Inspiration in New York City
In mid-April, five members of the class of 2017, along with faculty members Lyn Lord and Dan Weintraub (Donald P. Herzig History Department Chair), and Trustee Chris Yoshida ’96, attended the annual Kairos Society Global Summit in New York City.
The Kairos Society is an organization founded in 2009 by Ankur Jain, a former Wharton Economics student who saw great success in the app development industry. Kairos aims to guide and advise young entrepreneurs who seek to solve global issues like clean water, global warming, and rising energy prices. Some examples of Karios-assisted companies include; Owlet, developers of the Smart Sock baby monitor and Digital Genius, integrators of artificial intelligence into the customer service industry.
Yoshida, a senior advisor to the Kairos Society, comments, “Young graduates today should explore broader horizons than banking and finance. There’s so much more you can do than sit at a regulated desk in a regulated entity. You can make a difference!”
The Kairos Global Summit is a two-day event. “The first day we were at the top of the World Trade Center,” described All School Co-President, Matt ’17. “That was a time for young entrepreneurs to connect with investors. There were 10 or 15 different panels of industry leaders: The President of Verizon, the CTO of Amazon.com, the CEO of FourSqaure. They each answered the question, ‘what is the one area where young entrepreneurs should focus their efforts?’ Many spoke about Climate Change or water pollution, which stood out to me.”
Each year, Kairos selects 50 college students that show entrepreneurial promise to join their fellowship. The resources provided by the fellowship include mentorship, lessons on how to pitch their ideas, and introductions to potential angel investors. On the second day of the summit, the Kairos Fellows participate in “a business fair on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange,” explains Matt. “We got to go around and speak with the different companies. We tried to hit all 50.”
Matt’s major lesson from the Kairos Global Summit; “I learned the importance of being able to relate to people in a short period of time. It’s really important to be able to communicate your ideas and who you are quickly and fully.”
Thank you, Chris, for providing this incredible opportunity, and Matt, for sharing your experience.
The Kairos Society is an organization founded in 2009 by Ankur Jain, a former Wharton Economics student who saw great success in the app development industry. Kairos aims to guide and advise young entrepreneurs who seek to solve global issues like clean water, global warming, and rising energy prices. Some examples of Karios-assisted companies include; Owlet, developers of the Smart Sock baby monitor and Digital Genius, integrators of artificial intelligence into the customer service industry.
Yoshida, a senior advisor to the Kairos Society, comments, “Young graduates today should explore broader horizons than banking and finance. There’s so much more you can do than sit at a regulated desk in a regulated entity. You can make a difference!”
The Kairos Global Summit is a two-day event. “The first day we were at the top of the World Trade Center,” described All School Co-President, Matt ’17. “That was a time for young entrepreneurs to connect with investors. There were 10 or 15 different panels of industry leaders: The President of Verizon, the CTO of Amazon.com, the CEO of FourSqaure. They each answered the question, ‘what is the one area where young entrepreneurs should focus their efforts?’ Many spoke about Climate Change or water pollution, which stood out to me.”
Each year, Kairos selects 50 college students that show entrepreneurial promise to join their fellowship. The resources provided by the fellowship include mentorship, lessons on how to pitch their ideas, and introductions to potential angel investors. On the second day of the summit, the Kairos Fellows participate in “a business fair on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange,” explains Matt. “We got to go around and speak with the different companies. We tried to hit all 50.”
Matt’s major lesson from the Kairos Global Summit; “I learned the importance of being able to relate to people in a short period of time. It’s really important to be able to communicate your ideas and who you are quickly and fully.”
Thank you, Chris, for providing this incredible opportunity, and Matt, for sharing your experience.
