Purdue News
Purdue News
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October 11, 2001 Business students organize symposium on entrepreneurismWEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – The leadership of Purdue University's Krannert Entrepreneurship Club has recruited big-name speakers and sponsors for an inaugural entrepreneurial symposium on campus on Saturday (10/20). Dan Carney, Krannert School MBA candidate and one of the symposium's organizers, says, "Here at Purdue we have great engineering and business schools. We want to spread and evangelize entrepreneurship at Purdue and in the community." Veneeth Iyengar, a senior in the Krannert School of Management, says, "Our goal is to attract undergraduates, graduate students, faculty and the community to this symposium. We see it as a catalyst to seed and promote entrepreneurship." The symposium is completely student-organized. The event is free and open to the public but on-line registration is required. The registration deadline is 10 a.m. Oct. 17. Corporate sponsors for the event are Baker & Daniels, Carrot Capital and Gazelle TechVentures. Purdue President Martin C. Jischke will kick off the day of discussion panels and speakers at 9 a.m. following a continental breakfast that begins at 7:45 a.m., in Stewart Center, Room 206. Keynote speakers are: – David Geliebter, founding partner of Carrot Capital, a New York venture capital firm specializing in helping college students and recent college graduates launch businesses. He will speak at 11:30 a.m. in Stewart Center, Room 206. – Purdue alumna and Harvard MBA graduate Leslie Bottorff, a partner with Onset Ventures, a venture capital firm that specializes in the medical industry. – Don Aquilano, managing director of Gazelle TechVentures, an Indianapolis high-technology-oriented venture capital firm. Bottorff and Aquilano will speak at 3 p.m. in the Krannert Drawing Room on the first floor of the Krannert Building. There also are three panel discussions with participants that include entrepreneurs and venture capitalists, many of whom are Purdue-educated; Purdue professors and administrators; attorneys and leaders in Indiana high-technology government and corporate organizations. The panel discussions to be held in Stewart Center, Room 206, are: – "Navigating a Start-up to Success." 9:15-10:30 a.m. – "Investor's Perspective: What Makes a Business Idea Fundable?" Noon to 1:15 p.m. – "The Silicon Prairie: How Will Entrepreneurial Culture Be Fostered in Indiana?" 1:30-2:45 p.m. The symposium wraps up with a social-networking gathering at Jake's Roadhouse from 6:30-8:30 p.m. "In addition to the speakers, what's appealing to students is the opportunity to make contacts and network with working entrepreneurs and venture capitalists," Iyengar said. The Entrepreneurship Club is based at the Krannert School of Management, but membership is open to all Purdue students, faculty, staff and community members. While the Entrepreneurship Club is less than one year old, the leadership has plans to make the symposium a yearly event. "We want to grow the event and make it bigger and better by attracting more students, faculty, corporate sponsors and speakers," Carney said. Purdue recently announced that an entrepreneurship center will be one of four major facilities in the $100 million Discovery Park to be built on campus. Writer: J. Michael Lillich, (765) 494-2077, mlillich@purdue.edu Sources: Dan Carney, (317) 507-6753, dcarney1@mgmt.purdue.edu Veneeth Iyengar, (765) 463-1935, viyengal@purdue.edu Related Web site: Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu
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