William Piper: TEAM-UP is definitely a win-win event

Loov Eesti ja Startup Garage korraldatud tootearenduspäevast võttis osa ka rahvusvahelise haardega ettevõtja William Piper, kes on hetkel Eestis hõivatud projektiga loomemajanduse valdkonnas. Palusime Williamil enda vaatenurgast iseloomustada TEAM-UP ürituse kontseptsiooni.

My name is William Piper.  I am a practicing attorney, newly relocated to Estonia from Texas.  Besides a 15-year practice in law, I have over 20 years of corporate and small business experience in various capacities in three countries: Finland, Germany, and United States.  I have held positions as a chief executive officer, chief financial officer, and senior management consultant.  I served as an advisor to incubator clients in central Pennsylvania and as an acquisition and business development specialist for the State of Pennsylvania, City of Williamsport, Pennsylvania, and the government of Sweden.

I had the pleasure of participating in the innovative competition Team-Up, organized by Loov Eesti on 19 March, this year.  Local product design innovators had been invited to present their products and concepts before an assembled audience.  The grand prize sought by the participants was an award of 500 €.

During the day-long contest, I could help but admire the efforts of the participants and the mentors.  The event yielded several surprising and unique experiences.

The format was divided into three segments.  The first segment consisted of brief 5-minute presentation of the participants’ concepts and product designs.  The second segment consisted of the participants breaking into groups and assembling in what I would call a “project teams,” each team joined by one or more mentors.  The mentors brought with them their practical knowledge of being innovators in order to advise each project team in both further development of the concepts and design (brain-storming) and also assisting the project team to prepare and present a final report to the once again assembled audience.  The mentors then selected the “winner” of the competition and presented the grand prize at the end of the session.

What surprised me and makes this experience so very unique was that I believe each of the project teams were “winners” of the competition.  Although I felt that winner of the event, certainly deserved the award, the most valuable part of the competition was the project team brain-storming session.  Supposedly, the objective was the production of a final presentation report, so that session gave the budding entrepreneurs practical and feasible ideas how to take their projects further.  The topics I saw discussed during the second segment were detailed reviews of sources and resources that were largely unknown to the participants.  Listening to people who had “been there” and “done it” contained a valuable lesson.  In other words, I believe that the event culminated with a win-win situation for all those who took part in the event.

I wish to thank you for your hospitality and putting together a superb competition.  I enjoyed having the opportunity to participate.

Loe lisaks:
Kus on tuul!? TEAM-UP võidutöö, tuulemõõtja nutitelefonile, hakkab valmis saama
Loov Eesti tootearenduspäeval TEAM-UP! võitjaks osutus tuulemõõtja nutitelefonile
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