What's Happening At Derby Entrepreneurship Center - October 2024
Ideas Competition application open through 10/20!
The Ideas Competition is an early stage venture pitch contest for entrepreneurial Tufts students to choose a problem worth solving, come up with a great solution, and deliver a 3-minute venture pitch for a chance to win up to $1,000 per team in cash prizes.
Interested in applying? Check out our landing page to preview application questions and get 1x1 help with an entrepreneurial coach. No experience is necessary! Just come!
Interested in attending? Register to support our students in the live finals, which will be held in person / hybrid at the Joyce Cummings Center.
Entrepreneurial Speaker Series Launches with Marc Lore, serial entrepreneur & NBA Owner - Oct 15 @ 6pm ET
We are kicking off our Entrepreneurial Speaker Series with a fireside chat with Marc Lore. Marc is Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Wonder Group, which is reinventing the at-home dining experience. He is an NBA owner of the Minnesota Timberwolves and Minnesota Lynx with his friend Alex Rodriguez. Marc is a moonshot seeker and investor, as well as a serial entrepreneur who has started and sold four companies, most recently, Jet.com which was acquired by Walmart in 2016 for $3.3 billion. Sign up for this and other events below!
Fireside Chat With Chris Gardner, Partner @Underscore VC - Oct 21 @ 6pm ET
Chris Gardner, Partner at Underscore VC, will join us for a fireside chat about all things early-stage investing: what they look for in a team, the attributes of a great opportunity in a great market, the kind of validation and traction that get investors excited and more.
Women Entrepreneurial Leaders In Action Panel - Oct 22 @ 6pm ET
In celebration of Women Entrepreneurship Week (October 19-24), DEC will be hosting four young alumna in our "Women Entrepreneurial Leaders In Action" panel where they will share how they apply the entrepreneurial method in their respective roles:
What It Takes To Be a Non-Profit Leader! - October 17 @ 6pm
Join us for the 3rd Annual Delta Upsilon Speaker Series. Listen, engage, and network with friends, professors and Tufts alums about what it takes to be successful as dynamic leaders in the complex world of not-for-profits. Offered in partnership with Derby Entrepreneurship Center. No registration required. Pizza will be served.
DEC was on fire during Innovation Month (September 2024)! In partnership with other organizations at Tufts and with other Boston area universities, we hosted 15+ events all over the Boston and Medford campuses. We served 350+ tacos, 600+ slices of pizza, 100+ cookies, and 150 pounds of M&M's. We also hosted our second consumer product fair, which was very successful.
Our program alumni shared their personal experiences across multiple mixers, events, and open houses, and invited students to join in the action. More importantly, we fostered lots of connections between students who might just find their team members for a future entrepreneurial project at one of these events.
Can't wait to work with both new and returning students in the coming year!
Hosted by innovate@BU, IDEACon is a cross university conference for collegiate students and recent alums in Boston and beyond. Meet movers and shakers from schools all across the Northeast, be inspired by fabulous speakers, and attend workshops that build the skills you need to succeed.
DEC is reprising our partnership with Boston University for the fourth year in a row. Our Entrepreneurs-in-Residence will be running the highly popular Networking Like A Boss workshops. Stop by and learn skills that will help you build your professional network!
Cross University Student Innovators Mixer (CUSI) highlights
DEC hosted the first Cross University Student Innovators Mixer (CUSI) of the year at the Joyce Cummings Center. Over 200 attendees from 10+ universities all over the greater Boston area came to Tufts, made connections, and pitched to form teams. What a wonderful way to kick off the new academic year!
The next CUSI will be held at Boston University on Thursday, December 6 at 5:30pm. Save the date - details will be coming soon!
Upcoming Events and opportunities at a Glance
Solstice Entrepreneurship Conference at Boston College - October 5
This annual event is designed to unite and engage aspiring entrepreneurs in the Boston area.
Join the 41st annual Global Conference & Pitch Competition in Tampa, FL for an unforgettable weekend filled with inspiration, innovation, and endless opportunities.
The Community Table is designed to facilitate collaborative problem-solving, idea generation and knowledge sharing in an informal setting that you can join from wherever you are.
Nestlé Health Science and the Food & Nutrition Innovation Institute at the Friedman School at Tufts are launching the 2nd annual Innovation Challenge to provide strategy guidance, technical support, and mentorship to an emerging startup.
This initiative is aimed at reducing polarization through business. Undergraduates present entrepreneurial ideas with mission of using business as a force for good.
