Jumbo Cafe – Innovating with Impact Series, Fall 2021

You are passionate and you want to make a difference, but you have not worked on innovation and entrepreneurship projects before. Where do you begin?

If this sounds like you, the Jumbo Cafe workshops can help. These one-hour virtual workshops take the essence of our introductory course, “Creativity, Innovation and Entrepreneurial Thinking”, and boil it down into just five workshops that give you the framework and skills to find problems worth solving, understand the customer, build the right solution and drive adoption.

Sign up for the topics that interest you, meet fellow entrepreneurs, and learn practical skills that will help you with the Ideas Competition and beyond.

Please note that instructors are subject to change.

September 22 • 12pm • Choosing a problem worth solving

Instructor: Elaine Chen, Cummings Professor of the Practice of Entrepreneurship, Director, Derby Entrepreneurship Center

You are passionate about making a difference in the world – but there are so many problems you could solve. Which problem should you start with? How do you find your passion? Join Professor Elaine Chen, Director of Derby Entrepreneurship Center, in a fast-paced ideation session to find problems worth solving. We will use problem prompts to guide you through a brainstorming session to come up with problems worth solving, and give you tools to choose one to start with. You will also learn to use a virtual whiteboarding tool to facilitate your own brainstorming process and collaborate with others in real time. Open to all.

October 6 • 12pm • Understanding the problem

Instructor: Karen Donoghue, Founder & Principal, Humanlogic

Join Tufts alumna Karen Donoghue and Founder & Principal, Humanlogic, to learn how to develop a great problem statement and build knowledge about the end users who have this problem, so that you can create the right solution for the right customer.

October 13 • 12pm • Building the right solution

Instructor: Elaine Chen, Cummings Professor of the Practice of Entrepreneurship, Director, Derby Entrepreneurship Center

Guest Speaker: Sanna Gaspard, Ph.D., CoFounder & CEO, Rubitection

Professor Elaine Chen, Director of the Derby Entrepreneurship Center at Tufts, will be joined by Sanna Gaspard, Ph.D., CoFounder & CEO of Rubitection in an interactive workshop on how to build the right solution that solves the right problems for your target customers. We will cover how to describe your solution concept so it speaks to your customers, how to think about your competitive advantage and how to position your solution so it is different and better than the alternative. We will use Sanna’s company, Rubitection, a medical devices company, as a case study to see how these frameworks and skills apply in real life.

Date TBD• Driving user adoption

Instructor: Alex Zorniger, A15, VP Business Development, Power to Hydrogen

Defining the problem and coming up with a solution is only the beginning. The solution has no impact unless it is launched, deployed and adopted by your user. Join Tufts alumni and seasoned marketing and sales expert, Alex Zorniger, VP Business Development at Power to Hydrogen, to learn how startups and small businesses get the word out and drive adoption with limited budget and resources.

October 27 • 12pm • Pitching with Passion (In person/hybrid)

Instructor: Idicula Mathew, Co-Founder & CEO, Hera Health Solutions

To build a successful new project or venture, you need to be able to present it in a compelling manner to convey your passion and convince your audience to respond to your call to action – whether it is to join your team, become your mentor or advisor, work with you as a business partner, or to support you with funding. Join Idicula Mathew, Co-Founder & CEO of Hera Health Solutions to learn storytelling and public speaking skills that will help you deliver a winning pitch.

This event will be held in person/hybrid in Room 201 at Lincoln Filene Hall on the Tufts University Medford Campus and also over Zoom.