2019 May 7-16, Isle of Wight (UK),  „Start Up Hypothesis“.

Lithuanian team’s experience in the project

There were 5 of us from Lithuania who participated in a Start Up Hypothesis project in Isle of Wight. In an informal way, we were taught multiple aspects to what is it like to be an entrepreneur and how to become one. We all agreed that the project was fully informative and productive.

The greatest experience of the project was to think and act as we were already entrepreneurs. Not only we had a chance to create a vision for our startups, but also test it, improve it in various ways, as well as ourselves, throughout the whole project. We learnt that an entrepreneur has to take full responsibility for his or her personal growth, which was the leading learning tool for us at this project. We also experienced that self-evaluation is very important for entrepreneurs in order to manage stress and other feelings on the way. For that, the leaders have often reminded us to celebrate even little achievements, so we learn to be self-motivated and never stop moving forward.

Another beautiful thing we have experienced is working close in groups with other people. Each task we did was formed in different groups, meaning, work with different people, therefore it was challenging enough to adjust to everyone in the group and follow the same vision. Nevertheless, the experience have taught us that people have different tempo and it is important to find a compromise with those whom you are working together. Not to mention, that entrepreneur is always surrounded by people in need or those, who are willing to collaborate with an idea, therefore experience on teamwork learnt at this project will definitely be applied in our future.

All in all, at this project we had an ability not only to create and share our own ideas of social startups but also test it in practice by introducing to other project participants and locals at the Isle of Wight. By doing that, we also found out many examples and new ideas for social activities which we are willing to apply in our own country.

Thank you for such a great experience to you all,

Monika, Donatas, Artūras, Danielius and Laurynas