On 20th-21st of February, I attended the Student Enterprise Conference in London. An exciting event for students who are interested in becoming entrepreneurs. It was co-organized by NACUE (National Association of College & University Entrepreneurs) and MY-WAY, a Startup Europe project with the goal to help more young adults to become successful web entrepreneurs.
It was a weekend packed full with inspiring talks, practical workshops and networking opportunities. One of the most entertaining seminars I attended was called “how to network like a boss”, with Dwain Reid. Since this workshop, I know who we have to blame for the fact that talking to strangers makes us sometimes feel a bit uncomfortable – it’s our mothers, of course! They told us that we shouldn’t talk to strangers in the first place.
Other great sessions included talks on how to pitch, with David Trayford, and how to raise money for your startup, with John Spindler. But my personal highlight of this event really were the attendees themselves!
Over 400 students from all over the UK, but also from other European countries, decided to skip partying and/or relaxing for a weekend to learn something about entrepreneurship and to meet with like-minded people. They listened carefully to the talks, took notes and asked many intelligent questions.
I personally talked to more than a handful of young students who are already working on their startup. The MY-WAY project, in which EU-Startups is one of the 10 partners, is exactly about this next generation of entrepreneurs. MY-WAY wants to empower students and young adults to be successful implementing their own ideas. The ambitious project helps them with contacts and networking possibilities, but also with access to information they need. One example is the MY-WAY map, which provides aspiring entrepreneurs with a ton of information about the key players (investors, accelerators, etc.) within their regional startup ecosystem.
Long story short: The Student Enterprise Conference in London was really exciting and I’m looking forward to the next edition.
