US entrepreneurial expert gives public lecture on lean start-up methodology

On 29 October at 14:00, US entrepreneur Lawrence Wright will give a public lecture at the University of Tartu’s Faculty of Economics and Business Administration. At the lecture targeted to entrepreneurs, citizens and students, the business angel investor, entrepreneur and mentor will talk about customer development and the principles of learn start-up methodology.

According to Lawrence Wright who is visiting Estonia in the course of the US Speaker Programme, creating start-ups is one of the most amazing experiences but 90% or more of starting enterprises fail. In his opinion, the customer oriented lean start-up method is a way to avoid typical mistakes.

Wright says it is important to start by understanding your customer and defining the product which is followed by a verifiable business model with a clear roadmap of how to proceed and achieve the desired result. “This requires diligence, effort, and speed, as well as “getting out of the building” and talking to customers,” says Wright. “It is not a shallow method and if done right, it will bring significant success.”

According to Head of UT Idea Lab Maret Ahonen, the experiences of a practitioner are valuable to an already active and beginner entrepreneur. Also, students interested in entrepreneurship who are developing their business models as well as those who are still looking for their ideas can benefit from the experience shared by an expert. Entrepreneurship requires cooperation and mentors play an important part in entrepreneurial studies. Ahonen believes that in light of this, Lawrence’s visit to Tartu is a good example of cooperation relations in a situation where Estonia has decided to use the European Social Fund to intensify the development of entrepreneurial studies in general, vocational and higher education schools. Developing entrepreneurial studies means preparing innovative study materials on all levels of education.

Wright is passionate about innovating new ways to help start-ups and investors achieve success. As an entrepreneur and investor in early stage start-ups, he has led several successful companies since the 2000s.

Lawrence has an MA in international commerce and working at Russia’s top business school, he has pushed the boundaries of entrepreneurship education and demonstrated that fusing practical education with acceleration methods can deliver amazing results. Lawrence spun Startup Academy out of Skolkovo and created GVA LaunchGurus which is part of the Global Venture Alliance. Startup Academy is the most successful acceleration program in the region which has created 185 start-ups by now.

In addition to the public lecture, Lawrence will participate in the pitch session at the Buildit accelerator and at UT Idea Lab.

In order to participate in the lecture, register at http://goo.gl/forms/C7yf92nd0S

Additional information: Maret Ahonen, Head of UT Idea Lab, tel. 737 4817, e-mail: [email protected].