Continuing where we left off in Entrepreneurship Unit at Aalto School of Business (ENTU)’s MNGT-A3001 Entrepreneurship course, this time we focused on the idea of “identifying value” within the context of entrepreneurship! In this session, the focus was on the tools and approaches that can help us better understand and empathize with stakeholders, looking closely at the principles of design thinking, connecting it with the Lean Startup principles and touching upon the works of scholars like Kees Dorst, Tim Brown, Tua Björklund, Eric Ries and Steve Blank.To complement these themes, focusing more onto the question of “aligning business and individual values,” I was thrilled to have Juho Makkonen from Sharetribe and Sebastian Wikström from ResQ Club joining us. Juho told us more about the steward ownership model and structure in place at Sharetribe, and how it has helped them as a business and him personally to align his personal and business ethos in a sustainable manner. We then heard from Sebastian about ResQ Club and their efforts in aligning and satisfying the different interests when serving as a two-sided marketplace, and identifying value drivers in a sustainability-focused sector too. I especially enjoyed how the two keynotes connected to one another, touched upon key elements from the course, and gave students a lot of practical perspectives into the themes of social and environmental sustainability too.Thanks, Juho and Sebastian, for joining us and also for engaging in the thought provoking panel discussions afterwards too. Next week, I’m looking forward to having Lotta Partanen from VTT LaunchPad and Tomi Erho from Aalto Innovation Services joining us and for my colleagues, Canan and Thomas, to lecture in the session too.
