Entrepreneurship Collective exists to create a community of peer mentorship and network sharing for student entrepreneurs in the Gainesville community. Entrepreneurship Collective does this by putting people first, passion second, and competency third. Many of the innovations in this book are built by people who were once student members of this organization. We create community impact through weekly meetings, pitch and design sprint competitions, startup focused professional recruitment events and mentorship programs.
We serve students seeking to do one of the following three things:
- Start a business
- Join a startup
- Develop and hone the entrepreneurial mindset
Starting a business is hard; starting one during exam week is harder. The stress a student entrepreneur endures is uniquely challenging, the Entrepreneurship Collective is a registered UF organization that serves as a home and connecting base for these students and the greater Gainesville community.
Entrepreneurship Club
For many years this group was focused around bringing in speakers and cultivating intellectual engagement in the topics of entrepreneurship, creativity, and innovation. Hosting speakers from the boardrooms of companies like Microsoft, Reddit, and SharpSpring; we have a long-standing history of exposing our students to strong business leaders from around the country.
As we realized the resources and opportunities available to student entrepreneurs, we came to the realization that our group can support practicing entrepreneurs. As all entrepreneurs do, we identified an opportunity and took aim to capitalize on it.
From Club to Collective
Many Entrepreneurs are excited for their venture, however, surrounded by full time students it can be easy to get discouraged at early signs of struggle. We set out with a goal of strengthening the network between student entrepreneurs to allow them to share stories, provide advice and build community around venture roadblocks.
The organizational rebrand and culture shift was subtle but important. We now put focus on growing our members holistically, helping them develop their passions and opportunity recognition skills rather than just business book knowledge/interests. This has allowed us to grow alongside Gainesville, connecting our members to the numerous startups and innovative companies that call Gainesville home. At our 2019 Fall Startup Showcase, a one-day recruiting event for startup companies, we had 47 students find either internships or full-time positions with Gainesville based companies.
Today and Tomorrow
Entrepreneurship Collective believes in the power of community and it‘s impressive impact on the growth of startup ecosystems. As both a provider of recruitable talent and young founders, we incubate and develop the leaders of tomorrow’s Gainesville. Our programs and events will grow and iterate, but at our core we are dedicated to and excited to see the continued impacts of our members and alumni on the Entrepreneurship Collective, the Gainesville Community and the world.
We are very open to business or academic entrepreneurial leaders who would like to share their stories. The collective brings together people from every discipline and academic study, anyone with a shared passion for building the future. Please reach out if you would like to contribute or speak with our members at one of our meetings.
Community Support
Community support has allowed us to send members to conferences such as Consumer Electronics Show, Collegiate Entrepreneurs Organization International Conference, and Synapse Summit. Community support has also allowed us to compete and place in National student entrepreneur competitions; as well as put on pitch and design sprint competitions with prizes ranging up to $3,000.
We are very lucky and thankful to have the support of UF’s Entrepreneurship and Innovation Center, UF’s Innovation Academy, the Innovation Hub, StartupGNV nonprofit, as well as sponsorship from many successful Gainesville based companies.
Written by Christopher Bass
