As decided by our 16 Dragons’ Den judges last Friday, our two teams representing London at the Young Enterprise National Final on May 15th are Ferox and 42, and so Team London are:
Janet Barthet, Maximus Klotter, Nobuntu Dubazana, Roman Sevostyanov (team Ferox), and Anna Neher, Ivo Bochenski, Anca Nicolaescu, Ray Butchart-Kuhlmann and Stine Iversen (team 42). Hip hip hooray for our teams!!!! 
Big congratulations to ALL 9 teams for fantastic pitches and enthusiasm on the day! The feedback from the judges and from the external examiner is: ‘This is the highest standard we’ve seen to date’. You should all be very proud of yourselves – we are very proud of all of you!!
And finally, Thank You, my dearest troops… you know what I mean.
As you know, our final trade fair and business showcase is THIS THURSDAY (in the Atrium of the New Business School), as part of the Celebrate Enterprise event organised by Kingston Entrepreneurship.
CELEBRATE ENTERPRISE EVENT
THURSDAY 9 MAY 16:00 – 19:00
The New Business School Atrium + Room 026
Here is the plan for the day:
–> 15:15 – 15:30 Arrive, choose a table
–> 15:30 – 16:00 Set up your trade stand
–> 16:00 – 17:00 Showcase, selling + judges making their rounds to select the Best Trade Stand, Best Sales Team, and Best Product – you know what to do! 
–> 17:00 – 18:00 Celebrate Enterprise event (awards time!!) (student helpers will be looking after your trade stands whilst you are in the room 026 for the awards)
–> 18:00 – 19:00 Food, Wine and Networking – Return to your trade stands and talk with visitors about your businesses/learning/experience/the journey
–> 19:00 or so – Pack up and leave
Please note: This event is compulsory for all.
See you all on Thursday!
Your Dragons’ Den is this Friday!
FRIDAY, 3rd May, Kingston Business School, KINGSTON HILL, 14:45 – 18:00
Your job this week is to use all the feedback you received last week in your Mock Dragons’ Den to improve your presentations – just like you’ve been improving your products the whole year…it’s what startups do!
The most important feedback from judges last week was – IMPROVE YOUR STORIES. Please spend some time thinking how to tell the story of your startup in an engaging way, and so that all your major learning points get heard. All the challenges you encountered along the way are what makes your story unique and worth hearing…
If you changed your product because you spent time in product development and learnt it could not be done on the budget you had – say it! If you didn’t get to the market in time because you had to change your manufacturer 10 times – say it!
There is no such thing as ‘keeping it quiet’ for a startup. Startups are interesting and unique because they all experience unique learning curves.
The questions on the brief and judges’ marking sheet are there to guide you, but your job is to find an interesting and emphatic way of explaining it all.
Remember – good storytelling can make the difference between acceptance or rejection of your presentation (idea, business…). When people can connect emotionally to you and your business, you are more likely to have them on your side.
So, your report is the written record of your startup, and your presentation is the more interesting and engaging version of your report. It may look good on paper, but it won’t sound good if you just recite it to the judges. No one talks like that… How would you tell the story of your startup to someone in a bar? –> You’d try to make it interesting, and you’d be so eager to tell them about all the hurdles. If it helps, use that kind of thinking for your storytelling.
IMPORTANT INFO:
–> PRESENTATIONS: will be acceesed from my Dropbox on the day, and must be sent to me via Dropbox by 21:00 on THURSDAY (just send me the link, please). This is to make sure you get a good sleep that night (!!), and to avoid any tech issues on the day as we are on a very tight schedule.
–> REPORTS: FRIDAY DEADLINE: submit 1 digital copy to me ONLINE via TurnitIn by 14:00 FRIDAY + 1 hard copy to judges in the Dragons’ Den.
–> ALL teams have TWO time slots they must attend on Friday (schedule below). The second time slot for ALL teams is 17:00 in Room 026 (Lecture Theatre, ground floor). This second session is for the Young Enterprise competition, where judges will nominate teams to go into the Final Pitching round. If selected, your team will need to deliver your 2-3 minute elevator pitch in front of all the judges. You will find out who is selected at 17:00 in Room 026. From there, two teams will be chosen to represent Kingston University at the Young Enterprise Final on 15 May.
–> The first teams must be in front of their allocated rooms by 14:45.
–> AND: Be enthusiastic, show images, dress the part, bring your product (bring whatever you want to, including your fridge if that makes sense!!!) and get to the point. Be interesting and engaging – be the best you can be!
SCHEDULE:
There will be 4 pods/panels running in 4 rooms on the day.
A member of the teaching team will be in every room.
All sessions will be recorded.
Please show respect for your classmates who are fighting for their marks in the Den by keeping quiet in corridors/in front of rooms. Thank you.
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|
ROOM 106 |
ROOM 107 |
ROOM 324 |
ROOM 334 |
15:00 |
I Like It |
Entrepower |
Blue Glimpse |
QB |
15:20 |
Mehndi Gifts |
Augtober |
Hiccups |
Easthetic |
15:40 |
Maliwan |
MICKE |
Button |
Aiis |
16:00 |
Piczel |
Mendeaziies |
Ferox |
42 |
16:20 |
Bridge |
VIPE |
Navigators |
|
16:40 |
JUDGES DECIDE ON A WINNER FROM EACH POD |
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17:00 |
ALL TEAMS and JUDGES in ROOM 0264 POD WINNERS PITCH AGAIN TO THE ENTIRE 4 PANELS OF JUDGES |
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17:45 |
TWO WINNERS GOING TO THE YE FINAL ANNOUNCED |
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Your Mock Dragons Den is this Friday. Not quite the D-Day, but a Mock D-Day!
We will be at the Innoversity, Knights Park Campus, usual MACE time 14:00 – 17:00.
The purpose of the Mock Dragons’ Den session this Friday is to give you feedback on your reports and presentations in preparation for the Final Dragons’ Den next week. We will use the real marking sheets and the feedback you get from judges will be real so that you can take that feedback and polish your presentations for next week.
Please note: this session is compulsory for all.
Here is how things are going to work on the day:
–> Each team has 5-8 minutes for their presentation + 10 minutes for questions and feedback from our 3 judges.
–> ALL presentation will be accessed from my Dropbox on the day to keep us on the schedule, to avoid logging in/out and any tech problems. I will also bring a backup in case of any problems with Internet access .
–> ALL teams must send me a Dropbox link to their presentation by 22:00 THURSDAY. This will be your final version, and no changes can be made on Friday.
–> Please take note of the schedule below. You only need to attend your presentation slot. If you miss your slot, you miss your opportunity to present and to get feedback.
–> Be enthusiastic, show images, dress the part, bring your product (bring whatever you want to, including your fridge if that makes sense!!!) and get to the point. Be interesting and engaging – be the best you can be!
And here is the schedule of presentations:
14:00 Easthetic
14:20 QB
14:40 42
15:00 Navigators
15:20 Button
15:40 Ferox
16:00 Hiccups
16:20 Aiis
16:40 Blue Glimpse
A word of advice: Our 3 judges will be listening to 9 presentations in 3 hours, so let’s make them remember MACE with a smile –> they’ll be talking about how they spent their Friday afternoon to people they see after you that evening/weekend/next week! You only get one chance to impress!
Hello and welcome back! I hope you all enjoyed your holidays despite all the work.
We’re back in action, and we only have a few weeks left until the end of the module. Here is the plan of action for the next 4 weeks:
NEXT FRIDAY, April 26th, INNOVERSITY, Knights Park Campus, 14:00 – 17:00
MOCK DRAGONS’ DEN
You will present in a Mock Dragons’ Den to judges. Your reports and your presentations need to be ready for this event. You will take the feedback received from the judges to polish your reports and presentations for the Final Dragons’ Den. Please treat this session as serious business!
You will have 5-8 minutes for your presentation, and another 10 minutes for questions from the judges and to receive feedback. Please use the template I gave you for your presentations, and do not change the order.
Switching the order around will confuse the judges, as well as using different labels to the ones in bold on the template. If you make changes, it will be difficult to mark you on each section. Please make sure you keep it simple—keep the same headings in the same order as listed on the template!
Only having one or two people from the team to give the presentation (while the others stand quietly) doesn’t work very well. Practice how you will take turns presenting different sections of your report. Make sure you involve all team members where appropriate.
Don’t look at this as a boring presentation. Be enthusiastic, show images, dress the part, bring your product and get to the point. Your ability to present your business in an interesting and knowledgeable way is an important part of being an entrepreneur.
FRIDAY, May 3rd, New Business School, Kingston Hill Campus, 15:00 – 18:00
FINAL DRAGONS’ DEN
The Final Dragons’ Den is when you submit your Final Business Reports (to judges and online), formally present what you have done with their businesses in the year you had, and when you compete for a place in the Young Enterprise Final. This year we are going to be selecting 2 teams to go to the Young Enterprise Final on May 15th from our 19 undergraduate and postgraduate YE teams.
There will be 4 panels/pods running at the same time on the day.
Every team will get 2 time slots, and the second time slot for all teams is at 17:00 in KBS026 where best teams will be presenting to all the judges for a place in the Young Enterprise Final. You must all attend both slots. All the info will be posted next week.
THURSDAY, May 9th, KBS Atrium and KBS026, KINGSTON HILL CAMPUS, 15:00 onwards
CELEBRATE ENTERPRISE EVENT and your FINAL TRADE FAIR (SHOWCASE)
Please see the blog post below for all the info and don’t forget to register on Eventbrite.
MACE12 had the amazing opportunity to meet Lord Young who is advising David Cameron and the government on entrepreneurship and start-ups (check out www.number10.gov.uk/news/lord-young-report-enterprise/ for more information and your guide to getting a fund).
He loved hearing about our course, what we are learning and how it prepares us for our working life. He also thought our business ideas were pretty cool too and has taken a Pozzy home for Lady Young and Mrs Cameron.
Here he is modelling a Pozzy and hanging out with MACE12:
(By Shruti Barton. Thank you, Shruti)
