EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Millions of euros and thousands of innovative ideas that could potentially create positive change in various aspects of our lives are lost in Austria each year. Although 90% out of the 60,000 students enrolled in business and administration in Austria indicate to be interested in founding, most of them end up not doing so. Through profound research and market analysis, we have not only identified the roots of this problem, but we also designed an ideal solution to tackle the issue: Planeo, a digital platform which can be accessed 24/7 and facilitates founding for users by guiding them through the founding process step-by-step in a gamified way.

Goal

The ultimate goal was to find out what hinders business students in Austria, who would be interested in founding, from putting their ideas into action. With this information, it was aimed to design an ideal solution tackling all the identified pain points which should lead to an increased rate of founding for the target group in the long-term.

Methodology

In order to find out what prevents students from founding a business, in-depth research was conducted. By screening existing literature, conducting 13 customer discovery interviews, and doing a survey with 101 responses from people within the target group, crucial information on the customer, the market, and current trends could be obtained. The creation of a landing page and a prototype version enabled a more realistic and practical evaluation of the solution concept.

Results

The conducted research and analysis revealed that the main reasons why business students in Austria don’t put their ideas into action are lack of time, financial means, knowledge, as well as motivation and discipline. With Planeo, an ideal solution to tackle all of these pain points and to facilitate founding was designed. A digital platform, which can be accessed 24/7 from anywhere, guides users through the founding process step-by-step. At each step, relevant information is presented in a compiled and condensed way. Moreover, the platform fosters users’ motivation and discipline through networking, coaching, as well as gamification elements. To facilitate the financing aspect, the platform enables users to be matched and connected with suitable investors.

Cooperation Partner

• Planeo
  bit.ly/PlaneoTD

Contact Person

• Sabrina Freund
  sabrina.freund@s.wu.ac.at
  +43 676 430 85 62
  
  Hodei Garcia Senosiain
  hodei.garcia.senosiain@s.wu.ac.at
  +34 634 564 621
  
  Yiaoyiao Zheng
  yiaoyiao.zheng@s.wu.ac.at
  +43 6645305017

Student Team

• Sabrina Freund
  Hodei S. Garcia
  Yiaoyiao Zheng

Project Manager

• Peter Keinz

• Shtefi Mladenovska