Members of the Kogod School of Business community teamed up with other AU professionals for the Third Annual Startup and Stand Out Competition, a summer event hosted by the American University’s Center for Innovation (AUCI). The event began with panel sessions where students, alumni, and faculty entrepreneurs spoke about their post-graduation endeavors and career successes. The program culminated in the Meaningful Change Video Pitch Challenge, where students worked with Kogod faculty to pitch a new product or service that would create meaningful change in the world.
The first panel, Launching and Growing a Startup Venture, brought together five Kogod alumni who have established their own companies. The speakers included Kaben Clauson (Kogod ’13), cofounder of Pigeon Loans; Matthew Pilsbury (Kogod ’18), founder and CEO of Solidity Finance; Laura Iaffaldano (Kogod ’15), cofounder of BizLove; and Danyal Sheikh (Kogod ’17), CEO of The Dwellers Private Limited. Fellow Kogod alumna and founder of Upace, Rachel Koretsky (Kogod ’14) moderated the panel discussion.
Self-confidence, passion, and bravery were common threads in these entrepreneurs’ experiences. Whether they quit a stable job, invested their own money, or started from scratch after a failure, all the panelists agreed that their business endeavors allowed them to know themselves better and persevere.