Tuesday night, a group of 50 aspiring student entrepreneurs gathered for Startup “Bootcamp” to prepare for the Three Day Startup event at the end of the month.
Startup Aggieland is a globally recognized program that works to provide mentoring and resources to students, faculty members and former students who are passionate and eager to make a difference through entrepreneurial work. Many students apply to participate in Three Day Startup, a 72-hour learning-by-doing workshop through Startup Aggieland that teaches the necessary skills and knowledge needed to start, manage, and maintain a business.
Kennedy Porter is a business honors sophomore who has been working with Startup Aggieland for the past year. Porter said the Three Day Startup condenses a large amount of information into a short amount of time.
“Once a semester, we teach a group of 50 young entrepreneurs how to start their businesses in three days,” Porter said. “These students will learn everything they could learn in three months about a startup within the span of 72 hours. It’s like a lock-in, but for business.”
To prepare for the workshop, students had to undergo “bootcamp” in order to meet other entrepreneurs and share their ideas with one another. According to electronic systems engineering technology junior and Startup Aggieland member Jennifer Jordan, the meet-and-greet portion of the event is essential to the success of these students because it will establish the relationships needed to effectively collaborate with one another.
“It gives them that initial condition to start helping each other,” Jordan said. “It may be awkward to originally approach someone, but this gives people the skills and abilities to work on and help other students with projects.”
Marketing freshman Mohammad Yar, who is participating in Three Day Startup for the first time, said learning the fundamentals of entrepreneurship will help him excel when starting his own business.
“For a young entrepreneur like myself who is starting my own company, this program is helpful to discover the components of starting a business,” Yar said. “I definitely plan on being an entrepreneur in the future, starting my own business, and being my own boss. I want to learn everything that goes into it first to make sure my future business won’t fail.”
Many of the events’ student coordinators have participated in Three Day Startup in the past and decided to come back and lead it. Having previously participated, Management Information Systems graduate student and Startup Aggieland leader Priyesh Rajasekaran said he has learned that entrepreneurship is all about working with one another.
“I came into here thinking it would be all about business but it’s more about working with people,” Rajasekaran said. “We are working together for three days so you really have to learn how to work with people who think differently than you.”
Rajasekaran said the program gives insight into how to start a business and offers room for growth.
“I really believe that Three Day Startup gives people a really good foundation to start a business. It teaches you how to start a business but also many other skills and I really love seeing other people grow,”Rajasekaran said
Three Day Startup will take place on March 31 through April 2. Participants will have the opportunity to pitch their final ideas at 4 p.m. on April 2. The final pitches will be open to the public.