EAE News
EAE Lab Pyramid: The new service model for entrepreneurial students
06 de August de 2020
At EAE, we believe in your professional project and want to help you boost it, just like we have already done for the over 80,000 students who have trained at our School!
2019 was a year of significant achievements for EAE Business School in various areas, including employability and research. However, one of the most disruptive new developments took place in the field of entrepreneurship, namely the EAE Lab Pyramid: a new program designed to drive forward the students’ ventures, which has transformed the methodology with which they approach their entrepreneurial projects and has laid the groundwork of a new model characterized by speed and efficacy.
“We have innovated in terms of the way we teach entrepreneurship to Master students”, explained the Directors of the Pyramid, Henri Mennens and Santiago Tobón. “We combine two primary objectives: talent management and boosting entrepreneur spirit at the School”.
“The EAE Lab Pyramid model is based on measuring, reducing and mitigating risks using constant market validation and testing processes. It is an optimal combination of several entrepreneurship methodologies and theories that enables participants to identify how and when to make important decisions”.
Moreover, Mennens and Tobón emphasize that what they aim to achieve is that “thanks to the design of the methodology and the program, the development of the entrepreneurial mindset comes first, before the business itself. As such, the program does not force the creation of business ideas, but rather ensure learning that stimulates an entrepreneurial mindset that will last over time and be applicable in other areas of their lives”.
Remember that you can find out more about entrepreneurship and innovation at EAE Business School by downloading the EAE Annual Report 2019 via the following link.
So, how does the EAE Lab Pyramid work?
As explained by the brains behind the scheme Mennens and Tobón, the Pyramid is divided into two big stages:
The first talent development stage lasting ten months, in which we train and teach the participants business design and development methods and techniques. Through a series of workshops, mentoring and networking events, the students find their feet, explore and develop value propositions and solutions with visual prototypes.
This stage consists of three phases: Self-discovery (“Kitchen”), Market Exploration (“Deep Dive”), and Solution Design (“Ideation”). We work on identifying and tapping into the potential of the entrepreneurial talent of the participating students, using methodologies that enable the participants to put themselves to the test in a real market context.
2 - The second stage is a three-month incubation period known as EAE Lab Propeller, in which the teams with the greatest potential are mentored and guided by coaches and business experts. This select group will work full time in the School’s incubator in Madrid and Barcelona. The aim of this implementation phase aims is for the business ideas generated in the first stage to be executed. We strive to enable the participants to turn their businesses into a reality.
EAE Lab Pyramid: A model for anticipating risks and minimizing the consequences when starting a business
“In the self-discovery phase, the participants learn to identify the resources (materials, knowledge, competences, contacts etc) that they have available to embark on an entrepreneurial venture that they really have the potential and ability to execute. As a result, they should have more control in times of uncertainty: this is the effectuation principle of entrepreneurship. Moreover, they learn the importance of developing a business idea based on their passions and preferences in terms of how they want to work and live”.
“In addition, we focus on testing and validation. We firmly believe in going out on the street and asking the market what it thinks of our hypotheses and our potential solutions. Only through the feedback of our users, consumers and customers can we manage to mitigate risks. This idea is the basis of risk minimization or prevention. In other words, it is cyclical: if we create to validate and test, we are reducing risks”.
Consultancy offered by EAE Lab Pyramid
- Business consultancy
- Legal advice
- Financial consultancy
- Team Guidance
EAE Business School: The ideal place to develop an entrepreneurial idea
“We are the only business school in Spain that boasts its own business incubator/accelerator in both Madrid and Barcelona. Thanks to our multiple partnerships and the existence of EAE Investor, we are an important part of the Spanish business ecosystem entrepreneur. Around 10% of the students who come to study at EAE say that their main professional goal is to become an entrepreneur. Moreover, we are one of the most active business schools in the network of partner universities and business schools of Babson College, the top university in the world in the field of entrepreneurship”.
The Directors concluded by saying “ultimately, our incubator is the meeting point of several companies in the ecosystem. The students involved will not only have the opportunity to work alongside other entrepreneurs, but also to learn from the experiences of Spanish and Latin American entrepreneurs thanks to the Entrepreneurs Club. They will also be in contact with experts in the area of alternative finance for startups and venture capital directors, business angels and state grant specialists thanks to our Financing Round Table and the Business Angel Academy of EAE Investor. They will have access to legal guidance and mentoring for entrepreneurs through the Legal Entrepreneurs’ Helpdesk. On top of all this, they will benefit from the experience of tackling challenges, awards and much more in the Reward Challenges that form part of the Pyramid”.
“To sum up, EAE is a school where entrepreneurs can really feel at home”.
How about you? Are you ready to become an entrepreneur with EAE Business School?