To all Emory Students: There is a Place for you in Entrepreneurship
Coming into my first year at Emory as an aspiring writer, the last thing I would have expected was to be able to call myself an entrepreneur.
Last fall, eager to take advantage of the opportunities available to me, I signed up for HackATL 2018. I felt a combination of excitement and nervousness since I had never participated in a hackathon before and retained very little knowledge from my senior year Computer Science class. The fields of technology, design, and entrepreneurship interested me, but all of it seemed too abstract. I thought that I would walk away from the weekend with only a free t-shirt, some delicious non-DUC meals, and knowledge from the design workshops. I was wrong.
To my surprise, my team and I far exceeded any expectations I had. We collaborated to create and pitch rSpace — a communication platform that connects college students looking for storage and local residents able to rent out space in their homes — to a panel of judges. Our team was made up of five first-year students: Michelle, Wilson, Harry, David and myself. Michelle and Wilson handled the business side, Harry and David coded the app, and I designed the website’s user interface. The aggregate of caffeine, adrenaline and sugary cinnamon pretzels fueled our energy as we finished rehearsing through our pitch at 4 am on Sunday morning.
While we did not advance to the final round of pitching, my HackATL experience was invaluable to me. That weekend opened my eyes to the fascinating possibilities and potential of entrepreneurship and human-centered design. It is empathetic and innovative. It has the power to make people’s lives better.
We continued to work on our start-up even after the hackathon was over. In the spring, my team and I participated in Emory Entrepreneurship & Venture Management’s (EEVM) Excellerator program, where we further developed our start-up during a ten-week period. The program concluded with a Demo Day, a showcase of all the start-ups that were a part of the Excellerator. We also participated in Emory Entrepreneurship Summit in April and its Pitch the Summit elevator pitch competition. After three rounds of pitching, we ultimately placed third and won $1,000 for our start-up.
My HackATL experience in October showed me how entrepreneurship isn’t just a profession that belongs to an elite few, like Zuckerberg or Bezos. Rather, it is a practical tool that can be used to address issues in our society. As a hopeful Creative Writing student, I learned that I am drawn to solving problems that matter to me, whether that is through writing a poem or creating a start-up. Entrepreneurs are creative, passionate, innovative — unable to fit in a simple box. I realized that there is a place for me in the field of entrepreneurship. And there is a place for you.
Beyond the business world, I learned the value of taking leaps of faith and trying something new. I encourage all Emory students, regardless of what your anticipated course of study is: go out there and explore. Do something that makes you uncomfortable. Try new things. Take advantage of opportunities like HackATL, where you have the space and resources to create something out of nothing. You never know. You may surprise yourself.
Written By: Annie Li | IQ Magazine Associate
