Written by Yvonne Kloiber, Global Ambassador and Master Student. Hult Boston Class of 2017. 

Before coming to Hult, entrepreneurship did not play a role in my head. For me, it was obvious that the only plan is to study hard, get a good job and work there until the end. Having that in mind, I started my journey at Hult Boston campus excited about the coming year.

Much earlier than I anticipated, the Hult Business Challenge became a key topic in events and announcements. There are many incubators around Boston, such as Harvard or MIT, which makes the city an ideal place to start your own business. Together with my friends, I started going to off-campus events to learn more about entrepreneurship, a word that I’ve never paid much attention to all my life. The more people I met during networking events, the more fascinated and appealed I am with the idea of having my own business.
A few weeks later, I had to decide about the track for the Hult Business Challenge. Entrepreneurship Track or Corporate Challenge? While I would have chosen to work with a well-established company, I finally decided to take the risk and find a team for the entrepreneurship challenge.

“I knew that if I failed I wouldn’t regret that, but I knew the one thing I might regret is not trying.” – Jeff Bezos, Founder and CEO of Amazon

I recently read a quote from Jeff Bezos, Founder and CEO of Amazon, that went “I knew that if I failed I wouldn’t regret that, but I knew the one thing I might regret is not trying”. In my opinion, the quote describes what an entrepreneur is and how to become one.

First phase: IDEATE

“Our mentor always pushed us by asking: What annoys you in your daily life? What would you like to be done differently?”

Together with my team, and all the mentors and challenges from Hult, we started to brainstorm ideas. Our mentor always pushed us by asking “What annoys you in your daily life? What would you like to be done differently?”. One of our major concerns in the beginning of the year was booking team rooms on Campus. By talking to other people, we found out that is not necessarily an issue for the majority of students in Boston.

During the IDEATE phase, we faced this problem various times and it was not always easy to keep the motivation high. With my team, we discussed around 30 different ideas until we finally ended up with the idea that we are working on now: A waterproof spray that guarantees commuters dry clothes and shoes on a rainy/snowing day.
We came up with the idea by thinking about our own lives and daily problems, as well as something relevant that impacts a lot of people. So finally, it can be said that changing your business idea from one extreme to another, especially during the beginning of an entrepreneurial journey, is not only normal but also necessary, since the first idea rarely is the best.

In continuation of the project, we are designing a business strategy and test similar products to find the perfect solution to our problem. The journey is not easy but it is an unforgettable experience that gives me the chance to discover possibilities that I have never dreamed of before Hult.

Yvonne Kloiber is a Dual Degree student from Germany studying in the Hult Boston campus. She has a background in marketing and is passionate about international relations. She hopes to continue traveling the world after Hult and pursue a global leadership development program.

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