Saturday mornings on campus can often feel sleepy in comparison to the hustling, frenetic pace of any given weekday. September 17 felt no different, unless you happened to be in the front lobby of the new Integrated Sciences Building at 245 Beacon Street. There, a group of eager students clad in red t-shirtsâmembers of the student executive board for the Edmund H. Shea Jr. Center for Entrepreneurshipâwere ready to offer directions, instructions, and advice to nearly 100 guests. , the inaugural Boston College Entrepreneurship Conference, was underway.
Kelsey Renda, senior associate director of the Shea Center
Solstice aims to âprovide a hub for collegiate entrepreneurship, sowing the seeds for student startups and the next generation of leaders,â both inside and outside Boston College, says Kelsey Renda, senior associate director of the center. The conferenceâs attendees included current students, Boston College alumni, and students from seven universities across the northeast, among them Harvard, MIT, New York University, and Rutgers.
After checking in and receiving Start@Shea tote bags and the dayâs agenda, attendees headed to the fifth floor for a networking breakfast. Over yogurt, granola, fruit, and oatmeal, student participants chatted excitedly about their experiences from the previous night at Ideathon, the conferenceâs kickoff event where participants had the opportunity to take an idea from definition to execution in small teams over the course of a tense three hours. One student mentioned to a friend, âI met Meagan last night,â with a wide grin.
Meaganâas in,ĚýMeagan LoystĚýâ19âwas also all smiles later that morning as she entered the large first-floor auditorium of 245 Beacon to give her keynote speech. The speech, which turned out to be more of an âintimate fireside chat,â according to moderator and Start@Sheaâs âEntrepreneur in Residenceâ Maggie Yan â22, spanned topics from the professionalâhow Loyst got into venture capital and the origins of her startup,ĚýGen Z VCsâto the personal, like the fact that she always likes to wear a little glitter on her face, even in important meetings with entrepreneurs.
From left: Maggie Yan '22 and Meagan Loyst '19
A self-proclaimed introvert, Loyst is anything but shy when it comes to sharing the lessons she has gleaned in her three years post-grad. Her entry into the world of venture capital was slightly atypical, and she was quick to change course when she wasnât connecting to her work as much as she would have liked. âI started my career as an analyst at General Atlantic out of college, but quickly realized that early stage investing was much more up my alley,â she shared. âI didnât give in to the peer pressure or conventional advice that you have to go for the big name firms to âmake it.â Be honest about what you like to do instead of chasing after a name brand.â
The creation of her own startup, Gen Z VCs, happened later. âThe best ideas come to me at two a.m.,â she said with a sly smile. As one of the only members of Generation Z (also known as Gen Z) at her firm at the time, to find community. She posted a tweet to ask if anyone on the platform was part of Gen Z or investing in Gen Z companies. Responses flooded in, and from there, she interviewed more than 70 individuals who had replied and discovered that there was a real market for investment firms willing to take a chance on the young folks.ĚýĚý
Loyst created a Slack channel with all of her newly found Gen Z investors and it exploded practically overnight, growing from 30 members to more than 1,000 in just four days. and Loyst became an internet sensation. âWe were almost instantly viral,â she added.
Despite the seeming ease with which Loyst was able to grow her startupâs online presence, it wasnât accidental. The pandemic played a role in the viability of starting a popular virtual chatroom. âThe online community was made possible because ofânot in spite ofâthe pandemic,â she clarified. âWe talk about market timing and this couldnât have happened at a more perfect time.âĚý
As the conversation shifted to an audience Q&A, hands around the auditorium shot up enthusiastically. Jackson McClelland â22 asked whatâs on Loystâs bookshelf these days.Ěý
On left: Joseph Roberts, University of Connecticut '24
âThis is my least favorite question in interviews,â she laughed, sharing an anecdote about a job interview in which she begrudgingly confessed that her most recent read wasĚýTwilight. âHonestly, when I have time to read, Iâm totally unplugging. All I read are romantic period dramas likeĚýBridgerton.â
Joseph Roberts, a junior at the University of Connecticut, asked what itâs like to be part of a minority group in venture capital. In the world of VC, all women are considered part of the minority, making up only 12 percent of decision makers in VC firms, .Ěý
âDo you have any advice for how we can break into the industry?â Roberts inquired.
Loyst quickly acknowledged the industryâs lack of diversity. âLess than two percent of VC money goes to women, and itâs up to us to change that.â But, she asserted, âyou donât need to have the investor title to start doing the job. Anyone can create content, write about interesting themes going on in the industry, and prove your worth to an organization through action. There are always ways to ingrain yourself in the ecosystems if youâre willing to work hard.â
A hub for innovation
As the audience filed out of the auditorium and into an afternoon of workshops, the buzz of energy generated by Loyst remained as students split off into small groups for their chosen sessions. These spanned a variety of topics, including âPitching to Business Publications as an Entrepreneur,â hosted by Business Insider editors Dorothy Cucci â21 and Jenna Gyimesi, and âDesign Your Tailgate,â where students ready for a hands-on opportunity gained access to ââ In this workshopâhosted by Madison Dunaway, the design and prototyping manager at Boston Collegeâs Design and Innovation Centerâstudents made their own tote bags, t-shirts, and other gear in preparation for the eveningâs tailgate at the first home football game of the season. Participants were taught to use 3D printing and laser printing machines, woodcutting technology, sewing and embroidery machines, and more in the state-of-the-art facility.
Pictured: students working together over a sewing machine in The Hatchery
Saturday concluded with an afternoon VC Panel, where attendees heard from investors at top firms, including TechStars and Summit Partners. On Sunday, the conference continued with a Founders Panel featuring startup founders from Alinea Invest, Voltpost, and Scroobious, followed by another set of breakout workshops, and the event wrapped up with closing remarks from Marissa Cohen â19, a senior associate of startup banking at Silicon Valley Bank. In total, 12 alums returned to campus as conference speakers, and an additional dozen alumni and young professionals joined as attendees.
â[Solstice] was a way to celebrate the community of young entrepreneurs that the Shea Center has built and fostered over the last eight years,â says Renda about the success of the new event. âWe covered a wide range of topics so it felt like there was really something for everyoneâwhether you are a founder, someone generally interested in tech, or someone looking to break into venture capitalâyou could find value attending the conference sessions.âĚý
The Solstice conference took the place of what the center previously called Entrepreneurship Week. Typically held as one-off events over the course of a week each September, Entrepreneurship Week was organized to allow students to trickle in and out for talks and workshops amid their busy academic schedules. Solstice, instead, aims to offer a gathering place for students who want to take a deep dive into entrepreneurship, share ideas and innovate over the course of an entire weekend. By holding the event in a conference format, the Shea Center is also able to expand their reach to students and young professionals outside the Boston College community.
Alex Park â24, co-chair of the Start@Shea executive board, predicted that the new conference will help Boston College students âpropel to the forefront of collegiate entrepreneurship.â He added, âI truly believe this is only the beginning for Boston Collegeâs entrepreneurship ecosystem, and I am excited for many more Solstice Conferences going forward as we look to encourage students to take bold risks and execute on their ideas.â
