Monday, December 24, 2012

The Startup Ecosystem

Entrepreneurs even have their own ecosystem, it may not be truly scientific, but it is interesting!


Thursday, December 20, 2012

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Social Media & Workplace Collaboration


Check out these graphics I have found! Hopefully they will provide helpful hints or entertainment; here is the link associated with the picture for more info: Social Media Graphic




Winter Break!

Dearest Readers,

I am committed to updating the blog through out our winter break, I have taken a few vacation days to get myself settled and I am ready to share some exciting posts. I am grateful for the wonderful following this blog has created this holiday season, and I hope that it will become even more active next year with reader comments and interview postings. Have a wonderful holiday season! G

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Article: Gifts Suited for Entrepreneurs

After completing some holiday shopping of my own, I came across an article on the USA Today website. "Strategies: Gifts Suited for Entrepreneurs" I was curious about the perfect gift to give a hard working entrepreneur at the holidays.

Here are a few ideas the article had to offer:
1. Cuff links with flash drives
2. Glow in the dark bicycle
3. Stainless steel food containers
4. Knowledge from books
5. Personal training sessions
6. Spa package for relaxation
7. Food and time

Here is the article link: USA Today Gifts if you all want to read about the gift details! G

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Interview: Headbands of Hope




I promised in my opening blog to share stories of entrepreneurship and student entrepreneurs from a sideline view. With that in mind, I wanted to profile Jessica Ekstrom, a senior in Communications here at NC State, this week. She is the founder and CEO of Headbands of Hope, a company creating hope for young girls with cancer. Her organization's profile seemed like the perfect fit for in-between holidays!


Jessica started as an intern at Disney where she was introduced to children from the Make-A-Wish Foundation. She immediately took an interest in the children and the organization, which lead to an internship opportunity for her during the summer of 2011. During the internship she met with children in hospitals and went on "wish trips."  Over the course of the visits she discovered young girls liked to wear headbands after losing their hair to make themselves feel girly and pretty. Jessica took this observation to heart and immediately began brainstorming how she could make a significant impact in all little girls' lives who are battling cancer. Headbands of Hope became her passion and creative form of involvement, designing and selling headbands to raise research money for childhood cancers. The name for the company described a feeling and product that Jessica wanted to pursue. Jessica wanted to meet two needs: one directly for the little girls and another for all children battling cancer. It was difficult at first when starting the company, but Jessica reached out to our campus departments to ask questions and form her business plan. She was surprised and grateful for the help and encouragement the Wolfpack was able to provide through her start-up journey. After the website was created Jessica began to promote the business's purpose--once you purchase a headband on her company's website another is simultaneously made for a little girl to receive at a participating hospital. The headbands are available online as well as in some local stores.  Jessica also manages a campus representative program across the country to spread the word. She continues to promote the business through social networking and its website.  Headbands for Hope also has plans to expand into a boys line, which will allow the current Miss. Alaska to endorse the brand as a part of her platform! The business will become a full time opportunity for Jessica after graduation in May and she cannot wait to see what other avenues are available for her business!

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Entrepreneurs Lecture Series

Monday kicked off the annual Triangle Entrepreneurship Week with an event hosted by the NC State Entrepreneurship Initiative. The event was a lecture series held at the McKimmon Center on NC State's campus.  There were three keynote speakers at the event: Grant Williard, founder of JouleBug; Jesse Lipson, VP, GM of Data Sharing at Citrix Systems, Inc.; and Gerard J. Hall, founder, president and CEO of SMT. The event was well attended and exciting. Each speaker shared their story with the attendees, made up of both students and professionals in the area. Speakers then offered additional advice in a question and answer session with the audience. The event concluded with a light appetizer social hour among booths hosted by various entrepreneurial ventures of NC State students and alumni. Near the conclusion of the event I had the pleasure of speaking with a Paul Lockett of Lockett Consulting Group. Paul and I discussed the popular debate topic of whether entrepreneurs are born or made.  Paul gave one piece of advice that was unique, "Your best memories are made when there is adrenaline pumping through your body." Soon after my discussion with Paul, I was introduced to Richard Bobholz, a new resident of the Triangle area who has takien the initiative to start his own law firm in the area, www.bobholzlaw.com. He was fresh out of law school yet determined to venture out on his own and avoid the months of aid work he would find in an established firm. I met a truly inspiring group of people at the event and I thank the speakers for sharing their insights on the world of entrepreneurship and the excitement it has to offer. Here are a few pictures from the event!







SN: Invites Andy Albright

Last Thursday night was another exciting night for the Entrepreneurship Initiative's Student Network group! Andy Albright came to speak with the students about his self discovery through entrepreneurship. Albright is an alumnus of N.C. State who sponsors the Entrepreneurs Lecture Series and serves on the Entrepreneurship Initiative Advisory Board. His company's motto is "Laugh, make money, and change lives." He utilizes the same motto in his personal life, where choosing success over settling has made a major difference. Albright came to share his no-nonsense wisdom with young entrepreneurs in attendance. "It's not about the titles, it's about courage." Albright encouraged the students to read success books and to find mentors who can help them pursue their goals.We thank Albright for sharing his time and wisdom with the group.

Visit his website at: http://www.andyalbright.com/
His company website at: http://www.nationalagentsalliance.com/

This was the best turnout at a meeting so far with 50 students in attendance, and many stayed late to network after! Be sure to follow us on twitter "@ncsuei" to keep up to date on events and words of wisdom.

Monday, November 5, 2012

SN: Invites Aaron Gerry

Thursday October 25 was another successful Student Networking meeting at the Garage! It was a great turn out full of new faces, including local Entrepreneur Aaron Gerry. Aaron came to speak to the students about his entrepreneurial path and lessons learned along the way. Aaron is the co-founder of  "StartupandPlay" which he described as a science fair for local entrepreneur's, but it is upgraded with local talent. Aaron first encountered entrepreneurship at Northeastern University, where he attended college as a Biology major. He made it clear that college was a time of change, options, and resources. Aaron encouraged the students to be bold and  daring in their time here at NC State and to reach out for inspiration or advice. "StartupandPlay" provides the opportunity for students to attend specialized events for networking opportunities. After Aaron finished his sharing his story, Sean, the Student Network President, began an activity. The activity encouraged innovation in teams of 4, 4 people who had never met before. My group was made up of an engineer, a Meredith College student, and two business majors. We were given a bag of contents and required to build the tallest tower we could with what was inside, and for the final obstacle we had to balance a marshmallow on top. This activity provided the chance for us to work in a cross-functional group to achieve one goal, following Aaron's most precise guideline. I am proud to say my team was the winning team and we were able to donate our prize to the Garage which was a book of advice provided by Aaron. It was a great event full of excitement and personality. Be sure to catch the next meeting November 8th at 6pm in the Garage!

Monday, October 29, 2012

Agile Science

Our last stop on the trip was back on Centennial Campus at Agile Science headquarters. We thought we had the wrong location originally, because we opened the office door and it was a lab room with beakers brewing, computers buzzing, and hazardous material sign warnings. Shortly after the entering the lab we were greeted by Eva Garland, the company's Vice President of Research & Development. Eva led us into a back office conference room and began providing a little background on the business. Agile Sciences is a Delaware corporation headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina. The company was founded in 2007 by Professors Christian Melander and John Cavanagh of North Carolina State University (NCSU) to provide commercial solutions to those industries plagued by the effects of biofilms. The co-founders of Agile Sciences have developed compounds that can disperse colonies of bacteria called biofilms. These compounds have applications in the areas of medicine, agriculture, and industry. This was my first experience learning about an science oriented entrepreneurial venture, yet the struggles their business had experience were very similar to any other start up. Eva explained that her main role was to be in attendance at the lab but she is also an avid grant writer. Grant writing is a popular form of funding in an industry like science, it has helped provided a significant amount of funding for their business, especially during the recession. Eva also spoke about the importance of the patent process to Agile's business and discussed the patent plaques that were located on the conference room wall. After a brief discussion the crew was separated into two groups, one stayed to chat with Eva and the other was led on a tour of the lab. The conversation in the small group was a chance for us to express concerns or questions about our specific entrepreneurial dreams. Eva was an active listener and provided great advice for those of us who spoke up.The tour group was led back into the lab by the director of its construction. The lab is the essential piece to the Agile business structure and the scientists take great pride in the planning and funding that went into its development. The crew may have not been familiar with type of research being conducted in the lab, but we were all able to identify with the pride and importance of productive surroundings that we observed. Thank you to both Eva and our lab guide for hosting us at the end of our trip!

Celito.net


Celito is a an entrepreneurial consulting company founded in 1999 by Sharat Nagaraj who is also a State Alumni. In 1999 Sharat, launched Celito with a passion for providing “desktop to the Internet” technology solutions and support services for business. Celito's continued success is driven by their desire to help clients understand their technology needs and to create solutions that can grow with their businesses. In the early years, Celito developed a speciality for assisting non-profit organizations, particularly those in the arts, and identifying ways to efficiently and effectively meet their Internet, data, telecommunication and support & service needs. We had a round table discussion in the company conference room that provided a few helpful hints like Sharat's advice for new businesses "scale it, execute it, charge for it." He also said be aware as a founder and know when to step out of the way and admit when you may be wrong; also be choosy when deciding additional co-founders in order to avoid jealously or laziness. We embarked on a tour of the facility with Sharat which gave all the engineers on the trip a thrill, especially in the data center room. Most of the engineering terms were over my head, but the business advice and organizational structure had a positive impact on me. The entire meeting from start to finish was energized and refreshing because after being in business for 13 years, Sharat still had a passion for his idea and it was shared by all of his employees as well. This was the only stop that offered up free treats for the crew as well, we all know college kids love free stuff. A big thank you to Sharat and his team for a great meeting and tour!

Empire Properties 1792

Our lunch for the tour was hosted by Empire Properties 1792 founder Greg Hatem at his restaurant Sitti in downtown Raleigh. Hatem is a local entrepreneur and fellow NC State Alumni who is devoted to redeveloping old properties in and around Raleigh. He has more than 20 years in real estate development, finance and international business culminated in 1995 when he created Empire to preserve and enhance the character of downtown Raleigh. Since forming the company, Greg has been a leader in the efforts to renew downtown through adaptive reuse of historic structures. Under his leadership, Empire Properties now owns 42 buildings with more than 600,000 square feet of office and retail space in downtown Raleigh. His Empire Eats restaurant division has given rise to fan favorites such as: The Pit, Raleigh Times Bar and the Morning Times. Hatem believes in building a community when he recreates a property and determines which tenant will occupy it. His partner Andrew Stewart was also in attendance at the lunch. Stewart joined Empire Properties in 2003, bringing with him years of experience in city planning and research, economics and analysis. He plays a key role on the leadership team, evaluating current and future projects and managing relationships with debt and equity sources. He is responsible for Empire Properties' financing strategy and asset management of the real estate portfolio. The lunch and conversation was a perfect break in our adventure.

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Fall Local Tours 2012

Today the Entrepreneurial Initiative students embark on an exciting adventure, visiting six local companies to listen to inspirational stories, advice, and explore the city in which they learn. I am attending the trip not only to learn with the other students but to be the trip story teller! Keep in touch with us all day long for updates throughout our adventure!

Longview Center/Raleigh Foundary

Picture an 1880 baptist church in downtown Raleigh, with Sunday school classrooms being transformed into entrepreneurial office's. The founder of the building has old ties to the history and founding of NC State. He shared his grandfathers passion for entrepreneurship when he was the editor of a farming magazine and Southern Living. He discussed his development ideas with us for the church space and what being an innovative thinker was all about. The big takeaways were: understand your 8 intelligences, the past has more to teach us and figure out how to climb the walls. Next Friday is an open house of the facility; there will be free food and music! Check it out online for more information!

HUB Raleigh

The HUB was the first stop along the way in downtown. It is a space designed to facilitate office space for new start up companies in the Raleigh area. It is an international idea with differences in every space. The Raleigh location prides itself on being in the university "hub" of the Triangle area. Gathering talent from the various universities to inspire entrepreneurial growth on the area. We sat it a bright open conference room with a panel of local entrepreneurs who shared their story and answered our questions. Each person had a different motive and industry. The best summary of this visit was the quote "find the balance between your big idea and the problem you are trying to solve." Thank you HUB Raleigh and all the participants!

Brooks Bell

Our second stop happened to be in the same building as the HUB. It is the main proprietor of the space and serves as a host to others. This company is the industry leader in enterprise-level A/B split testing. Their goal is to optimize a company website and optimize conversation. The space was designed around the company values with a full kitchen, nap room, and conference rooms called left and right brain! The space is meant to influence flow of people, conversation and ideas. Removing doors from office's and putting whiteboards on the walls throughout the office, inspires employees and management to pursue bigger goals.

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Fireside Chat Series #2

Monday night we embarked into the world of entrepreneurship with second Fireside Chat of the fall season! Students met with local entrepreneurs Donnie Barnes and Julie Gavaghan. Donnie told his story about the early days of Red Hat and the struggles they experienced getting the business off the ground. It was a group of men who believed in an idea, all the while being told there was nothing to come of it. Donnie also shared with us what he believes in as a modern day entrepreneur: "aha" moments. His "aha" moments essentially began in the beginning days at Red Hat. However, now the moments occur less often but he experienced them through his hobbies or reading about new ideas. He expanded his interests beyond Red Hat and made his work more well rounded. Donnie claimed "aha" moments are truly important throughout a lifetime as a student and as a working adult. Julie spoke about the beginning of her entrepreneurial career in the cleaning business. While in high-school Julie started a cleaning business which she managed all the way through college until she sold it to a national brand. The business was challenging at times, and managing people older than her was a struggle. However, Julie conquered the business and its troubles with a positive attitude and help from mentors along the way. Now, Julie is working as a developer for Keystone Corporation here in the Triangle area. Her job requires some entrepreneurial thinking, but her position on the Entrepreneurial Advisory Board is truly what keeps her connected to the mindset. Both speakers tonight are current members of the Entrepreneurial Initiative Advisory Board that meets twice a year to discuss ideas, events, and fundraising  We truly appreciated listening to both Julie and Donnie's insight this evening beside a lovely digitally provided fire. It was a relaxing way to enter the week. Stay tuned for more exciting events later in the week! G


Monday, October 22, 2012

Entrepreneurship in Action!

This week is full of exciting entrepreneurial adventures waiting to be experienced!  Monday night kicks off the week with the second Fireside Chat of the fall series.The speakers joining us will be distinguished local entrepreneurs Donnie Barnes and Julie Gavaghan. Thursday night is another Student Network Meeting with Aaron Gerry, co-founder of StartupAndPlay and all around awesome guy. Aaron is a core driver of Raleigh's young entrepreneurial community, and is more than happy to help you with advice and connections to progress your projects. Finally, Friday is the Fall Local Tour for a select group of entrepreneurship students, who will spend the day touring local start-up companies such as: Brooks Bell, HUB Raleigh, Empire 1792. Longview Center/Raleigh Foundry, Celito, Agile Sciences. This is sure to be a week of stories, inspiration and action for the NC State Entrepreneurship Initiative. Keep checking in with The STATEment for a sideline view of all the action! Have a wonderful week everyone. G


Monday, October 15, 2012

Why You Need to Tell Stories

I recently read an article on INC.com.  The title, Why You Need to Tell Stories, is what caught my interest as I scrolled through the Web site. The article talked about how using stories to describe your product helps employees, customers, and media understand how it works in the real world, not in a presentation deck. As entrepreneurs or potential entrepreneurs it is important to remember to keep the dream alive. As children we were entranced by fairy-tales, mysteries, and non-fiction stories. These stories all had their own affect on our character and beliefs about the world we live in. The article speaks about a man who runs a marketing software company, and was looking to connect on a more personal level to his business and its purpose. He discovered the best way to get his idea across to others was through storytelling. He described the ideal situation in which his software would benefit a customer and continue to change as they experienced success. His business was meant to provide others with the help they needed to be successful, and, as a result, their stories become his storytelling line up. In his opinion: "Stories work. Stories stick. Use them!"  G

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

"Never Eat Alone"

Welcome back to those students who enjoyed a much needed Fall Break! Over the break I began reading a book about success that I wanted to share with my blog readers, entitled, "Never Eat Alone" by Keith Ferrazzi. The book guides its readers to build a lifelong community of colleagues, contacts, friends and mentors; essentially, your own unique network that will bring much success along the way. As I enter my senior year at NC State I have begun to realize how critical a strategic network can be for job hunting, advice or lasting friendships for life. The book is broken down into four sections: the mind set, the skill set, turning connections into compatriots, turning up and trading back. Each section has a thoughtfully constructed message to help readers develop strength and depth in their social networks. Ferrazzi speaks to importance of the physical connection rather than the digital connection because it makes people remember you as an individual. A few intriguing quotes from the book: "Relationships are more like muscles- the more you work them the stronger they become." "Like my dad said- no one becomes an astronaut by accident." As we gear up for the holiday seasons filled with family, friends and, most likely, delicious food do not forget to add to your network in these social times, after all, "your network is considered your net worth!"  G

Monday, October 1, 2012

Unreasonably Reasonable

In order to destroy the wrath of the Joker, Gotham City called on the Batman to use his prowess to defeat the mad lunatic. In order to defeat the malicious Dr. Von Doom, the world united as one and stood behind the Fantastic Four to help them defeat the mogul millionaire. And today, in order to overcome the overbearing obstacles placed on society by corrupt politicians and war criminals, the world will look to one force and one force only to help it prevail: and that force is the Unreasonable Institute.

I had the chance to sit down with Kevin Miller, a Senior majoring in entrepreneurship at NC State as well as recent graduate of the Unreasonable Institute, over breakfast to discuss his experience at the institute. Kevin, a recipient of the Caldwell Fellow Scholarship, interned at the Institute this summer and gave me the scoop about his experience. After spending two months at the Unreasonable Institue in Boulder, Colorado this past summer, Kevin left with not only a burden on his shoulder to one day solve a major problem that the world is currently facing, but he also left with a set of skills and advice that he hopes to pass on to you, the lonesome reader. Kevin describes the 25 entrepreneurs at the institute as “religious”. He doesn’t mean the traditional definition of religious, rather he means that they stick and adhere to a “set of values” and seldom do they break from them. He says that keeps them all on the same page, and it keeps everyone “driven by the same thing”. The institute is notorious for pairing the most uncommon entrepreneurs and thinkers together in order to elicit an uncommon relationship, which ends up being a relationship like no other. Kevin urges his colleagues to just “do it”. “What experiment is more worth doing than what you really want to do” he comments as he scarfs down the last bit of his mushroom omelet. Kevin hopes to one day make guitar and camera straps out of recycled plastic bags from the streets of India.

The investors, entrepreneurs, interns, and mentors at the Unreasonable Institute may not all wear capes and have a giant “S” imprinted on their chests, but they are a dedicated group of individuals that are dedicated to changing the world as we know it. Watch out Dr. Von Doom, because the Fantastic Four was the least of your worries compared to the Unreasonable Institute.

By: Ibrahim Zafar
Kevin Millers- TEDxNCSU Talk

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Fireside Chat

The first Fireside Chat of the semester began with an engaging conversation with Waste Industries CEO Ven Poole (bottom picture) and serial entrepreneur Donnie Goins (top picture). The goal of the Fireside Chats is to provide a select group of students with a richer small group conversation with industry professionals. Ven Poole was the first speaker of the evening, sharing his path from engineering to entrepreneurship and his final role as CEO. He answered questions about future trends he foresees in the waste industry, as well as what experiences he likes and dislikes as CEO. As CEO he prefers the strategy side more than the notoriety and public speaking half. His number one tip for students was: "Find a mentor in whatever it is you choose to do." He remarked how having a sounding board for decisions or advice would benefit us in the long run. Donnie Goins shared his story through an attempt to "connect the dots" of his life. From the young age of 6 years old, selling Pringles to classmates, to his current incorporated venture; his "dots" described entrepreneurial and career experiences along the way. Goins says to remember where you came from, who you met and what you learned from your "dots." Then, he advised go share your "connection" with other people and to be able to sell yourself before an idea. The chat was an intimate conversation with two influential men from opposite sides of the track career wise. Yet, they share an affinity for entrepreneurship, mentoring, and networking. Both men are also board members for the Entrepreneurship Initiative and are dedicated to encouraging innovation! The next Fireside Chat will be October 22, 2012.


Tuesday, September 18, 2012

SNG: Social Entrepreneurship

Social Entrepreneurship was the topic of the September 13 Student Network Group meeting. The Garage was filled with new and old faces eager to discuss this complex, yet exciting topic. There were several guest speakers in attendance at the meeting: Kevin Miller, Sonia Chokshi, Keegan Guizard, Owen Jordan, Eloy Chavez, Hunter Igris and Sarah Miller. Kevin Miller started the evening with a "Rock, Paper, Scissors Showdown" activity that encouraged the participation of all members in attendance to compete until there were two final contenders and one winner. It was a great ice breaker to shake up the meeting. Miller then spoke about his internship experience at the Unreasonable Institute this past summer. He had the opportunity to live with fellow entrepreneurs and be a major part of their idea creation or implementation. He also shared some of the entrepreneurs' exciting venture ideas and successes! Sonia Chokshi came from Boston to speak about her company Kip Solutions, and challenged us to tackle whatever obstacles were holding us back from our dream jobs. Keegan Guizard spoke about his passion for skateboarding and the bad reputation that it tends to carry with it. He wants the opportunity to encourage colleges and universities to help support skating teams and keep skaters in school pursuing their education and their sport before going pro. Guizard created the club team NC Skate here at State and has begun his entrepreneurial journey. Owen Jordan spoke of his passion to help orphaned children around the world through his organization called RESQD. He explained the difficulty with creating the right entrepreneurial plan to tackle the social issue of nurturing orphaned children and inspiring their success in the world. Jordan channels his inspiration from Blake Mycoskie, creator of Toms Shoes. Eloy Chavez, spoke about his efforts to bring homemade candles from South America to the United States. Hunter Isgris spoke of he and Miller's efforts to create closer community relations with their organization Que lo Que in South America as well.  Finally, Sarah Miller spoke to the group about her organization, Nourish International, which looks at nutritional issues like world hunger.  Her organization is interested in supporting university groups that want to hold events to raise awareness for Nourish Int'l and the issue it supports. In the past, NC State held a pancake event in the Brickyard to support the cause but the inspiration has worn off a bit, and she is hoping to re-energize the campaign through the students involved in entrepreneurship! The evening ended with networking and socializing among the members in attendance. Check out the video of the meeting below and please join us at the next one!




Friday, September 14, 2012

A Founders Resolve

An interesting article was published online on Inc.com Monday, September 10. The article was entitled "I Never Wanted to Be an Entrepreneur." The article highlights the success of Jack Dorsey, the "mastermind" behind Twitter and Square. He challenges the idea that there is only one founding moment for a company; much like a bride tries to find the "one" perfect wedding dress. Instead, Dorsey claims that with changing leadership and new successes, a company can experience multiple founding moments. "A founder is not a job. It's an attitude, it's a role, it's an idea that can happen again and again and again," said Dorsey. 

His parting words for the audience at the Tech Crunch event were:
"You don't have to start from scratch to do something interesting, to do something worthwhile in the world. Twitter was not started because we wanted to start a company. It started out of a failed company. Pick a movement, pick a revolution, and join it. Pick something you believe in, that you want to make an impact in, and then question everything inside those companies or movements."


Monday, September 10, 2012

Student Networking Group

Looking to connect or network with other students interested in Entrepreneurship? Join the Entrepreneurship Initiative Student Network! It's a student led group that works to spread entrepreneurial thinking and activity throughout the campus.  Check out http://ei.ncsu.edu/ for meeting details. 

Welcome back Wolfpack!

"The NCSU Entrepreneurship Initiative is back in action for the 2013 school year! We have added this blog as part of our efforts to share the student experience with all members of our community. The blog will focus on events, creativity, and ideas on campus and around Raleigh. As the writer/creator of this blog I am pleased to become a more involved member of this exciting and growing initiative here at NC State. My name is Gillian Tremblay, I am a senior at State studying supply chain-logistics in the Poole College of Management. I became involved with the Entrepreneurship Initiative through one of courses offered on campus in the fall of 2011; I then was awarded the opportunity to attend the Silicon Valley spring break 2012 trip with other student entrepreneur's. It was in Silicon Valley where I began to blog about our experiences and lessons in entrepreneurship learned each day. The trip and my fellow travelers encouraged me to stay in touch and involved with the program throughout the remainder of my time here at NC State. Their encouragement led me towards my own "entrepreneurial" idea to begin this blog. Remember to always think big and enjoy the postings! G"