On April 23rd, entrepreneurship at Rutgers University took flight as the Rutgers Entrepreneurial Society launched the first Rutgers Innovation and Startup Experience (RISE) Weekend. RISE Weekend is a unique overnight event in where aspiring entrepreneurs and creative students have the opportunity to bring their innovative ideas to life in 30 hours between Saturday morning and Sunday evening.
The event, which featured a packed itinerary of multifaceted workshops, guest speakers, team-building exercises and idea pitching opportunities straight through 9:00am on Saturday to 6:00pm on Sunday, attracted local college artists, designers, strategists, innovators and community leaders.
According to its web site, the Rutgers Entrepreneurial Society created RISE Weekends to take aspiring entrepreneurs through a crash course in where they have the opportunity to build a team, create a business idea and prototype, subject their prototype to market testing and then pitch their product in front of an audience. Featuring experienced faculty and student entrepreneurs, RISE Weekend offered participating students the opportunity for firsthand experience in some of the challenges that entrepreneurs face in their startups.
Guest speark Rick Anderson, most noted as the Director of Virtual Worlds for Rutgers University and the President of the Fair Use Building and Research Labs, provided his motivational words for aspiring entrepreneurs during RISE Weekend. Also speaking was Aiko Thurlow, the founder of ToolMuse, an interactive community which allows entrepreneurs to find the applications and software packages most compatible with their business needs.
The Rutgers Entrepreneurial Society intends to host future RISE Weekends with the goal of making it into a premier platform for entrepreneurship and innovation in the greater New Jersey area.
