Saturday mornings on campus can often feel sleepy in comparison to the hustling, frenetic pace of any given weekday. September 17 felt no different, unless you happened to be in the front lobby of the new Integrated Sciences Building at 245 Beacon Street. There, a group of eager students clad in red t-shirts鈥攎embers of the student executive board for the Edmund H. Shea Jr. Center for Entrepreneurship鈥攚ere ready to offer directions, instructions, and advice to nearly 100 guests. , the inaugural 艾可直播 College Entrepreneurship Conference, was underway.
Kelsey Renda, senior associate director of the Shea Center
Solstice aims to 鈥減rovide a hub for collegiate entrepreneurship, sowing the seeds for student startups and the next generation of leaders,鈥� both inside and outside 艾可直播 College, says Kelsey Renda, senior associate director of the center. The conference鈥檚 attendees included current students, 艾可直播 College alumni, and students from seven universities across the northeast, among them Harvard, MIT, New York University, and Rutgers.
After checking in and receiving Start@Shea tote bags and the day鈥檚 agenda, attendees headed to the fifth floor for a networking breakfast. Over yogurt, granola, fruit, and oatmeal, student participants chatted excitedly about their experiences from the previous night at Ideathon, the conference鈥檚 kickoff event where participants had the opportunity to take an idea from definition to execution in small teams over the course of a tense three hours. One student mentioned to a friend, 鈥淚 met Meagan last night,鈥� with a wide grin.
Meagan鈥攁s in,听Meagan Loyst听鈥�19鈥攚as also all smiles later that morning as she entered the large first-floor auditorium of 245 Beacon to give her keynote speech. The speech, which turned out to be more of an 鈥渋ntimate fireside chat,鈥� according to moderator and Start@Shea鈥檚 鈥淓ntrepreneur in Residence鈥� Maggie Yan 鈥�22, spanned topics from the professional鈥攈ow Loyst got into venture capital and the origins of her startup,听Gen Z VCs鈥攖o the personal, like the fact that she always likes to wear a little glitter on her face, even in important meetings with entrepreneurs.
From left: Maggie Yan '22 and Meagan Loyst '19
A self-proclaimed introvert, Loyst is anything but shy when it comes to sharing the lessons she has gleaned in her three years post-grad. Her entry into the world of venture capital was slightly atypical, and she was quick to change course when she wasn鈥檛 connecting to her work as much as she would have liked. 鈥淚 started my career as an analyst at General Atlantic out of college, but quickly realized that early stage investing was much more up my alley,鈥� she shared. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 give in to the peer pressure or conventional advice that you have to go for the big name firms to 鈥榤ake it.鈥� Be honest about what you like to do instead of chasing after a name brand.鈥�
The creation of her own startup, Gen Z VCs, happened later. 鈥淭he best ideas come to me at two a.m.,鈥� she said with a sly smile. As one of the only members of Generation Z (also known as Gen Z) at her firm at the time, to find community. She posted a tweet to ask if anyone on the platform was part of Gen Z or investing in Gen Z companies. Responses flooded in, and from there, she interviewed more than 70 individuals who had replied and discovered that there was a real market for investment firms willing to take a chance on the young folks.听听
Loyst created a Slack channel with all of her newly found Gen Z investors and it exploded practically overnight, growing from 30 members to more than 1,000 in just four days. and Loyst became an internet sensation. 鈥淲e were almost instantly viral,鈥� she added.
Despite the seeming ease with which Loyst was able to grow her startup鈥檚 online presence, it wasn鈥檛 accidental. The pandemic played a role in the viability of starting a popular virtual chatroom. 鈥淭he online community was made possible because of鈥攏ot in spite of鈥攖he pandemic,鈥� she clarified. 鈥淲e talk about market timing and this couldn鈥檛 have happened at a more perfect time.鈥澨�
As the conversation shifted to an audience Q&A, hands around the auditorium shot up enthusiastically. Jackson McClelland 鈥�22 asked what鈥檚 on Loyst鈥檚 bookshelf these days.听
On left: Joseph Roberts, University of Connecticut '24
鈥淭his is my least favorite question in interviews,鈥� she laughed, sharing an anecdote about a job interview in which she begrudgingly confessed that her most recent read was听Twilight. 鈥淗onestly, when I have time to read, I鈥檓 totally unplugging. All I read are romantic period dramas like听Bridgerton.鈥�
Joseph Roberts, a junior at the University of Connecticut, asked what it鈥檚 like to be part of a minority group in venture capital. In the world of VC, all women are considered part of the minority, making up only 12 percent of decision makers in VC firms, .听
鈥淒o you have any advice for how we can break into the industry?鈥� Roberts inquired.
Loyst quickly acknowledged the industry鈥檚 lack of diversity. 鈥淟ess than two percent of VC money goes to women, and it鈥檚 up to us to change that.鈥� But, she asserted, 鈥測ou don鈥檛 need to have the investor title to start doing the job. Anyone can create content, write about interesting themes going on in the industry, and prove your worth to an organization through action. There are always ways to ingrain yourself in the ecosystems if you鈥檙e willing to work hard.鈥�
A hub for innovation
As the audience filed out of the auditorium and into an afternoon of workshops, the buzz of energy generated by Loyst remained as students split off into small groups for their chosen sessions. These spanned a variety of topics, including 鈥淧itching to Business Publications as an Entrepreneur,鈥� hosted by Business Insider editors Dorothy Cucci 鈥�21 and Jenna Gyimesi, and 鈥淒esign Your Tailgate,鈥� where students ready for a hands-on opportunity gained access to 鈥溾�� In this workshop鈥攈osted by Madison Dunaway, the design and prototyping manager at 艾可直播 College鈥檚 Design and Innovation Center鈥攕tudents made their own tote bags, t-shirts, and other gear in preparation for the evening鈥檚 tailgate at the first home football game of the season. Participants were taught to use 3D printing and laser printing machines, woodcutting technology, sewing and embroidery machines, and more in the state-of-the-art facility.
Pictured: students working together over a sewing machine in The Hatchery
Saturday concluded with an afternoon VC Panel, where attendees heard from investors at top firms, including TechStars and Summit Partners. On Sunday, the conference continued with a Founders Panel featuring startup founders from Alinea Invest, Voltpost, and Scroobious, followed by another set of breakout workshops, and the event wrapped up with closing remarks from Marissa Cohen 鈥�19, a senior associate of startup banking at Silicon Valley Bank. In total, 12 alums returned to campus as conference speakers, and an additional dozen alumni and young professionals joined as attendees.
鈥淸Solstice] was a way to celebrate the community of young entrepreneurs that the Shea Center has built and fostered over the last eight years,鈥� says Renda about the success of the new event. 鈥淲e covered a wide range of topics so it felt like there was really something for everyone鈥攚hether you are a founder, someone generally interested in tech, or someone looking to break into venture capital鈥攜ou could find value attending the conference sessions.鈥澨�
The Solstice conference took the place of what the center previously called Entrepreneurship Week. Typically held as one-off events over the course of a week each September, Entrepreneurship Week was organized to allow students to trickle in and out for talks and workshops amid their busy academic schedules. Solstice, instead, aims to offer a gathering place for students who want to take a deep dive into entrepreneurship, share ideas and innovate over the course of an entire weekend. By holding the event in a conference format, the Shea Center is also able to expand their reach to students and young professionals outside the 艾可直播 College community.
Alex Park 鈥�24, co-chair of the Start@Shea executive board, predicted that the new conference will help 艾可直播 College students 鈥減ropel to the forefront of collegiate entrepreneurship.鈥� He added, 鈥淚 truly believe this is only the beginning for 艾可直播 College鈥檚 entrepreneurship ecosystem, and I am excited for many more Solstice Conferences going forward as we look to encourage students to take bold risks and execute on their ideas.鈥�
