sandpit sessions
Our Sandpit Sessions are collaborative learning opportunities enriched by invited experts. They provide a space to share knowledge, tackle challenges together, and learn from both peer experiences and expert insights. Each session focuses on a specific topic or skill, driven by your interests. After the session, stick around for drinks, snacks, brainstorming, and connecting with the community!
Fail. Solve. Grow. | 9 October 2026 - 3-5 PM
This interactive workshop explores how you handle setbacks and complex challenges as an individual and a leader. By examining a real-life personal or professional challenge, you will reflect on your leadership behavior using analytical tools from Conscious and Adaptive Leadership. The session provides practical strategies to help you master challenges, turn mistakes into growth opportunities, and build sustainable personal resilience.
- Self-Reflection: Understand how you naturally act and react in high-pressure or difficult situations.
- Resilient Leadership: Establish the foundational mindset and skills needed for a resilient, effective leadership style.
- Self-Awareness: Gain deeper insights into your personal strengths, triggers, and growth areas.
- Peer Networking: Connect, collaborate, and share experiences with fellow students in an engaging environment.
- Discover TFA: Experience the practical learning approach and development opportunities offered by TFA.
Clemens Bickel is responsible for Teach For Austria‘s presence at universities in and around Vienna. Over the past few years, he has facilitated more than 50 workshops on Conscious and Adaptive Leadership, Resilience, and Communication. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and a Master’s degree in Management. Having previously worked at Deloitte, he is now dedicated to helping people launch impactful and fulfilling careers.
No Bullshit Branding: Find Your Core Brand Identity | 20 November 2026 - 3-5 PM
Usually branding advice starts with the question: “How should this look?” But this session starts with a more important one: “Who actually are we?” Using two proven frameworks, Simon Sinek’s Golden Circle and C.G. Jung’s brand archetypes, we cut through the marketing fluff and get to the substance underneath your brand: your core purpose, your values and the personality that should run through everything you communicate. No logos, no buzzwords, just clarity you can actually build on.
- A clear „Why“ for your idea: through the Golden Circle. Why you do what you do, how and what, as the foundation for consistent messaging.
- Your brand archetype identified: understand which of Jung’s archetypes fits your brand’s personality and what that means for tone, visuals and communication
- Hands-on practice: understand branding beyond your logo and try both tools live on your own brand or venture idea, not just in theory
Finja Pfundner is a sociologist, organizational consultant and executive coach based in Vienna. She works with founders, teams, and organizations on identity, communication strategies and change, using sociological theory to build practical tools that actually work, without empty branding phrases.
From Idea to Entity: Company Formation & Fundraising Fundamentals | 14 December 2026 - 2-5 PM
This session is designed to make the early startup journey feel less overwhelming. We will discuss how to properly establish your company, walk through the key considerations for agreements with co-founders, and break down how fundraising works so you feel prepared for future growth.
By the end of the session, participants will be able to:
identify and compare different company formation options,
determine which structure best aligns with their business model and growth goals,
understand the fundamentals of startup fundraising,
recognize what investors look for, and
prepare next steps to set up their company and pursue early funding.
Felix Kernbichler specializes in corporate law, venture capital, private equity and M&A, with a particular focus on advising startups from formation through financing rounds to successful exits. He served as Chief Legal Officer at GoStudent for three years, overseeing legal affairs and more than EUR 700 million in financings, as well as acquisitions and divestments. He also founded the Startup Clinic at the University of Vienna, providing pro bono legal advice to early-stage startups, and teaches startup and venture capital courses.
Funding Opportunities with VBA, AWS & FFG | 15 January 2027 - 2-5 PM
This session provides an overview of funding opportunities offered by Vienna Business Agency (VBA), Austria Wirtschaftsservice (aws) and Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG), covering different stages from early ideas and company formation to R&D, innovation and growth.
- Understand which funding programmes are relevant to your startup and development stage.
- Learn about key eligibility criteria and funding mechanisms.
- Know where and how to get started with a funding application.
Experts from the funding agencies.
The VOA Model: Aligning teams to deliver visionary innovation | 12 February 2027 - 3-5 PM
This learning session introduces the VOA Model as a practical framework for translating an ambitious, long-term team vision into coordinated medium- and short-term action. Participants will explore how qualitative north stars—Vision, Objectives, and Achievements—can be combined with measurable targets and agile ways of working. The session also highlights how participation and the integration of management, team, and stakeholder perspectives can help teams remain motivated, focused, and adaptable while pursuing visionary innovation.
- Explain the purpose, structure, and core principles of the VOA Model.
- Distinguish between the model’s long-, medium-, and short-term north stars: Vision, Objectives, and Achievements.
- Describe how qualitative future states can be operationalised through quantitative targets such as BHAGs, key results, and acceptance criteria.
- Analyse how management, stakeholder, and team perspectives contribute to the formulation of meaningful and motivating goals.
- Apply the VOA Model to a practical team example by translating a long-term vision into medium- and short-term orientation and action.
Dr. Dr. Florian Brugger is an AI, BI, Automation, Software Development and DevOps leader at Raiffeisen-Landesbank Steiermark, the founder of Datanexus Analytics and creator of the Solidarity Barometer in collaboration with Caritas Styria. He combines extensive experience in AI and machine learning, GenAI/RAG, data analytics, automation and software engineering with a strong academic background in economics, sociology and data science. He is particularly interested in applying emerging technologies to solve complex business and societal challenges.
PAST SANDPIT SESSIONS
From Product to Pilot Customers
#ExpertLed
With Felix Günther.
1 June 2026 – 3-6 PM
Turn your product idea into real customer insights. Identify key assumptions, sharpen your target segment and use case, and develop strong interview questions that uncover customer needs, decision-making and pilot potential. You’ll also create a practical plan for reaching and engaging potential customers.
PROBLEM TREE: FINDING YOUR IMPACT FOCUS
#ExpertLed
With Laura Tietz.
13 may 2026 – 4-6 PM
In this session, hosted by the Social Impact Award (SIA), we help you channel your passion into a clear plan. Using the Problem Tree method, we will peel back the layers of the issues you care about.
OLD SCHOOL MARKETING
#ExpertLed
With Georg Conrad-Billroth.
13 april 2026 – 4-6 PM
This session highlights the strategic aspects of marketing and helps develop an understanding of the power and limitations of marketing activities. It reviews the “old school” Marketing Mix and discusses its importance today, while also explaining the product life cycle and product portfolio to show how products are managed over time.
From Spin-off to Scale-up: Scaling Readiness Lab & Key Success Components
#ExpertLed
With Petra Wolkenstein and Michael Kubiena.
6 march 2026 – 8:30-10 AM
Understand what scaling readiness really means, identify strengths and gaps, and get practical guidance to prioritise next steps and build a clear scaling roadmap.
Company Formation & Fundraising Fundamentals
#ExpertLed
With Felix Kernbichler.
23 january 2026 – 3-6PM
This session is designed to make the early startup journey feel less overwhelming. We will discuss how to properly establish your company, walk through the key considerations for agreements with co-founders, and break down how fundraising works so you feel prepared for future growth.
Work Smarter, Not Harder: Automate Your Startup in Just Minutes
#PeerLed
With Martin Leitner.
1 December 2025 – 4-6PM
Learn how to automate everyday startup operations using no-to-low-code tools. In this hands-on session, you’ll build your own workflow to save time and focus on what really matters: growing your startup.
Demand Understanding
#ExpertLed
With Felix Günther.
18 June 2026 – 5-8PM
In this session, you will learn a clear framework to understand who buys what, why, and when, and how to turn assumptions into testable hypotheses and real-world experiments. Using the Demand Canvas, you will connect your offer with real customer goals, triggers, and alternatives, so come prepared with a clear view of your customer segments, value proposition, and existing competition.
The first 10 seconds
#ExpertLed
With U-Shin Kim.
26 July 2025 – 1-3PM
In this session, U-Shin Kim shares practical techniques to overcome stage fright, sharpen your communication skills, and craft a compelling opening that captures attention instantly. Learn how to tell your story with confidence and impact from the very first moment.
Strategic Analysis in Action: Using SWOT and PESTEL
#ExpertLed
With Ardita Gjeçi.
16 May 2025 – 4-6PM
In this session, you will apply SWOT and PESTEL frameworks to analyze your business environment and strategic position. The session helps you identify internal strengths and weaknesses, assess external opportunities and threats, and translate strategic analysis into clear, actionable insights.
ORBIT by MIT
#PeerLed
With Cosmin Combos.
18 April 2025 – 4-6PM
This session introduces MIT’s Orbit platform, a central hub for entrepreneurial resources that helps founders and students explore tools, frameworks, and opportunities to support venture development.
How to validate ideas and generate revenue faster
#PeerLed
With Gabriel Sperrer.
10 February 2025 – 4-6PM
In this session, a team shares how they validated their idea and generated revenue faster by testing demand early and focusing on paying customers from the start. Participants gain insight into the concrete steps, experiments, and real decisions that helped them move quickly from concept to first sales.
MVP - Minimum Viable Product & CollaboratED
#PeerLed
With Daniela Martinez.
18 October 2024 – 4-6PM
This session showcases a team’s journey in developing their Minimum Viable Product (MVP), sharing how they approached validation, iteration, and learning through practice. Participants gain insight into real decisions, challenges, and lessons learned while building an MVP.
FAQs
The program is open to all students, existing founders, potential founders, and peers interested in entrepreneurship, societal impact, and related topics.
To attend a Sandpit Session, registration is required. You will receive a reminder the day before the session and will be asked to confirm your participation. This helps us offer available spots to people on the waiting list, as places are limited.
No prior knowledge or experience is required. The Sandpit Sessions are designed to provide insights into entrepreneurship, innovation, technology, and related topics for everyone, with or without prior exposure.
contact
Have questions about the focus sessions? Need more information about the sessions, how to register and when the next focus session will take place? Don’t hesitate to reach out—we’re here to help! Simply write a message to entrepreneurship@univie.ac.at and we will get back to you as soon as possible.