Living Entrepreneurship Blog / Babson Entrepreneurs

SVP Week 2: From Relaxation to Iteration

By | June 4, 2019

After the relaxing holiday weekend, SVP teams returned to Boston last Tuesday for a busy week of growth and ideation which allowed them to refine their customer-product fits.

Tuesday, May 28th

Student entrepreneur Chris St. Jean ’20 discusses his venture Complement Media with Melissa Bello of Citizens Bank as part of Tuesday’s Business Model Canvas workshop.
  • SVP teams informed each other of their accomplishments since last week and their goals for the week ahead during our Team Updates at Babson Boston.
  • Using the Business Model Canvases they created during Week 1, teams participated in a Business Model Canvas Workshop, receiving feedback from experts mentors and the rest of the cohort on their ventures’ business models. Special thanks to our mentors Melissa Bello (Citizens Bank), Katie Bickford (Starry Internet), Doug Fox (Brand Fox), Amy Cassin (Citizens Bank), Will Robinson (Creative Chaos Consulting), Martin Sinozich (Startup Secrets), and Rob Stringer (Etaerc Consulting) for providing such valuable feedback to the teams.

Wednesday, May 29th

  • SVP venture and 2019 B.E.T.A. Challenge undergraduate winner Yad was on the Hot Seat at Babson Boston. Founder Debbie Cohen ‘19 sought feedback about what information she should add to her pitch deck to best showcase her product lines to potential American retail partners.
  • SVP program advisor Clynton Caines held office hours for SVP ventures.
Elia Innamorati ’20 entered the Hot Seat on Thursday to pitch her venture Porté Bags.

Thursday, May 30th

  • Elia Innamorati ‘20 and her venture Porté Bags were on the Hot Seat Thursday, receiving valuable feedback about slide content and distinguishing her pitch’s target audience.
  • SVP participant Ryan Laverty ‘20 led a round-table discussion of best networking practices for founders. Many different voices contributed to this dialogue, sharing insights based on their successes and setbacks networking in the startup sphere.
  • Say cheese! SVP teams took part in a photo shoot led by student photographer Xinyi (Annabelle) Li ‘22. Throughout the afternoon, teams took candids, group pictures, and headshots in the WeWork space and at Babson Boston.

Friday, May 31st

  • Teams participated in their first Lunch & Learn of the summer. Lunch & Learn is a signature aspect of SVP in which experts speak to the cohort about a new topic or skill each week over lunch. Our first Lunch & Learn for the summer was a session on Customer Discovery with SVP advisor Eric Braun, who taught the teams how to test elements of their business model with customers and design prototypes based on their findings. Eric also met with SVP teams later that afternoon for office hours.
    • Did you know that we live-tweet the key insights from each week’s Lunch & Learn event? Follow @babsoneship and #babsonsvp on Twitter for a glimpse into these lunches!
  • SVP team Complement Media (Alex Kennedy MBA ‘20 and Chris St. Jean ‘20) organized a customer discovery session at WeWork, receiving feedback and insights on different aspects of their venture from other SVP participants.

Saturday, June 1st

The SVP cohort and friends enjoy an afternoon of food and fun at Babson. Alisson Amaral ’21 (in turqouise) cooked Brazilian barbecue on the grill.
  • The SVP cohort not only works together in Boston, but lives together on Babson’s campus! On this sunny Saturday, SVP participant Alisson Amaral ‘21 (founder of CollegeSpot) prepared a Brazilian barbecue for the cohort.

What’s up next?

This week, SVP teams will be learning about presentation skills from Babson’s Speech Center and participating in workshops on B2B sales and WordPress. Arist and Zapp will be the next ventures to enter the Hot Seat!
To stay up to date with the latest SVP happenings in real time, be sure to follow @babsoneship on Twitter and Instagram.

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