"Entrepreneurship" has always been one of the core of the MBA curriculum.
Finding patents, researching the market, making products, thinking about marketing, finding funds, writing Business Plan (hereinafter referred to as BP)... all have tips, so the GMBA (Global Master of Business Administration Program) of National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University has a coherent entrepreneurship courses.
The second semester of the master’s degree is teaching, and the third semester of the master’s degree is learning by doing. The students are divided into groups, complete their BP under the guidance of the teachers, and then directly attend various international entrepreneurship competitions.
How did the competition go? What's the secret behind it? D-Life, the freshly released winning team of the entrepreneurial competition, was interviewed by the editor just a few days after the competition. Let me share with you the ups and downs of the entrepreneurial competition!
The competition tested “reaction” and “integration”.
Throughout the 3 days of the competition, we repeatedly inspected the same BP from various perspectives. The most crucial abilities are actually the speed of reaction and the ability to integrate resources. After receiving the feedback from the judges, it is essential to be able to respond on the same day, offer more in-depth answers.
For example, when a judge inquired that he would like to know about the application of D-Life products in the insurance. The team immediately conducted research to prepare for addressing similar questions in the upcoming stages of the competition.
Team members said that Prof. Tang Yingzhang was almost straightforward, and many problems were predicted by him in advance (please call him Fortune-teller Tang in the future), such as related non-invasive testing, daily monitoring other products, patent control, funding sources, etc.
But, there are always some questions for which it’s currently difficult to give definitive answers. This is when we turn to the "ingenious solutions" provided by the professor, which he refers to as "canned responses." To me, this sounds like responding with a broad answer to specific questions. For instance, when asked about marketing, say that the purpose of the product is that prevention is better than cure, and to improve people’s awareness of diabetes…Don’t answer directly, so as not to push yourself into a dead end.
However, if this trick has its limits when facing persistent judges who insist on a direct answer. For example, a judge asked “ Among your team members, who has a medical background? “ D-Life answered: ” Our advisor comes from a medical background…” But the judge interrupted: “ No, I’m asking about your team members – the ones standing on the stage right now.”
Well, let’s pursue a degree in the medical department now! Just kidding!
The process of finding patents and products is tortuous.
Finding patents and developing the product was a rather convoluted journey for D-Life. Throughout the process, we attempted four or more different patents and products. However, obstacles emerged, whether due to unforeseen circumstances with potential collaborators or rejections from our advisor. In some cases, there were funding pumping in and progress towards the market preparation phase, which ultimately prevented our participation in entrepreneurship competitions. Finally, we found the current product and successfully attended the competition. It is said that post-competition, venture capitalists have approached. But hey, I can't share too many details—please feel free to ask D-Life directly for more information!
Now, I'm sure you're all curious about what the product actually is, right? Here's a brief introduction video of the product: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9xhXNgmUos
Next, let's take a chronological approach to sharing the competition journey with all of you.
The competition starts.
The competition began at the end of last year, with the online registration and submission of BP summaries taking place between Oct. 19th and Nov. 21st. On Dec. 2nd, the list of semi-finalists was announced, and the selected teams were then required to submit the complete version of their BP by Jan. 27th. However, this was also the time for final exams at National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, which meant that D-Life was essentially preparing the BP while simultaneously being plagued by final exams.
Boot Camp in Bangkok
The finals were scheduled from Feb. 11th to Feb. 13th, which coincided with the Chinese New Year holidays from the fourth to the sixth day. In order to fully concentrate on preparations, D-Life gave up their Lunar New Year vacation and flew to Bangkok for a boot camp as early as Feb. 3rd. (Special thanks to the Thai classmates from the GMBA program for generously offering their vacant rooms as accommodations; that's the advantage of pursuing a GMBA—having places to stay all around the world, who needs Airbnb?). Speaking of Bangkok, for most people, Thai milk tea brings to mind, massages, green curry, and markets. But for D-Life, it was a different story! Every morning at 9 o'clock sharp, they would gather in the coffee shop, engaging in presentation rehearsals, simulating Q&A sessions, and refining their slide decks...
Coffee, laptop, McDonald’s. D-Life’s good friends in Thailand.
On New Year's Eve, D-Life thought it would be nice to have a reunion dinner, so they headed to Bangkok's Chinatown. To their surprise, most of the shops were closed for the New Year celebration, leaving them with no options for a meal. The group had no choice but to venture to Khao San Road, known for its backpacker scene, to have dinner. And then, the following morning at 9 o'clock sharp, they gathered once again, ready to prepare for the competition.
Life in the dormitory was also centered around laptops. During this period, Professor Tang, the team's advisor, was equally busy. Every day, the team recorded video presentations and uploaded them to the Icloud for the professor to review. Once the slides were refined, Professor Tang meticulously went through every aspect of the content: titles, grammar, data, sentence structure, images. Even during preparations for their New Year's Eve dinner, D-Life asked the professor to review the latest version as soon as possible via Facebook.
Prof. Tang's Facebook post
The schedule of the competition starts.
As they moved into the accommodations provided by the organizers on Feb. 10th, the team continued their preparations for the competition. At this point, Professor Tang also arrived in Bangkok, and as soon as he touched down, he joined the team at the dormitory to work together diligently.
Prof. Tang helped D-Life for final revision once he arrived in Bangkok.
Feb. 11th Public Exhibition & Rehearsal
Morning: Booth setup, Team Briefing
Afternoon: Couching Round (A coaching team composed of Sasin Alumni and professionals from various fields, providing advice to participants.)
Evening: Opening ceremony and 99 second pitch competition
Feb. 12th Semifinals
D-Life was the first group to present their pitch (8:00 - 08:30), so they gathered at 7:00 a.m. to prepare. Following the 10-minute presentation, there was a 20-minute Q&A session. According to team members, "The judges in this round were quite challenging!" They posed more in-depth questions.
After the presentation concluded, there was no time to rest. They had to return to the booth which was set up the previous day to answer questions from various parties and gather intelligence from competitors.
After lunch, it was time for the judges’ feedback, where they provided insights and suggestions for each team's ideas. Following this, the announcement of the finalists (four teams) took place, followed by the Play-off round (losers' revival round). This meant that all teams had to immediately respond to the feedback given by the judges on that day, making prompt adjustments and improvements. There was hardly any time to rest, as the entire day was a cycle of presentation, receiving feedback, making changes, and presenting again. Every moment was tense. Finally, from the 12 teams in the Play-off round, two were selected to proceed to the finals the next day.
The final list of participants entering to the finals.
Feb. 13th Official Finals
The finals took place on the grand stage. At this point, the "strategy" of the presentation was crucial, as the emphasis shifted towards the Q&A session. The format for the finals was a 5-minute presentation followed by a 25-minute Q&A session, unlike the previous round with a 10-minute presentation. Therefore, the ability to anticipate questions had a significant impact!
In this round, the judges were the most straightforward. One judge even brought up another research paper, asserting that there's no correlation between gases and blood sugar, deeming the product useless. (Though the scope of that paper was rather limited).
Another judge directly singled out a particular team member and asked, "What is your role? Why haven't you spoken?" (Because that team member was responsible for finances and usually spoke later in the presentation). There was no attempt to be polite in addressing this. Even alumni who were watching the competition broadcast commented, "Wow, the judges are quite vicious."
After being on the stage for 30 minutes, everything finally came to an end, and finally the results were announced, and D-Life won the third place!
I don't know if it's because of working too hard these days, one of the team members fell down the stairs and was sent to the infirmary to rest. Fortunately, there was no serious problem, and could still participate in the party on the boat at night!
And that's not all... If you have further questions about D-Life or entrepreneurship competitions, please feel free to reach out! Whether you're an investor interested in connecting with D-Life, looking for consulting for entrepreneurship competitions, or have your own experiences to share, you're welcome to do so. Feel free to get in touch! ^^
The above is the detailed record from the student. There are also some articles that you may be interested in, welcome to click and read!
(1) 歪國人為什麼要念交大GMBA? (https://nctugmba.pixnet.net/blog/post/152840056)
(2) 交大GMBA，我人生的轉換點 (https://nctugmba.pixnet.net/blog/post/145026679)
(3) ICRT訪問交大GMBA教授&學生 (https://nctugmba.pixnet.net/blog/post/186733150)
(4) Globalization Seminar開箱文：Pei-fu from mamilove (https://nctugmba.pixnet.net/blog/post/182061761)
(5) 交大GMBA和ITI的畢業五年後 (https://nctugmba.pixnet.net/blog/post/182672686)
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