As the warm weather approaches, students inevitably begin to think about their summer vacations: their families, friends, the beach. However, in the IE Entrepreneurship Club we think about how we can get the absolute most out of the year.
Many of our Club members want to start their own businesses. However, some have no entrepreneurial experiences; and this lack of experience can make one feel uncertain or even fearful of undertaking an entrepreneurial adventure.
With this in mind, we decided to see if other students had similar concerns and what we saw in the results of our survey was a large number of students who were willing to sacrifice their summer holidays for a unique entrepreneurial experience.
Three weeks ago, we decided to organize the StartUp Day to offer our members and the wider IE community an opportunity to meet with entrepreneurs and allow students plenty of time to decide what to do in the summer.
Startups from the Madrid area with significant growth potential came to IE to present their ventures to students. Each startup had 3 short minutes in which to present and to explain what they do, what they expect from students and what challenge a selected student will face. (Congratulations must be offered to each startup on dealing so well with these tight restrictions!)
Students interested in a particular company were required to submit an application within two weeks of the event, following the procedures of each new venture. The reward: an internship during the four weeks of August in one of the best startups in town!! Air conditioning guaranteed :)!
The event was a resounding success. More than 80 students attended of whom many had to remain standing because there was not enough seating for everyone. We had three guests of honor: Gary Stewart from Wayra; Nast Marrero from Tetuan Valley, and Carlos Eduardo Espinal from the prestigious accelerator Seedcamp from London.
The most exciting part of the day were the companies that came to IE to present their ventures: Busuu, Neuvoo, Dust Bio Solutions, Globiles, Uspeak, Nonabox, Stone Work Solutions, Parclick and many others. Thanks to each of them for attending! We learned a great deal and are excited about the great opportunities you will be providing to IE students.
Eduardo Huarte Azpiroz - Article author and current IMBA student
The tremendous success of the event would not have been possible without the work of all Board members of the Entrepreneurship Club: Venkata Iragavarapu Manoj, our President who leaves us soon, (we will miss you!), Steven Ghoos, Darren Sabo, Augustin Amoretti, Rohan Joshi, Aditya Jain and Jay Hum. I also would like to take this opportunity to welcome Morawiak Denny to the Entrepreneurship Club.
I would also like to thank Muriel María Muñoz for being SO patient and Carmen Corrais for managing our needs to the speed of light as well as Paris L’etraz and Liz Fleming for their contribution to the event.
Hope to see you all soon at more exciting Entrepreneurship Club events.
Cheers!
Edu Huarte
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