Dust off your sneakers and bust out the jumping jacks, because BUILD Boston is preparing for its first annual Entrepreneurs Olympics this Thursday, August 1! The Entrepreneurs Olympics is hosted by our friends at TUGG, MassChallenge, New England Venture Capital Association, Plastiq, and T3 Advisors, as well as sponsored by Bain Capital Ventures, State Street, and many others. In true Olympic spirit, the event promises both feats of athletic wonder and the comedic acts of the not-so-athletic, yet whether participant or spectator, running sensation or brain teaser extraordinaire, all will come together for a truly entertaining time to benefit a good cause—BUILD Boston’s youth program. Featuring a wide range of events from helicopter racing and origami folding to a 60-yard dash and a 5K, there’s a little something for every one of our diverse crowd of attendees. In preparation for the event, we decided to interview some of our participants to see how they’re getting prepared for one of BUILD’s biggest events of the year.
Our first stop was BUILD’s very own Boston office, where some of our BUILD Fellows are working over the summer. We talked to Kimerah and Cendy, two of our rising E3’s, about what they’re working on and why they are excited for the Entrepreneurs Olympics.
Kimerah will be at the event selling DePENdables, the product her team developed over the course of the year. “It’s a pen you can attach to whatever, so it solves the problem of having to ask someone for a pen. It has a retractor that extends as far as you want to go, and when you press a button it comes back. It’s famous at school, my friends have it and teachers love it—some even buy in bulk!” said Kimerah. When asked about her selling strategy at the event, she emphasized the importance of her team: “I’m not that good at talking at people, so if I was doing it alone I wouldn’t like it. But when my team is there I feel cool and comfortable, everyone on my team feeds off of each other, which makes it a lot more fun.”
Though Cendy and her product Cookie Boss will not be selling at this event, she will still be very much involved in getting BUILD’s message out there: “[BUILD] is a good opportunity. Not every student in Boston gets this chance, so I want to take advantage of that”. All of our Fellows will be attending the event as BUILD ambassadors, so be sure to stop by to learn more about BUILD and their experiences.
Our next stop was to talk to Ben at the Startup Institute to see how one of our participant teams is getting ready. Are they blending up protein shakes and lifting weights on their water breaks? Not quite, says Ben, although he does say that he’s the designated coach for the team—“We plan on all getting together the day before and meeting each other and figuring out each other’s strengths—there’s one guy who’s already called dibs on the human orb event, and all he said was, ‘I don’t care what happens, I’m going to be in that ball’”. That type of determination definitely makes the Startup Institute a team to watch.
If you’d like to come see all of these exciting events in action, spectator tickets are still on sale for $20. Click the following link to learn more and buy tickets: https://www.fundraise.com/tugg-corp/1st-annual-entrepreneur-olympics
