Starting a company can be a daunting task for a novice, especially doing it in three days. But that is exactly what the Crews Center for Entrepreneurship will assist students in doing at “3 Day Startup.”
Named after the nonprofit company from Austin, Texas, that’s hosting it, the event will take place Sept. 21-23 at the Crews Center. The deadline to sign up is Sept. 14 at 4 p.m.
“The idea of this event is for students to come up with an idea or a problem to solve, then turning that idea into a product,” said Mitchell Baker, a student at the U of M who works at the Crews Center. “And they will learn how to target customers.”
Any student from any major who is looking to get a foot in the door with an entrepreneurship is encouraged to sign up and attend, Paula Anderson, a graduate student at the U of M who also works in the Crews Center, said. Michael Hoffmeyer, director of the Crews Center, will pick entrepreneurs who will serve as both mentors and panelists for the event.
“Students will form into teams, and each team will come up with their own idzea,” Anderson said. “They will experiment their ideas and do customer discovery, which is how they will figure out if their idea is marketable.”
The workshop aims to teach students through action. Students will learn entrepreneurial skills in a hands-on environment. On the first day, there will be a facilitator for each group who will lead through brainstorming ideas, business pitches and giving feedback.
The next day, they will go over different business models. Teams will learn how to market their product or service, and they will begin reaching out to potential customers on the streets and over the phone. Mentors will guide the teams and provide feedback. On the last day, they will continue the work from the previous day. Teams will then organize their final pitches and present them to a panel.
The Crews Center previously hosted an event during the spring 2018 semester called Crews Launch, which was similar to this one. That event took place during an entire week and was hosted for students interested in getting their feet wet in the world of business. This semester marks the first event 3 Day Startup will be hosting. The event last semester brought in nearly 40 students, but Baker and Anderson said their goal was to have more students than that. There are 41 students signed up, so Baker and Anderson said they were optimistic about achieving this goal.
Paula Anderson and Mitchell Baker talk about how 3 Day Startup is set up and what they do for this event.
