Blog

Merlin Project organized the Accelerate 2022

In April 2022, I have had the opportunity to organize an entrepreneurship conference at my university, HHL Graduate School of Management in Leipzig. The event has been a huge success. We raised a total amount of 45.000 EUR and had a great 2-days together with 38 speakers, 15 sponsors and over 300 participants online and on site in Leipzig. The conference revolved around the topic “Shaping a better tomorrow” and attracted students, investors, startups and corporates to join us in Leipzig.

Gartner Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends for 2020

Every year the research and consulting company Gartner publishes studies regarding today's most relevant technologies. The study's objective is to provide a compact overview of which trends already exist and what the next steps of development will look like. The trends for 2020 are collected under the theme: "people-centric smart spaces". These are technologies that will significantly change our behaviour and our living space. Such changes will also serve as the basis for disruptions in the business context over the next 5-10 years. Accordingly, we do not only look at current trends out of curiosity, but also try to align the strategic development of Merlin Project with these trends. In the following, the trends for 2020 are briefly presented and broken down to their essence.

Storytelling for Project Managers – A Summary of “Made to Stick”

Picture this scene: It's evening in Hamburg. A man walks into a hotel bar during his business trip. He enters the bar which was next to the reception, walks beside other people enjoying their after-work drinks and sits down on an empty bar stool for one or two drinks before calling it a day. After a few minutes, a woman sits down next to him, smiles and askes if she could buy him the next drink. Feeling flattered, he agrees after insisting that the next round will be on him though. When the drinks come in, he takes a sip and … well that’s all he can remember after that. As he wakes up, he finds himself in a bath tub filled with ice. He can hardly move. His stomach hurts as if he had just gotten into a massive fight. Next to him, a post-it and a telephone. The hand-written note says: Don’t move, call the police. The man starts panicking. He calls the police to state his situation, still being completely unsure about what has happened. After stating what he did knew, the officer tells him: “Sir, please move your hand slowly to the back of your neck and tell me if there is a tube behind you.” Nervously the man reaches behind himself. The officer was right. “It is very important that you try to remain as calm as possible. We send an ambulance to the hotel. You seem to have fallen victim of a criminal organization focusing on organ theft. Don’t move, we will be there as fast as possible!”

The Business Model Canvas

In two previous articles, the subject of executive summaries has already been discussed in more detail. It was mentioned that business plans are also often presented in a clear and comprehensive form. A well-known example of how to present your business model quickly and easily is the business model Canvas.

What Project Managers Can Learn from Pixar

A Book Review on

Toys who were magically brought to life, a rat cooking in a French restaurant and monsters that scare children for a living. In their movies, Pixar has introduced the world to a plethora of creative characters. While keeping an extraordinary level of creativity, the company does not lack in terms of financial success either. Its most recent animation film, Incredibles 2, sold more tickets in the first week than any animation film has ever before. No other company in the film industry has even come close to the same level of constant success that Pixar, as a part of the Walt Disney Animation Studios, is having since the release of Toy Story in 1995.