Sanjna Verma is a junior at NYU studying economics and computer science. She was the Panels Director for the 5th annual NYU Entrepreneurs Festival (NYUEF) and has been an core-team member of the festival for the past two years working on panels, roundtables, and operations.
“Practice that muscle of doing things,” said Sprinklr founder and NYU Entrepreneurs Festival keynote speaker, Ragy Thomas. His phrase resounded with the NYUEF leadership team, comprised of some twenty-odd NYU students who spent the last 8 months planning the festival, and were executing their muscles of practice to run the NYU Entrepreneurs Festival from March 4th through 5th.
Hosted annually, the NYU Entrepreneurs Festival is a 48-hour long celebration of the anchoring startup community on campus. 2016 Festival co-chairs and NYU students Lori Berenberg (Stern '18), Lewie Kloster (Tisch '17), and Daniel Tuchman (CAS '16) assembled their army six months prior to the March 4th event. “Having a team of students that were entrepreneurial minded and simultaneously responsible was a huge asset and we are incredibly proud of the team,”said Daniel.
The festival is comprised of panels, workshops, roundtable talks, keynote addresses, three meals, an after party, student and alumni venture showcases, and a pitch competition. Leading up to the event, the students led several rounds of creative marketing to reach everyone in the NYU ecosystem. Cadence Daniels, this year’s creative director, said, “The most important takeaway is that you don’t need to be qualified with an accomplished background to be at the festival. It’s a learning experience for a beginner to the most seasoned entrepreneur.”
At the start of the festival, more than 100 student volunteers arrived at 9 am to assist with decorations, operations, and general event management. “For a full 48 hours, we were "practicing that muscle" of managing the operations of the festival, and seeing our hard work come to life was just as fulfilling as it was stressful,” laughed Lori.
Check out the photos from the 2016 Festival!
