Photo | Eric Casey
Attendees listen to a pitch from student entrepreneurs.
3 hours ago
Student entrepreneurs received startup advice, funding at Marlborough summit
Photo | Eric Casey
Students interested in entrepreneurship heard from experts in the field at the NEXTGEN USA summit.
The entrepreneurs of tomorrow had a chance to hear from experts in the field and compete for $1,000 in funding for their own startup ideas in a student-led conference held at the New England Innovation Academy in Marlborough.
The NEXTGEN USA student entrepreneurship conference on March 2 presented students with the chance to hear from experts in the startup and venture capital spaces. Raymond Chang, an adjunct professor and lecturer in entrepreneurship at Yale University and Babson College in Wellesley who co-founded NEIA, said during a panel discussion students looking to get rich quick from a startup are starting in the wrong place.
“There’s faster ways to make money,” Chang said. “In fact, you have to understand how many startups fail. It’s not easy.”
Chang told attendees it’s important to be realistic about the potential pitfalls or risks associated with their prospective startup’s business plan and be willing to discuss said risks with potential investors.
“One of the biggest questions I always ask founders is ‘What could go wrong?’” he said. “If they haven’t really thought through that, that’s the wrong place to start.”
Maia Ervin, marketing director at United Talent Agency in New York City, who moved into that role after her startup JUV Consulting was bought by UTA in February 2024, told students integrity is a key aspect of being a successful entrepreneur.
“If you're going to have a business and it's going to serve a purpose, you have to ensure that throughout the investing process that you're still maintaining that purpose, whatever that purpose is,” Ervin said.
The panel discussion was followed by a pitch competition, which featured NEIA students competing for two separate prizes, with one $500 prize being awarded by judges and the other $500 prize being awarded by the audience.
The audience award went to PillPal, an automated pill dispenser designed by NEIA students Adalynne Mertz and Amaia Mertz to help users manage their medications.
The judges awarded their prize to SmartHeal, an app which uses AI and other technology to identify wounds in an attempt to reduce the need for immediate medical consultation. The concept for SmartHeal was created by students Riya Kanury, Alina Falcao, Trisha Munshi, Arya Patel, and Aanya Shetty.
NEXTGEN USA is a student-led effort, spearheaded by NEIA 12th grader Langston Reid and fellow conference co-founder and student Owen O’Brien, along with a team of other student volunteers.
Reid, who has been accepted to Northeastern University in Boston but is still weighing his collegiate options, said the conference was inspired by the desire to connect with other students passionate about entrepreneurship.
“I was trying to find students who thought like me were passionate about the same stuff,” Reid said. “At some point, I figured out that there's another way to do that. That was the idea behind the summit.”
Reid thanked NEIA for supporting the summit from its inception.
“You can have an incredible initiative, but without the space to actually hear about it and learn about it, it’s nothing,” he said. “They provided a huge support by giving us the entire facilities, helping us receive sponsorship and helping us find guest speakers.”
Reid and others are already working on a succession plan for NEXTGEN, assuring the summit continues to grow in the future. In fact, the summit is already expanding internationally, with a summit planned for Costa Rica to be held on Tuesday.
Eric Casey is the managing editor at Worcester Business Journal, who primarily covers the manufacturing and real estate industries.
WBJ Web Partners
Most Recent
Most Recent
0 Comments