Lead in

Lead-in is a workshop course for you who have an idea or an existing startup. Based on your process and your experiences, we delve into a number of tools and methods that can help you move forward - whether the task is to qualify your idea or enter a new market. We focus on understanding your (future) customers or users, hypothesis tests as a means of developing your idea or business, storytelling, and sales techniques. We also delve into your strengths, your motivation, your special story and your ability to communicate and attract relevant partners.

Lead-in is for entrepreneurs at the entire University of Copenhagen. By taking part in the course, you will build a strong network of new and experienced entrepreneurs across subjects and industries. Once you have attended Lead-in, you can become a member of UCPH’s new innovation centre, Lighthouse.

About the workshops

Workshop 1: THE IDEA AND YOUR CUSTOMERS

All successful projects and sustainable companies rest on a good idea, i.e. an idea that solves a problem or meets a need many people recognize and are concerned with having solved or met. Developing an idea that does that requires solid insight into your (potential) customers or users. However, it can be difficult to get out the door, ask the right questions and listen curiously. In workshop 1, we delve into what you know and don't know about your idea and your customers/users, and work to create instructive conversations from your starting point.

After workshop 1 you have: 

• Specified what kind of value your idea creates (In other words: why should people choose your particular solution?)
• A list of questions you need to clarify in order to move on
• Practical experience with how to gain valuable knowledge about your idea through short conversations, both inside and outside your network

Workshop 2: YOU AS AN ENTREPRENEUR

Ideas are worthless if no one acts on them. Repeatedly. Therefore, you as an entrepreneur are at least as important as your idea. The better you know yourself, the easier it will be to organize an entrepreneurial process that takes into account what you can and know (and what you can't and don’t know) - and the greater the probability of success. In workshop 2, we delve into your values, your motivation and your strengths as an entrepreneur and work with the relationship between you and your idea - why are you the right person to bring it to life?

After workshop 2 you have:

• Gained an understanding of how you can use your strengths in relation to your particular idea/business (and potential team) – and what you should seek help for
• Mapped relevant partners
• Worked with storytelling techniques as a way of creating understanding, sympathy, and potential support to your idea or startup.

Workshop 3: TEST THE SOLUTION

As an entrepreneur, one of your most important tasks is to convert your guesses into knowledge, so that you can move forward on an informed basis. As we saw in workshop 1, part of this can take place as conversations. But when it comes to testing your solution, the conversations cannot stand alone, because it is far too easy - and non-committal - to answer 'yes please' to something that does not yet exist. In workshop 3 we present methods for obtaining action-based feedback. We will also work on putting your knowledge into a framework – a sustainable business model – which can help you structure your testing process further. And finally, we will work to make the, for many, dreaded sales process tangible and manageable.

After workshop 3 you have:  

• Knowledge of techniques that, with few resources, can help you obtain action-based feedback on your idea
• Practical experience in using a business model as a process management tool
• Knowledge of how you can incorporate sustainability into your idea – regardless of whether you are making a product or a service
• Techniques and questions that support good sales conversations

Workshop 4: THE NEXT, BEST STEP

As an entrepreneur, you are in a search mode. The entrepreneurial process is full of unknowns, and the answer to one question often gives rise to three new ones. There are steep learning curves, mistakes and detours in a process that is rarely linear. Therefore, you must continue to be curious and find ways to move forward in small steps. In workshop 4, we collect the insights you take with you about yourself and your idea - what has made the biggest difference, what tools proved especially valuable for you, and what are the most important next steps you need to take. We talk about your access to further support at Lighthouse and at KU and celebrate the end of the course.

After workshop 4 you have:

• A plan for your further process, focusing on the questions or conditions that are most important for you to work on
• A pitch you can use when you need to seek help to develop your idea or business further
• Knowledge of how to apply for a KU Lighthouse membership
• A strong network of new and ongoing entrepreneurs across KU