This week we had a chat with Keiren who currently studies Medicine at our Geelong Campus and is a member of the winning team from The Pitch. He shares his thoughts on the The Startup Experience , which he attended in 2016.
What are you passionate about?
I’m passionate about making an impact on the world. I think I’ve got too many things I’d like to focus on and not enough time, but making change is the over-arching theme.
Why did you apply to attend The Startup Experience?
After being part of a start-up over the past few years in Adelaide I was really excited that Deakin had a program for working with entrepreneurs and I thought it would be a great learning experience and networking event as I had just moved to Victoria in January. I also asked that my existing business partner Sheshi could come along as I thought she’d also relish in the experience.
What was the main thing you took away from the experience?
I took away my current Deakin Spark start-up. I didn’t expect the two day event to turn into a new venture but was pleasantly surprised and excited that we had created something there that we would continue working on in a team we made during the experience. I also gained a perspective into how quickly business ideas can be created and vetted, before the experience I didn’t think it could be done so quickly.
Describe TSE in a couple of sentences:
The start-up experience can be what you want it to be. It can be a purely academic exercise, learning about business planning in the lean startup age, or it can be a platform used to network with like-minded individuals, or it can be used to springboard your idea – or someone else’s – into an actual startup and project to take away, possibly to integrate with the Spark program following. It was a lot of fun, exciting, and a nice change of pace from my usual university routine. I’m glad I went, and very glad I met the people I did.