NYU Shanghai Entrepreneurship Series Launched

A new entrepreneurship speaker series, organized by Professor Keith Ross, Dean of Engineering and Computer Science, and co-sponsored by the Program for Creativity and Innovation, was launched in September to encourage students to embrace their own ideas and work to realize them. This Friday night (5:00pm, Room 101), the series will feature two CEOs with over 10 years experience in public relations and technology respectively, Miranda Tan, CEO of Robin 8, and Richard Law, founder and CEO of iCE Angel-ID.

 “These are small companies, typically with 10 employees,” said Ross commenting on the new effort to bring to campus six pairs of young founders, CEOs and inventors from various startups in early stages of development. He added, “The basic purpose is to expose the students at NYU Shanghai to what startup life is like, what goes into creating a company. Is it a fun thing to do? Is it an exciting thing to do? So here directly from these young founders, they can learn what startups are like.”  

Last September 18th, The new series was inaugurated with presentations by Elyse Ribbons and William Bao Bean. The lively 2 hour-long event was a success and included a lively question and answer period. Elyse Ribbons is the founder and CEO of a startup that wants to leverage a new phone app, Geili Giving, to encourage Chinese customers to get involved in charity.  Ribbons’ past experiences include modeling and television show hosting. Her years of living and involvement in the Chinese business world helped solidify her entrepreneurial foundation in China.

William Bao Bean is an investor and the managing director of Chinaccelerator - China’s first software startup accelerator. Unlike others in the same field, Chinaccelerator connects young entrepreneurs with experienced volunteer “mentors” from different areas, who provide advice and guidance. He spoke about both his group’s experiences and shared his insights into the personalities of  entrepreneurs.

NYU Shanghai sophomore Kejie Wang described what she gained from the speech, “From their real life experience, I now understand that the idea that ‘Life is full of possibilities’ is not just words, it can be real.” Quinn McHale, sophomore, took an entrepreneurship class back in high school and remarked that “in America, [entrepreneurship is] being pushed more and more, especially in high school.”

English writing credit goes to: Ewa Oberska & Liu Lingyi
Photo credit goes to: Liu Lingyi