YesDelft Launch event for startups

During the 1.2.LAUNCH event on April 9 and 16, participants will get a get a two-day crash-course in how to create a startup. “At past events”, said LaunchLab Manager, Elsbeth Geukers, “we’ve noticed that participants are very technology driven – so inventors, engineers, and people who like to make stuff – but they don’t actually look at market to see what potential customers want.”

So the 48-hour 1.2.LAUNCH event enables PhD candidates, post-graduates and even professors to create a startup whilst being coached by professionals from science, business, engineering and design. “We encourage participants to make a business model for their own ideas”, explained Geukers. “Then they make a start with customer validation, so learning how to interview people, what questions to ask, and how to get that information on the table to help them figure out if their business model matches the markets.”

This will be the fourth time that YesDelft, which is a collaboration between TU Delft, TNO (the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Research) and the Gemeente Delft, has organised a 1.2.LAUNCH event. “Each time”, said Geukers, “we saw people transform; take off their engineering glasses and start looking at things from the customers’ perspective – that’s a nice thing to see. And what I also like to do is to make teams, so put people with ideas together with people interested in entrepreneurship and who are looking for ideas; that’s fun.”