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Rachel Finley
574 TNRB
Brigham Young University
Provo, UT 84602
(801) 422-3598
prspecialist@byu.edu

eBusiness Day Focuses on Turning Ideas Into Successful Ventures

Every semester, the Rollins Center for eBusiness sponsors eBusiness Day, the center’s flagship event, to help inform students about important e-business related topics. This semester, the event focused on how to turn an idea for a web-based business into a profitable company.

Four representatives from the Utah entrepreneur and venture capital community presented on the event’s theme: “I have a good idea for a web-based business … now what?” Participants included Morgan Lynch, CEO of Logoworks; Nick Efstratis, general partner of Wasatch Ventures; Ben Peterson, member of the Utah Angels; and Josh James, CEO of Omniture.

“Students received real-world information from professionals who work in the web and venture fields every day of their lives,” says Chase Fly, student lead for eBusiness Day. “The event helped students build on a web business idea and make it into a successful business by providing answers to questions that can’t be answered in a textbook.”

As part of the main plenary session, each of the guest speakers briefly addressed their background and experience and shared some essential principles about starting a web-based company, including insights about current trends in the industry and customer demands

Along with the plenary session, there were other perks to this semester’s eBusiness Day.

“The most rewarding aspect of eBusiness Day was the breakout sessions

after the plenary session. Students were able to sit in a room with

some of the top web entrepreneurs in the region and have a conversation with

them,” says John Richards, managing director of the Rollins Center. “It was an experiment and it turned out great!”

During the breakout sessions, the four business professionals not only went into more detail about their plenary session addresses, but they also fielded questions from event attendees.

“The speakers were interacting directly with the students, teaching them, drawing diagrams on the chalkboards, and presenting practical information,” Fly says. “In one session with Ben Peterson, Ben asked every student what their idea was and how it was developing. He then addressed many of them individually; assessed whether or not the idea might work, then suggested some specific actions the students should take. It was interesting advice that you could actually take and work with in order to make your dream business a reality.”

Following the break-out sessions, eBusiness Day culminated with a raffle for an Apple iPhone, which was awarded to Spencer Paul, a junior majoring in accounting.

Overall, the event was deemed a success by Fly.

“The caliber and experience of the keynote speakers along with the participation of the students made this semester’s eBusiness a success,” Fly says. “Students should have learned several actions that they could take to turn their ideas into an actual functioning business. They also should have walked away with a better grasp on where to look for resources that will help them continue developing their ventures.”