This September, the Ryerson Capstone Course for Entrepreneurship and the Ted Rogers School of Management (TRSM) is piloting a new project providing business development assistance to seven Digital Media Zone startups: ARB Labs, HitSend, Kytephone, Mejuri, Smartslips, Spenz and Unhaggle.
The Entrepreneurship course pairs fourth-year students who will apply the Lean Startup methodology to the aforementioned startups, assisting them with market development, customer and business development, customer acquisition and revenue generation. The student teams dedicate upwards of 1,500 hours to their chosen startup, with each company receiving more than $25,000 worth of consulting expertise. Additionally, an experienced entrepreneur with specific domain knowledge will help mentor each student team. The result will be mutually beneficial for students, who gain real-world experience, and startups, that receive valuable business insights.
Sean Wise, professor, Entrepreneurship and Strategy Department at TRSM, is leading the initiative. This pilot project represents another great experiential learning opportunity for students. The Lean Startup created at Stanford, Columbia and the University of California, provides a scientific approach to managing startups. It delivers a desired product to customers’ hands faster using a principled approach to new product development: Build, Measure, Learn – Feedback.
We?re very excited to see the results of such an exciting collaboration between the Ted Rogers School of Management and the Digital Media Zone!