On Nov. 5, Syracuse University’s Entrepreneurship Club experienced the Harvard Business School’s one-day entrepreneurship conference, SPARK, once again. This time, it was even better than before. Over 40 members of the club were given the opportunity to attend. They gained entrepreneurial knowledge from listening to Luke Sherwin, chief creative officer and co-founder of Casper, to Ryan Williams, the CEO and co-founder of Cadre. Syracuse students had a strong presence at the conference, as they had a multitude of questions and input at each event. They networked with experienced businessmen, such as David Fialkow, managing director of General Catalyst, Co-CEOs and Co-Founders of Catalyst Pat Petitti and Rob Biederman and Eric Marcotulli, the co-founder and CEO of Elysium Health.
The day began with a pitch competition from aspiring entrepreneurs looking for funding for their potential start-ups. The winner of this competition, Flare, which is centered around providing women with a fashionable way to discreetly protect themselves by sending out a subtle alert and/or message when they feel they are in danger. The rest of the day was filled with hour-long sessions where speakers shared their knowledge in their various fields of expertise. The lessons included how to fund your own company, how to build a retail brand, how to start your business after an MBA, how to win as a part-time entrepreneur and start-up lessons from Hubspot’s zero to $100million journey.
The day came to an end with a networking event, where all in attendance were invited to mingle and gain insight from one another. This was also an opportunity for some to find potential business partners, internships and any other benefits one had to offer another.
The Syracuse University Entrepreneurship Club meets Monday nights at 8 p.m. in Whitman 007. For more information, contact Xinye Zou or Flanagan Brown at xizou@syr.edu and flbrown@syr.edu.
Flanagan Brown is currently a sophomore at Syracuse University. She is majoring in finance and marketing in the Martin J. Whitman School of Management. She is the director of programming for Entrepreneurship Club, a member of the club lacrosse team, a peer mentor for the Whitman IMPRESS Program and she is involved in both a professional fraternity and social sorority here on campus.
- Syracuse University’s E-Club Attends Harvard’s SPARK Entrepreneurship Conference - November 18, 2016