Case Hatch Incubator
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Factors of a Successful Pre-incubator Program: Case Hatch Incubator Suvi Lehtonen 2020 Laurea Laurea University of Applied Sciences Factors of a Successful Pre-incubator Program: Case Hatch Incubator Suvi Lehtonen Liiketalous Bachelor’s Thesis December, 2020 Laurea University of Applied Sciences Abstract Business Management Business Administration Suvi Lehtonen Factors of a Successful Pre-incubator Program: Case Hatch Incubator Year 2020 Number of pages 51 This thesis follows the yearly development of a pre-incubator program, Hatch Incubator Program, after its initial founding and pilot year in 2017 to the plan of the program in 2020. The assignment for the thesis came from Laurea Entrepreneurship Society Ry, under which the Hatch Incubator Program was founded by the author of the thesis. Purpose of the thesis was to offer the key factors and data points needed to the client of a successful pre-incubator program, for the client to continue developing an incubator program that best serves university of applied sciences students with their early-stage business ideas. The objective was to find the basic principles of a successful program and experience from the attendee’s viewpoint. The knowledge base of the thesis goes over definitions of a startup, incubation and pre- incubators and dives deeper on to why startups fail, Finnish startup ecosystem and entrepreneurial support in institutes of higher education. The thesis follows service design principles and implements the double diamond -approach of divergent and convergent thinking. Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected each year, in forms of feedback surveys, interviews, teams’ observations, benchmarking, and brainstorming. Multiple success factors were defined, including a switch in the short- and long-term goals of the program and focal point of attendee’s entrepreneurial skills instead of the development of the business served the program and its target group better. Each iteration of the double diamond process brought something important to the program and increased its quality. The result is a well-defined program capable of scaling its operations to serve more specific fields of pre-startups or more development stages of a new venture in the future. Keywords: Incubation, startup, pre-incubator, student entrepreneurship Laurea-ammattikorkeakoulu Tiivistelmä Liiketalous Tradenomi (AMK) Suvi Lehtonen Factors of a Successful Pre-incubator Program: Case Hatch Incubator Vuosi 2020 Sivumäärä 51 Tämä opinnäytetyö seuraa esihautomo-ohjelman, Hatch Incubator:n, vuosittaista kehitystä sen perustamis- ja pilottivuoden jälkeen vuodesta 2017, ohjelman suunniteltuun toteutukseen vuonna 2020. Opinnäytetyö tehtiin toimeksiantona Laurea Entrepreneurship Society Ry:lle, joka omistaa opinnäytetyön tekijän perustaman Hatch Incubator ohjelman. Opinnäytetyön tarkoituksena oli tarjota toimeksiantajalle ne avaintekijät, jotka vaikuttavat esihautomo- ohjelman onnistumiseen, jotta toimeksiantaja voi jatkaa esi-hautomo-ohjelman kehittämistä sellaiseksi, joka parhaiten palvelee ammattikorkeakoulun opiskelijoita heidän varhaisten liikeideoidensa kanssa. Opinnäytetyön tavoitteena oli löytää onnistuneen ohjelman perusperiaatteet, jotka mahdollistavat onnistuneen ohjelma kokemuksen osallistujien näkökulmasta. Opinnäytetyön tietopohjassa käydään läpi startupin, hautomotoiminnan ja esihautomoiden määritelmät ja syvennytään suomalaiseen startup-ekosysteemiin, siihen miten yrittäjyyttä voi tukea korkeakouluissa ja siihen miksi startupit niin usein epäonnistuvat. Opinnäytetyössä noudatetaan palvelunmuotoilun periaatteita ja toteutetaan käyttämällä kaksinkertaista timanttimenetelmää. Sekä laadullisia että määrällisiä tietoja kerättiin vuosittain palautekyselyjen, haastattelujen, tiimien havaintojen, vertailuanalyysin ja aivoriihien muodossa. Opinnäytetyössä tunnistettiin useita menestystekijöitä, kuten ohjelman lyhyen ja pitkän aikavälin tavoitteiden vaihtaminen. Myös ohjelman keskittyminen osallistujan yrittäjyysosaamiseen pelkän liiketoiminnan kehittämisen sijaan palveli paremmin ohjelmaa ja sen kohderyhmää. Jokainen kaksinkertaisen timantin prosessin iterointi toi ohjelmalle jotain tärkeää ja nosti sen laatua. Tuloksena on hyvin määritelty ohjelma, joka kykenee tulevaisuudessa laajentamaan toimintaansa palvellakseen tarkemmin määritettyjä toimialoja tai useampia kasvuyrittäjyyden kehitysvaiheita. Asiasanat: Esihautomo, hautomo, startup, opiskelijayrittäjyys Contents 1 Introduction ............................................................................................. 6 1.1 The purpose and the objective of the thesis ............................................. 7 1.2 Laurea Entrepreneurship Society Ry ....................................................... 7 1.3 Hatch Incubator Program .................................................................... 8 2 A Startup ................................................................................................ 9 2.1 Early Startup Development Phases ........................................................ 10 2.2 Finnish Startup Ecosystem ................................................................. 12 2.3 Why startups fail ............................................................................. 14 3 Supporting Entrepreneurship in Institutes of Higher Education ............................... 16 3.1 Incubation .................................................................................... 20 3.2 Pre-Incubation ............................................................................... 22 4 Research & development methods used in the thesis ........................................... 23 4.1 Service Design Principles and Double Diamond ......................................... 23 4.2 Data and methods used for the development double diamond process ............. 25 5 Results .................................................................................................. 27 5.1 Improvements after a successful pilot year ............................................. 27 5.2 From big changes to enabling scaling .................................................... 31 5.3 Checking the layout of a completed thesis .............................................. 34 6 Analysis of the key results and proposals for future development ............................ 36 References .................................................................................................. 40 Figures ....................................................................................................... 47 Appendices .................................................................................................. 48 6 1 Introduction In the development of innovative communities, entrepreneurship is crucial, and it is necessary to acknowledge entrepreneurship as a driving force for economic development, job creation and to the competitiveness of the society. Entrepreneurs and the startups they build have been central driving forces of economic growth around the world. Since several of these new ventures depend heavily on technological creativity, cutting-edge science and highly trained personnel, it comes as no surprise that university-linked incubators have been an essential part of the path from discovery of a concept to profitable startup for so many. Business incubation has proven to help new ventures become more successful and to boost growth and rate of survivability of the member companies. Pre-incubator does not only help students start a business, but also prepare them to learn necessary entrepreneurial skills and knowledge on running and developing their business-related topics like finances, human resource or marketing, along with and as part of their studies. This thesis follows the developed of a pre-incubator program, Hatch Incubator after its founding and pilot year in 2017 to the plan of the program in 2020. The assignment came from Laurea Entrepreneurship Society Ry, under which the program was founded by the author of the thesis in 2017. Purpose of the thesis was to offer the success factors and data points needed to the client on the foundations of a successful pre-incubator program and them to continue developing an incubator program that best serves university students with early-stage business ideas. Before the founding of the program, there was not a constructed pre-incubator program available to the target group of the client, leaving in the noticeable gap on the entrepreneurial journey offering for a student entrepreneur. The methods used in the thesis followed service design principles and implemented the double diamond -approach of divergent and convergent thinking. Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected each year, in forms of feedback surveys, interviews, teams’ observations, benchmarking, and brainstorming. Each iteration of the double diamond process brought something important to the program and increased its quality. Multiple success factors were defined, including a switch in the short- and long-term goals of the program and focal point of founder’s entrepreneurial skills instead of the development of the business served the program and its target group better. The result is a program capable of scaling its operations to serve more specific fields of pre- startups or more development stages of new ventures. 7 1.1 The purpose and the objective of the thesis The purpose of the thesis is to offer the success factors and data points needed to the client to continue developing an incubator program