On Tuesday night, with support from NC IDEA Engage, the GrepBeat team had the privilege of hosting students interested in entrepreneurship for our inaugural “College Night.” The event took place at Boxyard RTP (specifically the Top Box over Fullsteam) and welcomed students from NC State, Duke, UNC, NC Central, Meredith College, Elon, Campbell, and the North Carolina School of Science and Math.
A DJ played (and earned rave reviews) as students arrived and received name tags denoting their respective schools, so as to fuel rivalry confrontations encourage intercollegiate mingling. Once registration was largely complete, infectiously joyous motivational speaker Larry Long took to the mics (one of which was, until somebody tells me otherwise, made of solid gold) to emcee. Larry brought the energy and served up icebreakers—such as challenging students to meet peers from other schools—to get things going.
By and large, however, this was by design a lightly programmed event. The intent was to provide space for student entrepreneurs to meet their entrepreneurial peers, exchange ideas, and forge connections with folks from around the startup ecosystem—including alumni, entrepreneurship center leaders, and local VCs.
Credit goes to the students for proving that intent worthwhile. Some 150 turned out over the course of the evening, and all of us who helped organize and oversee College Night would agree they made the most of the time. This was a terrific event for gaining exposure and forging connections, and one we’d encourage even more area student entrepreneurs to consider taking advantage of in years to come.
Special thanks again to NC IDEA Engage for its support, as well as to entrepreneurship center leaders from all of the involved schools. And a special shout to GrepBeat’s Program Manager, Melissa Crosby, for spearheading the whole thing.
If you missed the event or just want to relive the action (or look for yourself), check out these photos from College Night, courtesy of Team GrepBeat and Larry Long.
