Robin Wolter, International Business Administration (2020) major at Jacobs University, has been organising the Jacobs Start-up Competition (JSC) for as long as he has been here. In his first year, he served as the chair of the Sponsors committee while in his second and third year, he was one of the main organisers of the event. “It’s a great opportunity to learn about yourself and how to speak to people from different backgrounds and different nationalities. JSC also teaches you a lot of soft skills,” said Robin.
Jacobs Start-up Competition is a platform for young entrepreneurs and investors from around the world to meet and discuss their business ideas. “Participants submit their business plan and an executive summary, pitch their ideas in front of a large audience of mentors and sponsors and the best pitch takes away the 3000€ prize money. There’s also some special prizes like consulting and workshops.”
JSC is a 9-month long process and Jacobs University functions as the location for the final stage of the competition. “You put a lot of effort in for months, so watching it materialise is really inspiring.” Over the years, amongst the many things Robin has learnt from the organising process, the art of small talk specifically stands out. “I used to be really bad at small talk, but now I know how to speak to everyone, especially at events like JSC,” admitted Robin.
But organising an event that spans over 9 months isn’t a piece of cake. JSC is largely dependant on external contacts and people, meaning that communication between organisers and participants has to be top-notch. “Often, illustrating what we want as organisers is extremely difficult. Different jury members, sponsors and members have vastly different expectations from the event and fulfilling these expectations gets tough,” said Robin. “In these moments, we realise how important proper communication is.” However, this problem is fairly easy to deal with; one phone call has the potential to mitigate most communication issues. “You hear the emotion in each other’s voices and understand what both parties want.”
This year, JSC clashed with the COVID-19 outbreak. Just days before the event was supposed to commence, Jacobs University issued social distancing regulations, especially for events involving large numbers of people. What followed for Robin and the other JSC organisers were sleepless nights and multitudes of internal discussions and discussions with the university administration. But Robin couldn’t be more thankful for the 34-member organising team that helped him through the impasse. “All of them really wanted the event to happen, and they were all extremely motivated,” said Robin. Throughout the event, the organisers made sure the regulations set forth by the Robert Koch Institute and Jacobs University were observed and that things ran as smoothly as possible. “Cancellations would have resulted in very high costs for the university, and some of the teams had already arrived, so we had to shift things around and make the best out of the situation.”
The Jacobs Start-up Competition has provided Robin with immense networking opportunities and he only hopes they can come in handy in the future. “Start-ups are not entirely my field of interest, but I’d like to combine accounting and start-ups; accounting in the Start-up environment – let’s see.”
Robin, set to graduate in June 2020, is already looking forward to coming back for JSC 2021 and is excited to see what it has in store for him. “The main organisers always come back for JSC, so I’m going to as well. Might make it a tradition actually!” said Robin, grinning ear to ear.
BY USHASHI BASU (INDIA) | CLASS OF 2020
