SXSW (South by Southwest) is the conference for startups. And, with your help, a group of MSU students is hoping to get there in an innovative way.
The Student Startup Bus is an active Kickstarter project designed to help purchase and outfit a bus for the purpose of taking a group of students down to SXSW this March. The conference is an opportunity for these students to meet and mingle with some of the most accomplished entrepreneurs and startup professionals in the world – including folks from Facebook, Google, Sequoia Ventures, and…you get the idea.
Early backers of the project will get exposure on the bus, in the form of a placard depicting their company’s logo. But, more importantly, backing this project represents an investment in the startup community and the work going on at the Hatch (which, at this point, has nearly 200 student startups!). Such a visible representation will demonstrate that it’s not just the Stanfords and MITs of the world who are actively trying to grow student entrepreneurship, but so is MSU. So is this community. (After all, we do need Mavens and exposure if we want to grow the startup activity.)
In addition to SXSW, the students intend to use the bus for years to come to go to hackathons, conferences, and other events around the state – and beyond. They envision it as a long-term investment to be passed on to subsequent classes of student entrepreneurs.
Because the campaign is on Kickstarter, backers are free to donate as little as $1, or as much as, well, $20k. It’s each backer’s choice.
Please take a moment, check out their Kickstarter, and throw a few bones their way.
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