The business idea was inspired by the group's own experiences
The students first met each other through their tutor teacher even before they started their studies and have been friends since the beginning of their studies. The friends had a desire to be entrepreneurs and were brainstorming various business ideas for a couple of months, until Yago asked if they could solve the problem of booking physical education classes. He himself had been struggling to book training classes, as the websites for booking training classes are often in Finnish and he didn't understand Finnish.
"I often asked Veet for help booking sports activities, because he speaks Finnish and the booking sites are rarely translated into English. I presented the problem to the rest of the team and we thought it would be handy to have an app that would show all the sports facilities with their opening hours and prices in one place and you could book a class easily," says Yago, who specialises in web and app development in her studies.
Support for developing a business idea from the Stratup Factory's Idea to Business course
The group started planning team roles and responsibilities very soon after coming up with the idea. Around the same time, their lecturer recommended the Startup Factory's Idea to Business course.
The "Idea to Business" course has been of great help to the group in developing the business case for their idea.
"The "Idea to Business course covers themes such as market analysis and cash flow calculations. Without the course, it would be much more difficult to navigate the world of starting a business, as our own field of study does not include much business studies," says Taavi.
The mentor of the Idea to Business course also hinted at the opportunity of giving an assignment for the students to solve an InnoFlash course. The group had themselves studied the first year of a course focusing on innovation and customer-centric development, and they felt that the experience would also be useful as a commissioner.
The assignment for the InnoFlash course during the business idea development phase was very useful, because the group itself would not have had the opportunity to do the same extensive market research that the students produce as a by-product of the course during the brainstorming phase. In the InnoFlash course, there are always about 60 students solving the assignment, which means that the group heard the feedback of a wide range of people and got a lot of new ideas for further development, which they can use themselves in the further development.
The team's tips for students with entrepreneurship dreams
Students who dream of becoming entrepreneurs or have a business idea are encouraged by the group to seize the opportunities.
"Take advantage of the opportunities that Jamk offers. There is a lot of guidance available at Jamk to support you in starting a business," says Yago.
"Even if you don't become a millionaire, you will learn so many useful skills along the way that your efforts will be well rewarded anyway," encourages Taavi.
Ivan agrees with Taavi: "Along the journey you will meet a lot of talented and interesting people and learn skills that you can use later in life."
The students also underline the importance of teamwork.
