Next Friday, the region’s best and brightest will come together at the University of Michigan for the Zell Lurie Institute’s annual entrepreneurial symposium, Entrepalooza (on Twitter: #epalooza). This year’s event theme, The Path Forward, will cover how to advance new business ventures and support entrepreneurial thinking through panel discussions, keynote presentations and networking.
The formal program will begin at 9:00 a.m. with a keynote address from Brad Keywell, co-founder of deal-of-the-day website Groupon, which in June filed initial paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission to go public. University of Michigan BBA ’91 and JD ’93 and a serial entrepreneur, Keywell will tell the story behind the multiple business ventures he has created and provide insights on taking risks and turning visions into success. Following his keynote, Thomas Kinnear, Executive Director of the Zell Lurie Institute, will present Keywell with the Alumni Entrepreneur of the Year Award, a prestigious recognition that honors significant contributions to the entrepreneurial community by a Ross School of Business graduate.
The remainder of the program includes multiple networking opportunities, as well as several panel presentations that will bring together local business and venture capital executives to provide expert advice on key business development and funding topics. These include:
- Getting Started: Making an Idea Reality
- Growing a Company: How a Startup Becomes a Business
- Inside the Mind of a VC: How They Look at Startups
- Entrepreneurial Careers: Innovating in Startups, Corporations and Beyond
Entrepalooza is co-presented by the Ross School of Business Entrepreneur and Venture Club and the School’s Zell Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies and is free to attendees. For more information or to register to attend the event, please go to http://www.epalooza.bus.umich.edu/.