Venture Atlanta is “perhaps the premier early-stage funding conference in the Southeast”, said Andrews. “The students’ job was to meet with company founders and make preliminary recommendations about which companies we would continue to analyze during the balance of the semester.”

The students in this ENTP 452 class utilize their in-class knowledge and extracurricular opportunities to recommend start-ups for the HAN, a group of Stetson Alumni, to invest in. Over the past four years, the Hatter Angel Network has invested about $1.5 million in eight companies. 

This year, the students in the conference joined 1,400 investors, entrepreneurs, and executives in the venture capital industry. They were able to network, build relationships, and investigate companies that the Hatter Angel Network can invest in in the future.  

Glunt commented that “it was amazing to watch the transformation of our students over the 48-hour event.  For some, it is life changing… like a Taylor Swift concert experience, except it’s for capitalism!”  

Skye Shapiro, one of the students who took part in the trip, said: “this was a great trip, and I had the opportunity to present myself professionally to a network of investors and start-up companies. There was a ‘Women in Capital’ breakfast I attended, and I connected with many VC firms that could result in internships”. 

Since the conference, the students have been inviting selected companies to make a full presentation to the class via Zoom, and to address questions raised by the students relating to the investment potential of the company. Although the students’ flight back to Daytona Beach was cancelled when the hurricane closed the airport, they eventually all made it back safely. Andrews said that the extra time together fueled Stetson’s “relationship-rich” culture.    

More information about the Hatter Angel Network, including how to join, is available at hatterangelnetwork.com.