Start Yer EnginesFind out how these four recent graduates are helping college students realize their dreams of entrepreneurship.
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David Huang, Justin Segool, Brad Minsley, John Quintiliani andMatthew Weiss are futurists, even though they just graduated fromcollege. But these Duke University grads aren't thesit-back-and-pontificate kind of futurists. They make their visionshappen-and help others with theirs.
That's precisely what they want for the next generation ofnetpreneurs: the ability to turn their ideas into reality. "Weare confident that student entrepreneurs are going to produce thenext wave of e-businesses nationally and internationally,"says Weiss. They're so confident, in fact, that they'vecreated a "dorm-room" accelerator of high-tech studentventures in Durham, North Carolina, StartEmUp.com. Featuring theJumpStart2K Student Start-Up Challenge, StartEmUp allows studentsfrom 50 geographically juxtaposed campuses to compete for a spot inan off-campus incubator-or, as StartEmUp puts it, to go from dormroom to boardroom.
What's the StartEmUp advantage? "Giving onlyentry-level capital is a disservice to a ground-zero collegestudent with an idea," explains Weiss, 22. "What'sreally important is the guidance and hand-holding they need. Ourgoal is to take college students through start-up and position themto [approach] the investment community."
