How Does This Course Work?
Welcome at your Mobilizing PhD journey!
In the following 15 minute video, George will give you an idea of the overall course approach, the double diamond, and an high level overview of the four phases of the course:
- Discover: explore your skills, expertise and personality in relation to your entrepreneurial route and type of product or service.
- Define: use above insights to research and come to a product market fit
- Develop: create your story, value proposition and define sales and marketing channels
- Deliver: go to market including marketing and sales execution (your company is ready to sell)
After watching the video below, scroll on to the text below to learn about the practicalities of working with your mentor.
PRO TIP: click below the video to download an AUDIO ONLY version, so you can listen on the go!
***Note, if you are a MOOC participant, then please proceed to the next lesson Finding your Ikigai. If you are in the mentorship track, please continue reading below.***
How does the online course work with mentor meetings?
Within each part of the double diamond we work in 2 weekly cycles:
Week A: Sunday new lesson release so you can work on this and previous lessons at your own moment and pace.
Week B: Mentor check in session (30 min) and continue working on your plan.
Next to the pre-recorded lessons we will host a few live sessions to go into specific questions and challenges that will arise during the course and need some additional attention. You can find the full overview for the first part of the diamond here.
Key communication channel is Slack, both for group messages as the personal contact with mentor. Unless the mentor requests differently.
Mentors and their role
We have a group of 5 mentors with a diverse background both from an expertise and entrepreneurial perspective. Each of them will mentor 2 – 5 mentees. You will get a mentor assigned latest by November 10th based on your skills, challenges, type of company/service and mentor availability.
Your mentor will get in touch with you and plan the first session in the week of November 13th.
We can imagine during the journey specific questions or challenges may arise that could be good to discuss with a different mentor than your assigned one. Therefore you have 1-2 hours during the full journey to talk to other mentors. You can discuss and request this through your own mentor who will connect you to the colleague mentor.
Your role as course participant
This whole program is about you and your ambition. You are the lead of your own process and result. The content, inspiration and support will be there for you but the time and effort spend from your side will define a big part of your journey and the progress you make by the end of the program.
From experience we can say, things take longer than expected in an entrepreneurial journey so try to kick start and spend the minimum requested hours (+/- 20 per month). It is our aim to make your journey as personal as possible and there is a level of flexibility both in terms of pace and planning as well as mentor sessions. So if you know you’ll have more time available at a certain moment e.g. around December Holidays you can plan accordingly and even request your mentor to re-schedule a session or 2 sessions in 1.
We also request you to create a shared folder with your work so your mentor can review at anytime. If you need your mentor to check something specifically please request upfront of your mentor meeting or ask during the session.
As George has mentioned in his video, this is the first year of this program so we’re very keen to learn and develop together. Feel free to share and ask anything you experience or give feedback to George and myself at any point next to evaluation moments.
We’re looking forward to support you in your exciting educational journey!
#tbt Is There Life Outside of PhD?
That is what I hope is a clear overview for the content. But I would also like to share the WHY this program was started in the first place. If you haven’t seen this talk I gave in Helsinki in September 2023, then please click through below!