Building scalable empathy and care for a sustainable future

Caring about other people is the foundation of a healthy society. This journey focuses on the customers and their needs. Understanding their lives, habits, and values leads to empathy. Many students want to solve global issues and we are here to help you learn where to start and how to get going. You will discover how to research and collect data that would assist in deepening the relationship with potential customers. The internal values you have will be made visible in the impacts you have on society. 

At your service – at what cost?

Balancing technology, innovative ideas and sustainable thinking with customer needs and demands is not easy. You will learn to think of others first, without losing the common sense needed to keep a business moving forward. Between needs and financial responsibility is a feasible business model. Through negotiation and communication skills, teams will explore the principle of maximum efficiency, always searching for the most economical options that meet sustainable and ethical business expectations.

Should I optimize, pivot or focus?

In teams, you will execute a creative design process. The opportunities and dilemmas related to this process will require you to embrace methods for effective decision-making and harnessing intuition. You will build multiple prototypes and will be using them to understand problems and potential solutions. Ideation and problem solving are the foundations of a viable product or service. Deciding when to cut your ideas off, change your mind, or renew your commitment to your ideas is key to any successful startup.

Personal growth and style

You will also investigate your own ways of being and learn how to find meaning in and through your work. Psychological flexibility and resilience to criticism, failures and uncertainty are abilities that need to be developed. By implementing the concept of radical well-being, you can be a more cooperative, productive, and creative individual. You will explore what it takes to build trust and what it means to have your own entrepreneurial style.

Work in teams 

The project work is done in multinational and multidisciplinary teams, so you will be faced with new team dynamics and changing roles and responsibilities, while also finding your personal boundaries. By curating team culture, and cultivating creativity, motivation, and mutual trust within the team, you will elevate each other’s potential.

The Startup Experience way

All communication and sharing of information will be conducted on Mycourses and through email. You will be our main priority and should you want to discuss anything, feel free to reach out to teaching team, who will be your mentors and instructors throughout the course.

Course time allocation equivalent to 9 credits is 240 hours. The workload for Startup Experience is roughly 18.5 hours per week in 13 weeks, so make sure to clear your schedule and manage your time wisely. The maximum absences you can have for Startup Experience is 4 absences and for all other absences need to have doctor's notes or exempted due to military obligations. 

Workload allocation 
Lectures62 hours
Individual works~36 hours
Individual self reflection x 2 ~3h
Pre-reading ~11h
 Individual assignments x 6 ~22h
 Project works  ~142 hours
Team meeting, office hours
 ~32h 
 Project's tasks: market research, prototyping, interviewing, etc. ~85h
 Value proposition canvas and Report ~25h
TOTAL

 240 hours

Introducing the teaching team!

Mail list: Kaira Johannes" <johannes.kaira@aalto.fi>; "Tran Duy" <duy.tran@aalto.fi>; "Vo San" <san.vo@aalto.fi>



Last modified: Tuesday, 9 January 2024, 9:52 AM