PhD / Postdoc / Entrepreneurial Skills: From research insight to paying customer

Do you have a research insight or idea you believe in, but are unsure if anyone would pay for it? Make sure you understand your potential customers, the problem they are facing, and how your solution could create value for them, before investing time or technical resources in the wrong solution. 

Who exactly has the problem? In which situation does it occur? What is painful, costly, slow, risky, or inefficient? And why would your idea create value that would cause someone to change their behaviour, allocate a budget, or adopt a new solution? 

In this half-day workshop designed by a Silicon Valley entrepreneur, you will gain the essential tools to validate your assumptions and test your idea in the real world. You will learn fast, practical methods including customer profile development, value hypothesis testing, structured user interviews, lightweight MVPs, and small-scale pilot testing. 
 

• Learn how to articulate the user value of your idea in concrete terms 
• Identify real customer needs and pain points 
• Design and execute early-stage experiments to gather actionable feedback 

Andrea Spillmann-Gajek, Founder at Success Accelerators, LLC

Early career researchers of all disciplines with an interest in entrepreneurship and innovation. 
 

This workshop is part of the Entrepreneurial Skills series, a collaboration between UZH Graduate Campus and UZH Innovation Hub. 
 
A certificate of participation will be issued for each workshop. Once four or more certificates have been earned participants may request a certificate for Entrepreneurial Skills issued by the Graduate Campus and Innovation Hub.     

1 ECTS Credit will be awarded (on request) to PhD candidates who have completed four or more workshops of the Entrepreneurial Skills series.   

Conditions of participation