HHL - the Entrepreneurial Graduate School

The main goal of the business plan development seminar is to create a business idea and to develop it to a comprehensive business concept. We teach and apply creativity techniques to support the students developing their own business ideas. The students use their ideas and develop them to business concepts to assess if they are feasible for further examination. They then choose the best among it and write a business plan about it. That enables the students to explore if their idea is worth to found a business. In the final business plan lecture, they will present their business plan to an external jury which in the past existed of entrepreneurs and investment managers of venture capital firms from the region. The feedback is always very valuable to the students and is especially helpful if they really want to start a business. Spreadshirt and MySportGroup are only two examples of successful companies which first developed their ideas in the HHL business development seminar. Furthermore, we often invite guest lecturers from theory and practice to include the latest knowledge in the field.

In this course, students learn how to manage innovations with different degrees of newness and influencing factors. Therefore, we go through the innovation management process by introducing the most important aspects and mechanisms from searching to commercialization. Furthermore, the complex interactions between different market actors, technologies and organizational behavior (innovation strategies and innovative culture) will be addressed. Our innovation management lecture is based on current research results as well as their application in practice. Therefore, we attach importance to a high degree of interaction through discussions, cases and exercises during class. Students work together in groups to prepare a task on current topics of innovation research and practice, which they present during our lecture. In addition, we invite well-known and respected guests from practice, who contribute through their outstanding practical experience.

In the Entrepreneurship course, students learn concepts and tools for building new businesses, whether as a startup or in a business development position in an established company. After the course, students will:

• understand the theoretical and conceptual foundations of entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship
• be able to apply concepts of idea generation and idea spotting for business opportunities in the market place
• know how to apply tools to evaluate business ideas and business concepts to set up a new business
• know and be able to set up a new business with its main organizational units (i.e. finance, marketing, human resources
• know and be able to discuss essential key points before starting a business (i.e. strategy and structure).

The overall aim of the course thus is to develop competencies for entrepreneurial positions. In addition, students will be familiarized with the bases for further research in entrepreneurship.

• Daniel Gollmann (CEO), Gollmann Kommissioniersysteme GmbH
• Dirk Graber (CEO), Mister Spex
• Christian Hetke (CEO), Futalis GmbH
• Erik Pfannmöller (CEO), Privatesportsale GmbH
• Janes Pothoff (CEO), Futalis GmbH
• Julia Derndinger (CEO), Circus Internet GmbH
• Stefan Merker (CEO), Deutsche WetterSchutz GmbH

Student consulting projects are part of the program curriculum of our full-time programs. Ever since HHL was founded in 1898 we have placed particular emphasis on the close connection between theory and practice. In many instances field projects are run in close cooperation with industry or even with social or cultural institutions. As a result, our students are given opportunities to take part in projects in a variety of ways. Within the student consulting projects the student groups solve the real problems that companies face. In this way our students are identifying solutions that may be crucial to the success and innovative ability of the project.

Link:
Student consulting projects at HHL

HHL offers its startups and entrepreneurs the opportunity to present themselves as potential employers for internships and full-time positions. The Startup Career Fair is organized twice a year and has successfully been running for a couple of years now. Up to six companies per Career Fair can introduce their stories, business idea, experiences and career opportunities.
Presenting their business at the Startup Career Fair is free of charge for HHL startups and entrepreneurs; only the catering costs for the networking reception following the presentations have to be paid. In recent years, an increasing number of students took the chance and completed an internship, master thesis or started a full-time position at a start-up company.
Besides giving a presentation startups also have the opportunity to run a workshop with pre-selected candidates as part of the Startup Career Fair which is a great chance to meet students individually. Please note that this format is subject to a small charge.