Straight from the Source: What Students Said in the Startup Survey Part I - Themes

Submitted by Jason Evanish on Wed, 07/14/2010 - 7:49am

 Last week, I put out a call for students and young entrepreneurs to take a survey to help answer the questions of "What are the challenges to engaging more young people?" and "What are your ideas for improving the ecosytem?" and a lot more. (You can see the survey here).  In total, 21 students from 9 different universities responded to the survey.  I am blown away with the amount of detail and thoughtfulness they put into their answers. I'd like to now share the results with all of you here:

 

 Students Entering the Boston Entrepreneur Ecosystem Survey Results - Part I - Themes

Baseline information:

Number of Respondents: 21

Schools Represented: 9 (Babson, Bentley, Bryant, Boston University, Hult International Business School, MIT, Northeastern, Olin College, and Tufts)

Present Entrepreneur Status: 

5 - Work for a startup

9 - Have their own startup

7 - Are interest in startups, but not currently working on one.

 

Common Themes:

 

1) Young people are Nervous at their first few events

Many respondents mentioned uncertainty and apprehension heading into their first few events.  Networking events are foreign to them and they can feel out of place surrounded by all of the "professionals."  

 

Takeaway: If you see a young person, help them feel welcome at an event. Invite them into your conversation and if you can, introduce them to some people at the event.

 

2) It's tough to get away from school

Many mentioned the challenges of balancing university life, homework and considering events to attend. They also mentioned that their entrepreneurship clubs on campus make it tempting to stay on campus to get their fix of entrepreneurship.

 

Takeaway: Understand it's a different world when you're in college. Marketing an event to college students is a different game and they may be unintentionally flakey with their attendance if a big test comes up.

 

3) Transportation is a Major Issue

The majority of students excluding Northeastern and BU mentioned transportation as a major issue; some find it virtually impossible to reliably get into the city, while others find the trip dauntingly long to Cambridge events.  

 

Takeaway: It takes a major effort for students from non-downtown Boston/Cambridge schools to come. Working with their schools to help them attend special events could help.

 

4) DartBoston had a major effect on many of them

Many events were mentioned as being great events (Venture Cafe, Bill Warner's talk, Innovation Open Houses, Founder Dialogues, MassChallenge and the Office Hours), but DartBoston is the one that consistently came up as key.  Many cited the connection with others their age and the low pressure atmosphere as the key elements.

 

Takeaway: First, we need to recognize the amazing job that Cort, Jake, and the rest of the DartBoston team are doing. Are you supporting DartBoston?  Also, we should consider the elements of Dart that other events should consider. Cort has written about this before so check out his Mass High Tech article.

 

5) What makes a good event?

Respondents made a number of comments about things they liked about events they've attended:

  • Free food and drinks - Many of them are missing dinner on campus if they go to an event.
  • Solid Content - They're interested in learning.
  • Big Name Speakers - Nothing draws students like a big name or a person from a well known company.
  • Bringing a friend - Many mentioned the importance of taking the trip with a friend. It made them more comfortable there and the trip more enjoyable.
  • Free or discounted tickets - Not surprisingly, students are broke and averse to spending money on events they're uncertain they'll like. (Good thing we have the StayInMA program!)
  • Mix of Big and Small Events - In general, a number of respondents commented on enjoying the balance of big and small events which allow for both great learning (like the Momentum Summit and other big speaker events) and stronger networking at the smaller events.
  • Holding Events on Campus - Holding the events on a college campus is a big appeal to students and many respondents mentioned their first event they ever went to was one that was on their campus.  These included everything from guest speakers to BarCamp to XSITE.

Takeaway: Keep these in mind as you plan your next event you want students to attend. 

 

Apologies this is getting long, so we're splitting it into 2 parts.  

You can now read Part II - Barriers and Proposed Solutions click here.

 

Photo Credit: lethaargic on Flickr

 

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