Student Entrepreneurs Work with Mentors to Develop Ideas
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Nov. 11, 2013) — Student entrepreneur teams will work with mentors and begin to develop their ideas for innovations and technologies 5-6 p.m. this evening, in the Davis Marksbury Building Theater. The semester’s third UK Venture Challenge workshop will also feature information on legal entities for startups.
This will be a great opportunity for UK’s entrepreneurial students to develop their innovations and technologies using a customer-driven approach and to create their own Business Model Canvas. Mentors – including Derek Lane, iNET Academic Director and College of Communication and Information Associate Dean; Entrepreneur in Residence Brian Raney; Dean Harvey, Von Allmen Center for Entrepreneurship; Bruce Walcott, College of Engineering Alumni Professor; Nick Such, co-founder of Awesome Inc; and Warren Nash, Lexington Innovation and Commercialization Center – will work with the student teams. Students will also learn about legal entities for startups from Doug Martin, with Sturgill, Turner, Barker & Moloney PLLC.
UK Venture Challenge, scheduled for March 1, allows students to show off their innovative and entrepreneurial spirit and get real world experience by competing. Undergraduate and graduate teams develop their ideas into potential startup ventures, prepare a written proposal, and pitch their venture to judges from the local entrepreneurial community. The top winning teams — two undergraduate teams and two graduate teams — share $3,000 scholarship prizes, and advance to the state competition, Idea State U.
The student entrepreneur monthly workshops and UK Venture Challenge competition are organized by iNET, the Innovation Network for Entrepreneurial Thinking hosted by the College of Communication and Information with the Von Allmen Center for Entrepreneurship / Lexington Innovation and Commercialization Center in the Gatton College of Business and Economics, and the Big Blue Starters student entrepreneur organization.
MEDIA CONTACT: Ann Blackford at 859-323-6442 or ann.blackford@uky.edu