Reflection: MIT VC & Innovation Conference 2015
Post by Alejandro Caldera ’18
I’m very glad I attended to the MIT VC & Innovation Conference 2015 because it made me feel like I’m on the right track on my path to success, being an entrepreneur. Multiple speakers emphasized on the fact that “this is the age of entrepreneurs”. Attending Babson and knowing that there is no better entrepreneurship program than Babson’s led me to recognize that this is the age of Babson.
There were about 200 people from all over the globe attending to the event. The crowd was much older than me, nevertheless, people were very interested to talk to young people like myself. Since the moment I arrived, I started meeting new people, the networking was truly amazing. I got the business cards of some Sloan students and many top executives of VC companies which I will definitely contact when I’m closer to graduation.
The whole conference I brought to me an intense feeling of remorse for not having my own start-up yet. I have had some amazing ideas for great projects and have not come through with them because of lack of funding. Yet, this conference taught me that the availability of funds for entrepreneurs are at the palms of our hands. This year I plan on having my own start-up, participating in business competitions, and asking VCs for funding when the time comes.
There is no doubt this is one of the greatest Venture Capital Conferences in the world. The event was clearly well planned and the speaker list was filled with the biggest names in the industry. One of the most interesting speakers was Anis Uzzaman, the CEO and Founder of Fenox Ventures. He narrated how his company came from having no funds to having $1.5 billion. Just by listening to Uzzaman speak one could know that he is a genius. His firm is amongst the firms with highest ROI in the whole world. Uzzaman’s arguments about how Asia is the future got me more convinced that I should attend the BRIC program.
Every speaker had very interesting things to say. David Fialkow, from General Catalyst claimed that thoughtfully investing in start-ups is better than investing in stocks, which is undoubtedly true. Another one of the biggest names in the VC industry that spoke at the conference was Chris Lynch. This was a truly interesting man. It was very comic that he was probably one of the most successful businessmen in the conference and spoke wearing a t-shirt. He talked a lot about the value of entrepreneurship and value creation.
This conference was a great experience for me. I will definitely attend next year’s conference as well. I felt like it really impacted me in that it got me out of my comfort zone and inspired me to keep following the path of an entrepreneur. The fact that VC’s showed so much faith is entrepreneurs is a great thing for all of us Babson Entrepreneurs! Thank you to the Undergraduate Professional Accelerator Fund for the opportunity to attend this great event!