Last modified: Thursday, March 21, 2002
"Tap the Network" at IU Bloomington's Entrepreneur Day 2002
Community and students join to promote entrepreneurship
Shortly after graduation, Nick Martin was self-employed and running Joyride Snowboards, the company he started and owns. Throughout college, Martin worked to secure the $750,000 he needed to launch his dream. He will share how he managed to do this and offer advice for other aspiring entrepreneurs at Entrepreneur Day 2002 at Indiana University Bloomington.
IU alumni, students, business leaders and venture capitalists are invited to hear Martin's story and "tap the network" of entrepreneurial excitement from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. on April 5 at the IU Auditorium, 1211 East Seventh St., Bloomington, Ind.
Students and community members with entrepreneurial aspirations and venture capitalists plan to focus on how to build partnerships that can help entrepreneurs launch their ventures.
"Fostering entrepreneurial activity in Indiana is especially important right now," said Elizabeth Gatewood, director of the Johnson Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation in IU's Kelley School of Business. "Lots of bright, young talent is being educated in the community and we want to keep it here. Students can use this day to network and meet the people who have the capital, experience and knowledge that is needed to start a company."
Organizers see the forum as mutually beneficial for students and the community.
Gary Anderson, M.D., managing general partner of TL Ventures, will be the keynote speaker. TL Ventures is a national venture capital firm that focuses on information technology, communication and biotechnology industries.
Anderson will share the story of his journey from being a physician to becoming a venture capitalist. Matt Harris, chief executive officer of Village Ventures, who co-founded the firm when he was 27, will offer advice about finding and using the resources in a community to help get a business started. Village Ventures is a venture capital firm that focuses on funding companies based in college towns.
Martin, owner of Joyride Snowboards, will be on the student panel discussing his entrepreneurial experience. Scott Beal of InYourSpace Media; Carrie Lynn Stout, a business analyst with CID Equity Partners; and Matt Striebel, vice president of Dimensions Furniture, also will be on the panel.
IU student Stephanie Magley said, "Entrepreneur Day offers students an amazing opportunity to network and make contacts with people who were in their shoes only a short time ago, and can help them to understand what it takes to succeed."
Alumni also will be available to speak with students and offer advice.
"It's this networking that is most important," said Linda Williamson, president of the Bloomington Economic Development Corp. "This forum provides an optimum environment for entrepreneurs to seek out some advice and make contacts with people who can help make their plans realities."
The IU Kelley School of Business undergraduate program was ranked ninth and its entrepreneurship program was ranked 11th in the 2001 U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges Index.
The event is sponsored by the Johnson Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, the IU Kelley School of Business, the Bloomington Economic Development Corp., the Young Entrepreneurs Association and the Graduate Entrepreneur Club.
