In early March, 26 entrepreneurs from 12 different startups and 7 different Circle U. universities arrived in Aarhus for the Cross InCU.bation week with the purpose of accelerating and further developing their startups.
For 5 days, participants were given specialised counselling and external mentoring, lots of pitch training, workshops and feedback from other startups. The week was characterised by lots of energy, new perspectives, strong ideas and not least valuable relationships between participants who would otherwise not have met each other.
”During the week, we worked on refining our pitch, strengthening the business model, and clarifying the values we want our company to be built on. I leave with a strong new network and many new ideas that I’m excited to continue working on in the near future”, says Sofie Vejs Rasmussen from the startup Jobvista from Kitchen at Aarhus University. Jobvista is a “blind” recruitment platform that enables recruitment without bias, and by doing so provides access to a wider and more diverse range of talent.
A week of insights and guidance
Sacha Verbeke is the founder of the startup Roomeo from UCLouvain. Roomeo makes booking places for all kinds of occasions available and frictionless, aiming for a broader audience than Airbnb Sacha says about his participation:
The level of insight and advice was simply incredible. The kind of conversations that accelerate both the founder and the startup. And beyond the startup talk, this was also a human adventure. I’m grateful for the energy, the support and the guidance we received throughout the week.
Sacha Verbeke
Strong bonds between participants
Katja Meyer from Kitchen at Aarhus University was responsible for planning the Cross InCU.bation Week activities. Apart from providing professional training and mentoring for the startups, she had a particular focus on creating a tightly bonded and well-connected cohort of participants. She is very pleased that the participants have in fact created strong ties with each other:
Community-building is an essential factor in succeeding as a startup. No startup is an island and if you are able to reach out and connect to others, you create the stepping stones of new insights you need to develop your startup
Katja Meyer
Seeing your idea through a new lens
Phelix Li Wu is from Outrun, a startup from the University of Oslo. Outrun creates a wearable lactate monitoring patch for athletes, which supports the optimisation of training. In a LinkedIn post following the Cross-InCU.bation Week, Phelix reflects on his participation and sums up his experience in this beautiful and almost poetic way:
"So how do you pursue continuous innovation? In practice, it might look like taking a step back to restructure. Thinking with a new lens. Changing the execution of ideas. This is exactly the opportunity we were granted at the Cross InCU.bation Week. So why has international exchange been crucial for this process? Because, the limitations of your own bubble only become visible when you step outside of it to meet other people."
