ESTEEM students Thor Nagel, Kerry Egan, Nic Zenker, and Thomas Cotter have joined the IDEA Center as Entrepreneurial Leads
Four ESTEEM students have taken positions within the University of Notre Dame's IDEA Center as Entrepreneurial Leads.
Thomas Cotter, Kerry Egan, Thor Nagel, and Nic Zenker (ESTEEM Class of 2018) will be working on a team with University faculty inventors, industry experts, and IDEA Center staff, researching new technology being offered and holding customer interviews.
Nic says, "I am excited by the opportunity to work with intellectual property that has real potential to be developed into a successful business. I am eager to get hands-on experience doing customer validation, defining the value proposition of that technology."
"I am thrilled about the opportunity to witness how a technology is transformed into a product within an entrepreneurial environment," adds Thomas.
The students will work together in pairs over a 7-week timeframe, at the end of which they will present their findings to the team. This process is part of the IDEA Center's Lean Canvas Program which is described as "the first stage of transforming a technology into a product... The Lean Canvas process focuses exclusively on problem-solution fit. The program aims to fill the fundamental gap between raw idea research and a viable product."
"I am excited about the position because of the opportunity to interact with customers and learn how to take a technology to market," says Kerry.
Comments Thor, "I decided to join because I really liked working in a startup during my junior summer internship. I enjoyed interacting with a variety of people on a daily basis. It's awesome how they develop all these technologies and evaluate the markets of each of them."