14-May-2018
We finished our presentation to a jury at IMD Business School one hour ago. The jury is made up of Ventures Capitalists, Business Angels and a very committed professor. We are Group 8, and over the course of the past five months we have been supporting FIXtech in their startup journey.
This presentation marks the formal closure of our course on Entrepreneurship. Our professor is firmly convinced that entrepreneuring cannot be taught from a book: Instead you should be out there, with a startup, to get your hands dirty and achieve impactful results. The brief was and is clear: No exams, only results count!
One of our team’s successful strategies has been to divide and conquer, and here we are: Three team members are documenting our work and ensuring a proper handover of our deliverables to FIXtech and to IMD. Three team members sit in a train to Zurich to represent our startup at VentureKick BootCamp. We overlook the beautiful vineyards on the shores of Lac Leman, as Lausanne quickly disappears.
At VentureKick we will be asked to present the latest for FIXtech, its milestones in product development and to pitch their rapidly evolving plans. Every engagement and every feedback is a gift and an opportunity to improve the product, its story and the strategy.
Each team is expected to work out with their respective startup where they can add most value. This leads to a unique journey for every team, depending on the venture’s maturity, the needs of the founders and the skills that your team brings.
In our case, we bring 38 years of experience in management consulting, project management, IT, shipping and finance. To achieve results, we have leveraged the broad experience in our team, the wider class and our networks. We have assisted in operational affairs, provided coaching and acted as a sounding board. Additionally, we have taken on bigger deliverables. Examples are the delivery of a comprehensive financial model and the pilot project, for which we delivered the structure and materials. What better validation than comments from your peers: Apparently, the other teams have been referring to us as the ‘dream team’.
FIXtech is bringing automation to the bulk shipping industry. You take two experienced and well-connected professionals from the bulk shipping industry, fresh out of their MBA’s, and you add to that six hungry MBA candidates. The dynamics are very positive and motivating. It is incredible to see what ground we have covered together since January. FIXtech has been building momentum. The founders’ focus, experience and positive energy are going to be critical ingredients on their coming journey.
Matt, Bret: Thank you for making us part of the team!
Group 8- Team FIXtech
Hans, Kshitij, Paula, Ana, Gerardo and Parth
