Oleg Guziy, on his participation in the courses on Business Ventures and Business Planning
Oleg has participated in the course Orientation on Technopreneurship (OoT) (now Research Based Business) in Spring 2010. "I am fascinated with innovation and new technologies since I can remember. This passion led me to my master degree in Physics and then to my current PhD position in Nanoscience at TU Delft."
“Honestly speaking, I have never believed in science for science. I considered even fundamental science as something that you can’t apply at the moment, but would be applicable later, sometimes hundred years after it was discovered. So the idea to take something from the lab and bring it to the market was strengthening in time as well as my interest in hi-tech entrepreneurship. This motivation led me to do the courses on business ventures and business planning.
Usually by increasing our professional education level, we become more and more confined in our small, very specialized world. Ironically the biggest opportunities often lie on the border of two worlds, while the ability to understand different worlds properly is still lacking most of the times. The OoT courses are narrowing the gap between science/technology and the business world.
What I liked about the courses is the focus on the practical side of entrepreneurship. Well chosen and tuned cases show problems that are specific for technology based start-ups. During every lecture real entrepreneurs proved as guest speakers something we had already learned in theory: the right way to do things in business doesn’t exist. The questions from the audience ensured that the most interesting areas were covered and real life tricks shared.
The course is breaking the deterministic view of scientists on entrepreneurship and introduces a risk-based approach. This approach is taking as a granted fact that nobody can predict the future and you need to learn how to operate in a bit foggy and risky environment. In my opinion, this is a key point to move from dreaming about a company to actually starting one. During the discussion of numerous cases and writing a business plan, I’ve learned a lot about new ways to tackle problems. It is amazing how sometimes you need to start your analysis from a completely different point of view than you would guess.
It seems very likely that once upon a time I will start some venture. If this happens, quite some credit should go to the course. I have learned a lot and it was really fun to participate, since every time there was something new, interesting, unexpected and useful! I would highly recommend the course to people planning to start some technology based business. Your gained knowledge and skills will definitely save you a lot of time, resources and efforts by eliminating the probable dead-ends and ticking bombs that you might have incorporated into your venture due to lack of experience!”
Oleg Guziy participated in the Orientation on Technopreneurship courses Entrepreneurial Management and Busines Planning, now renamed resp. Research Based Business Ventures and Research Based Business Planning.