Student group trains young entrepreneurs at UCSDBy ELIZABETH MALLOY, The Daily Transcript
Friday, November 24, 2006
Print E-Mail
There is a group of college students at the University of California, San Diego, who are not only willing to get up early on a Saturday morning and head to a campus lecture hall, but are willing to do so dressed in suits and ties.
They could be your boss some day. They'd like to be.
These students all have in an interest in entrepreneurship and are learning the ins and outs of starting their own businesses through a UCSD student organization called VentureForth. Entirely student-run and corporate- and grant-sponsored, VentureForth has 16 board members, but on a recent weekend the group held a conference that drew about 150 other students and an additional 150 people already in the work force to hear discussions on matters like financing, engineering and using the Internet and media.
"With all these ideas floating around, all these smart people, they decided they wanted to start an organization which is geared toward these kind of ideas and people," said Lisa-Anne Chung, president and chair of VentureForth. "The amazing thing about this organization is its totally run by undergraduates."
Each year, VentureForth holds two conferences, one on entrepreneurship and one on biotech. The group also holds various smaller workshops and networking meetings throughout the year. In the past, they hosted a business plan competition, but a previous president of VentureForth has since created another organization that hosts the competition and awards $50,000 to the winner. Earlier this month, VentureForth held its 4th annual Entrepreneur Conference, which included keynote addresses from Qualcomm Inc. (Nasdaq: QCOM) co-founder and Chairman Irwin Jacobs and iVEEA founder Ingrid Vanderveldt.
Jacobs, a former UCSD professor whose name now adorns the school's engineering college, recounted the history of Qualcomm and how the company has managed to stay on top in an ever-changing industry. He told the students and professionals that he tries to keep an entrepreneurial atmosphere at the company by encouraging employees to think of Qualcomm as "a startup, but at least a startup with good cash flow." Students then asked how Qualcomm deals with government restrictions inforeign countries, maintaining a consistent culture in such a large company and other detailed questions.
Jacobs joked before his speech that he'd feared he would be overdressed in his suit, but seeing the polished young people in the audience he fit right in.
VentureForth is now in its sixth year. Since Chung became president of VentureForth a year ago, the group has gone from having five board members to the current 16. A management science major, Chung said she wants to be the chief operating officer of a company someday. "I just love project management, I love organizing and I love the risk that entrepreneurs take," she said. All the board members went through a series of interviews and aptitude tests to join the organization. Chung said the long application process is in part to prove a potential member's dedication.
Chung said VentureForth has attracted a mix of students and professionals in part because the conferences are free, whereas similar corporate events could cost hundreds of dollars to attend. But she noted that the group is serious about its aims to get young people ready for the business world. "Every single person is part of the team, they're not just a member. We don't have anybody who just sits there and does nothing," Chung said. "Everybody's very involved and they've very dedicated to our organization."
Irwin Jacobs Delivers Keynote at VentureForth Entrepreneur ConferenceSan Diego, CA, November 21, 2006 -- Irwin Jacobs, co-founder and former CEO of QUALCOMM Inc., was back on the UCSD campus Saturday, Nov. 18, to address a conference organized by the student group of budding entrepreneurs. The fourth annual VentureForth Entrepreneur Conference was hosted and co-sponsored by the UCSD Division of Calit2. Other sponsors included QUALCOMM, iVEEA (whose founder Ingrid Vanderveldt, a motivational speaker, gave the second keynote), Associated Students of UCSD, Simply Two, and I'm There for You Baby, a media company that promotes entrepreneurship.
The packed audience included a large contingent of students, postdocs and faculty researchers from UCSD, but also entrepreneurs, inventors and venture capitalists from the San Diego community. Apart from the keynotes, the conference staged four panel discussions on hot-button topics in the technology arena: how finance a venture; media-related businesses; the next generation Internet, dubbed Web 2.0; and engineering. In that latter session, Jacobs School of Engineering professor Sujit Dey provided insights gleaned from his successful launch of a company, Ortiva Wireless, based on research that emerged from Calit2's adaptive wireless systems project.
The talks and panel discussions in the Calit2 auditorium are now available for on-demand viewing. For technical reasons, the panel discussions that did not take place in the auditorium are not available via webcast. To view the streaming videos, click on the image or video link below [Real player and broadband connection required].
VentureForth is an entrepreneurial student organization dedicated to educating its members, promoting and honing professional and business skills, heightening awareness of industry trends and technologies, and enhancing critical thinking.
This year's conference was organized and chaired by Lisa-Anne Chung, a fourth-year management science major at UCSD. The event's vice chair was James Lu, who also organized the Web 2.0 panel. Other panel organizers included Jeff Mounzer, a double major in electrical engineering and economics, who organized the Engineering panel; Marsha Malinow, a fourth-year in international studies, economics and linguistics; and the venture finance panel organizer Jimmy Mar, a double major in management science and psychology.
