From idea to investment: students receive expert advice on how to develop start-up

During individual consultations with tutors, students discussed key aspects of how to successfully develop a start-up project. There was emphasis on how to make effective video presentations as part of the fight for entry into the semi-finals of the SPbU Start-up contest to be able to convincingly present the project to potential investors. The participants also gained a deeper insight into financial modelling to justify the economic feasibility of their business project.

The mentors, who included both representatives of academic staff at St Petersburg University, business community, heads and managers of companies, helped identify the strengths and weaknesses of the projects, determined promising areas of growth and developed promotion strategies to attract investment.

Mentoring is essential at the initial stage of a start-up’s development, said Oles Balabkin, CEO of the Career.online project and a tutor. "A project at an early stage, as a rule, has a high degree of uncertainty. A tutor with expert experience is able to conduct an objective assessment, identify potential risks and suggest ways to optimise. This enables you to cut off the unnecessary and make the necessary adjustments to make the project more relevant to the market," the project mentor emphasised during one of the meetings with the St Petersburg University team "Careerium AI".

The students are developing a platform that offers tailor-made job search and combines the best features of various services for a convenient job search, saving time and effort for job seekers. During the meeting, the project team, under the supervision of the curator, analysed the start-up’s development strategy, paying special attention to optimising the cost of attracting users and the effectiveness of marketing campaigns.

According to Aleksandra Ivanenko, the team captain and a student in "Master of Science in Research Administration (MRA)" at St Petersburg University, this format of work for young entrepreneurs is a unique opportunity to communicate with experts, receive constructive feedback and develop specific steps to improve the business idea. "Working with our curator turned out to be extremely productive. He identified those points that we had not paid attention to and helped to prioritise, determine the costs of advertising products, and highlight the life cycle of users. We also had moral support when we had some difficulties," said the master’s student, expressing gratitude to the University for the opportunity to work with the expert whose professional activity is closely related to the topic of the project.

The captain of the St Petersburg University team "Carrierium AI" is Aleksandra Ivanenko, who is building business‑processes. The team also includes students in "Master of Science in Research Administration (MRA)" at the University. Among them are: Karolina Saakian, who is developing a marketing strategy, and Anastasiia Kalinichenko, who is developing a product functioning system.

The University has created a favourable environment for generating innovative ideas and their successful implementation, and pays great attention to developing the entrepreneurial potential of students. This is confirmed by the long-term success of the SPbU Start-up contest, organised by the Endowment Fund of St Petersburg University. The contest is being held for the tenth time this year.

According to  Aleksandr Sergeev, Director of the Business Incubator at St Petersburg University, the task of the contest is not limited to a simple assessment of the submitted projects. St Petersburg University strives to provide participants with practical tools that will enable them to turn innovative ideas into viable and profitable business models. According to him, the expert support provided within the framework of SPbU Start‑up contest opens up real prospects for students to attract investment and successfully conduct entrepreneurial activities.

The main feature of the contest is its focus on practical results, i.e. developing a real business. Winners and semi-finalists receive grants to build a small innovative enterprise in cooperation with the University.

The contest involves 23 teams from different regions of Russia, ten of which were formed by students of St Petersburg University or with their participation. The selected start-ups include the following projects: the development of a space debris recognition system based on artificial intelligence; an ethical AI assistant for students; a project for a universal means of detecting anomalies in network traffic; and a remote data collection system to name just a few.

Throughout the entire stage of the contest, which ended on 16 February, the participants received qualified tutoring support aimed at preparing for the pitch‑session. For the first time in the history of the contest, following the results of the semi-final, an acceleration block will be developed at the Business Incubator at St Petersburg University, during which the contestants will be able to finalise their projects, receive additional resources, and consult with a personal mentor.