distribution channel… (you can download a model here) All this with a backdrop of jazz :)
DAY 4 : $$$ Money Matter $$$
On Thursday we had the pleasure to welcome Mathilde Bras (French Digital Council @CNNum) for a session on innovation funding. She gave us a great overview of all the opportunities to get funded. A lot of barbarous words and unknown structures that become understandable with little pedagogy. But raising funds is not just a technical and financial matter, that’s also a matter of timing, trust, team building… and a lot of organization and unsexy stuff !
On Thursday afternoon we welcomed Philippe Danos, founder of Advitech Partners, a strategy and management consulting firm that help entrepreneurs to explore the best opportunities and to reach their goals. He shared his relevant experience with us and tried to identify with the teams the pitfalls to be avoided.
We wrapped up the week with a feedback session and some beers and snacks :) I think it’s fair to say that it was a successful and very cool launch :) Our 13 new startups said that they had a very good time, they learned a lot for a first week, they like the “merry mess” atmosphere of the place and they share our values.
For our part, we are delighted to welcome such a promising cohort of projects and all these wonderful people ! We believe in them and we know that thanks to them we will improve our program even more. All these ambitious and talented people are our most valuable asset. And we are very proud to be labelled as “the program with a cohort which mix ironing for men, noise-killing earplugs and 3D zoos” — special thanks to Yoni for this summary :p
A comprehensive list of the projects will be available soon on our website, but in the meantime you can follow most of the projects on our Twitter list and catch some glimpses of life within l’Openlab on our Instagram :-)
