Have what it takes to build a web-based business?
Students interested in learning more about starting and operating online businesses are invited to Entrepreneurship Week: Building a Web-based Business, an event sponsored by the student-led Miller Center Fellows at William & Mary’s Raymond A. Mason School of Business.
The program runs Monday through Friday in the Alan B. Miller Entrepreneurship Center and other locations throughout Miller Hall. It is designed to immerse students of all interests and academic backgrounds in the process of designing and developing web-based businesses based on their ideas. The innovative format will equip students with real-world skills traditionally acquired outside of the classroom and foster entrepreneurial thinking.
Students can sign up as individuals or in teams ranging up to five members. Participants will receive an investment of $100 at the beginning of the week to develop their own business websites, which they will present at the end of the week to a panel of judges.
The week concludes with a Final Pitch contest and the winner or winners receiving a $750 prize.
Over the course of the week, participants will attend workshops on web-based business issues designed to help develop ideas and entrepreneurial thinking. The workshops will feature successful professionals sharing their experiences and advice. Speakers will include:
- Shawn Boyer, a Mason School alumnus and Richmond-based entrepreneur who is founder and CEO of the goHappy group-scheduling app
- Tim Ryan, a Mason School alumnus who is director of the Williamsburg-based Launchpad business incubator
- Luke Rabin, co-founder of BLDR, a Richmond-based business incubator and design agency
- Jeff Rich, chief marketing officer of the Mason School
