The Lundquist Center for Entrepreneurship stands behind its mission to provide experiential learning opportunities for its students. That’s why the center organized two separate trips last week for first year and accelerated MBA’s to watch start ups pitch for potential funding of their business ideas in Portland and Bend, Oregon.
On Wednesday, the group divided into two vans for an evening trip to the Oregon Entrepreneurs Network‘s Pub Talk in downtown Portland. While there, the group networked with local professionals and listened to three startups compete for a chance to qualify for Angel Oregon, a premier angel investing competition and conference held annually in Portland. After getting back to Eugene late Wednesday, members of the group got into vans again on Thursday after class to head east this time. The destination was the 7th annual Bend Venture Conference at the Tower Theater in downtown Bend. The conference attracts many of the top entrepreneurs in the region and presents companies a chance to compete for up to $175,000 in prize money.
The two trips gave students the chance to observe from the front lines, ask questions, and participate in the startup process that many companies go through on a regular basis. Some spent the time traveling in the van asking questions about the events and sharing reflections on what the experiences showed them about real-world entrepreneurship. ”Most students are energized by the ‘action’ and almost always leave with an ‘I didn’t realize…’ observation,” says Terry Sebastian, the managing director of the center. ”The preparation and massive amounts of hard work – blocking and tackling – that goes into all ventures whether successful or unsuccessful,” is one part of the startup process that most don’t see in Terry’s opinion.
All great ideas start somewhere and the Lundquist Center for Entrepreneurship knows that it’s not always in the classroom.