FIT’s Center for Continuing and Professional Studies and the FIT Foundation held the first Entrepreneurship Summit in the Katie Murphy Amphitheatre on March 21, helping guide a predominantly alumni audience through current challenges of starting a business. Topics included navigating Web3 technologies, negotiating startup funding, and brand building.
Glemaud offered plenty of advice to entrepreneurs. First, find a good lawyer and accountant. Second, have patience. Third, “Don’t spend all your money.” Lastly, he recommended getting to know business contacts over drinks. “You see what people are all about after six.”
Next, alumni Christopher Bevans, Ashley Cole, and Patti Carpenter spoke with marketer and faculty member Dalia Strum about blending their design and business skills to launch successful companies. All three advised the audience to proceed carefully when placing orders with department stores.
“Getting into the big department stores may not be the best thing for you,” said Carpenter. “Department stores can put you out of business in no time flat.”
They also agreed on the importance of accepting failure and finding a way to pivot.
“It’s easy to get discouraged when you see these overnight successes,” Cole said, “but a lot of times they had launched something previously that did not go as planned. Entrepreneurship is constantly learning and bettering yourself.”