Summer is often a time for jobs and internships, with some much-needed rest and relaxation mixed in. For more than 150 AU students, summer is also a time to gain invaluable exposure to the ins and outs of being a successful entrepreneur.
At the Kogod School of Business and throughout the AU community, July was a month-long celebration of entrepreneurship with the Fourth Annual Startup and Standout event which kicked off with a series of panels, workshops, and networking opportunities that brought together students, faculty, alums, and accomplished entrepreneurs to trade advice and stories from the front lines of building a successful venture.
Then, students had the chance to immediately apply what they learned in a pitch competition that ultimately saw three teams recognized (and awarded $20,000 in prize money split between the top three teams) for their ideas to drive change through original and innovative organizations.
“I hope the students come away with an excitement in their ability to solve difficult problems: to take risks and to work together to create innovative solutions to our world’s most pressing needs,” said Kogod department of management professor and assistant director of the Veloric Center for Entrepreneurship (formerly AUCI), Danielle Vogel, who helped spearhead the month’s programming.
Sponsored by the Kogod School of Business, the Veloric Center, the Center for Professionalism and Communications, and the AU Entrepreneurship Club, the entirely virtual series allowed students to participate remotely from wherever their summer travels took them.
This fourth annual entrepreneurship and innovation event kicked off with several panels featuring changemakers from the AU entrepreneurial ecosystem who returned to share lessons with current students and the next generation of changemakers.
Geoffrey Schuchardt, the AU Entrepreneurship Club president, spoke of the importance of being a self-starter—lessons he learned while founding Budget Mentor, a platform that helps researchers draft National Science Foundation budgets. Being “radically open-minded” is critical, he shared.
“In academics, typically, somebody’s telling you what you should be doing, and then you do it,” Schuchardt said. “But when you start a business, you must identify what you need to do all on your own and believe in yourself.”
Taylor Mason, Kogod ‘18, CEO and founder of Edify Consulting, preached the importance of crafting your own “attention-grabber” to stand out…—not to mention having a proposal for your services always at the ready.
“Clients are going to want to know what you provide, what your prices are, and they’re going to want to know what work you’ve done in the past,” Mason said.
Another panel underscored compelling storytelling as the key to finding entrepreneurial success.