One more time on September 4, four teams from our Creativity and Entrepreneurship in Practice course set out to identify still unmet customer needs in the market, subsequently developing business ideas with concrete business models and prototypes. After having worked on their ideas for weeks and months, their journey in the course finally ended with a Pitch Battle on November 30, where MakeZme, MaRoom, Robbie and Travel U presented their business ideas in front of an expert jury that included startup founders, startup consultants and industry professionals.
The Pitch Battle jury was overwhelmed by the high level of professionalism displayed by the teams during the pitches. In what was a head-to-head battle, MakeZme was awarded the first prize in a lively award-giving ceremony in Café L3, where the winning team performed their winning pitch once more. Having won the Pitch Battle, the team was awarded with seed money in form of a 500 EUR check by Startup Mannheim to advance their next steps. We are very grateful to Startup Mannheim for their support and would also thank MAFINEX-Technologiezentrum for providing our teams with an inspiring atmosphere by hosting the Design Thinking, Business Model Development and Pitch Preparation Sessions for our students.
How did the teams' entrepreneurial journey evolve over the past 3 months?
The startups all started from scratch with Day 1 being all about team building. Creativity and Entrepreneurship in Practice (MAN631) is not a conventional course with lectures, cases or simulations; it is rather about creating real new ventures in order to solve real customer needs. This requires a lot of dedication and team work; while sometimes the experience is fun, it can also bring a fair share of frustration along the way of developing an early stage startup that will withstand the expert jury during the final pitches. Classwork is only a minor component of the entire work — most of which is happening outside of the classroom. Finding out how to create value by solving a problem, customer development, endless field-testings and eventually the validation of their business models are all challenging tasks that are checked for progress in bi-weekly status reports. Continuous coaching on demand supports the startup development in this accelerator-style format.
The Startups:
- Started their entrepreneurial journey with team building: the "Egg Challenge". From the MAN 631 Kickoff onwards they started with ideation and shortlisted the most promising startup ideas.
- Went from a long list of problems to solve to a short list of three ideas that they then pivoted with customer exploration and prototyping methodologies.
- Constantly ran and re-ran the Customer Validation processes to pivot and carve out the most promising concept.
- Have undergone several cycles of Business Model Development.
- Have performed really well on their mid-term pitches on October 30.
- Have really rocked the Final Pitches on November 30!
- Are still continuously testing and improving their business models :-)
Participating Teams that created their new ventures from scratch:
MakeZme  |
makezme.com is the new world of adult entertainment that puts an end to fake orgasms and brings real and natural pleasure back into the game. We give inspiration by combining sex education with ethical pornography in one platform and encourage our customers to open up their minds and enjoy themselves. With a clean image and high quality content we will create a new lifestyle and make sure that she will come again. |
MARoom  |
MaRoom is a student-centric residence that aims to support students finding accommodation by creating a transparent, easy, and fast booking process and host confirmation, providing support before students arrive in Mannheim, and offering a modern and pleasant place with a sense of community for the students. |
Robbie  |
In today’s complex world there is an infinite choice of laptops available. Robbie helps you to cut through the jungle of offers and guides you to the laptop that you need with absolutely no knowledge of technology. Robbie wants to become the No.1 source for trusted, independent, and comprehensive advice for a wide array of technical products. |
Travel U  |
Travel U is a young startup founded in Mannheim focusing on revolutionizing the travel industry. Their unique combination of perfectly automated travel plans as well as full customization to the individuals’ needs helps users to save time and plan trips more efficiently. Travel U – Your next generation travel experience. |
Jury Members on Pitch Finals
- Sonja Wilkens (Startup Consulting & Economic Development, City of Mannheim)
- Romana Oehmig (Manager Design Thinking, SAP)
- Jonas Johé (Founder & CEO of SurveyCircle)
- Prof. Dr. Michael Woywode (Director of the institute for SME Reserach & Chairholder for SME Research and Entrepreneurship, University of Mannheim)
- Alexander Ernst (Mannheim Business Angels)
- Marius Schreiber (Co-Founder, Pitch Guru)
We thank the jury for their fantastic support!
We also thank our Supporting Startups that supported us with their insights and advice: Covexo, V|O Coffee, Orderpoints and Laptop LockWare!
Check out the gallery below to have a look at their entrepreneurial journey from ideation up to their final pitches on November 30!
