When I first started this course, I wasn’t necessarily thinking about becoming a founder or starting my own company. My main focus was more on applying what I was learning to my current job and improving my skills in a professional context. Entrepreneurship felt interesting, but also a bit distant something for people who already had strong ideas and a clear direction.
However, as I’ve progressed through my studies, not only in this course but across other courses as well, something has started to shift. The more I’ve been exposed to different ways of thinking about innovation, problem-solving, and value creation, the more natural it has become to see opportunities instead of just tasks. Through learning about how startup ideas are formed and how to evaluate them, I’ve started to notice ideas of my own. Not one perfect idea, but several small ones that I could genuinely imagine developing further. That alone feels like a big change from where I was at the beginning.
What makes this particularly valuable to me is how it has changed my overall mindset. I used to believe that startup ideas had to be big, unique, and fully formed from the start. But as I’ve progressed through the program, I’ve come to understand that ideas often begin much smaller and evolve over time. They grow through testing, reflection, and continuous development. This way of thinking has made the idea of starting something feel much more realistic and less intimidating.
I’ve also noticed that many of the ideas that have come to me are directly connected to my own experiences things that feel inefficient, unclear, or unnecessarily complicated in my daily work or life. Before, I would probably just move past those moments without thinking much about them. Now, I pay attention. I reflect on them. And sometimes I catch myself thinking, “this could actually be something.” That shift in awareness has been one of the most valuable outcomes of my studies so far.
At the same time, I can clearly connect this to my background in product design. In that program, there was a strong emphasis on the process and on developing a meaningful concept. You weren’t just creating something for the sake of it the idea had to matter to you. As I’ve progressed through this entrepreneurship-focused learning, I see how relevant that mindset is in a startup context. It’s not just about identifying any opportunity, but about working on something that feels meaningful and worth investing time and energy into over a longer period.
Another important realization for me is that I no longer feel the need to have everything figured out from the beginning. Earlier in my studies, I think I was more focused on having clear answers and structured plans. Now, I’m more comfortable with uncertainty. I see value in starting with something that is simply “good enough” and allowing it to evolve. This shift has made the idea of exploring startup opportunities feel much more approachable.
I also find it interesting that the ideas I’ve had didn’t come from sitting down and trying to force creativity. They appeared more naturally, often in connection with projects, discussions, or reflections from different courses. This shows me that learning itself can be a source of ideas, especially when you actively engage with it and connect it to your own experiences.
At this point, I’m still not fully committed to starting a company, but I am much more open to the possibility than I was at the beginning of my studies. The fact that I now have a few ideas that I could see myself working on feels like a meaningful step. For me, the value of this topic is not that it gave me a single clear direction, but that it helped me develop a new way of thinking one where ideas feel more accessible, more personal, and more connected to my own journey.
