Wednesday, February 11, 2009

About the Duke Global Entrepreneurship Network

Wrote the following blurb about DukeGEN - thought it might be useful to post here as well.

For those of you that haven't joined or posted a question - check it out here: www.dukegen.com

-Howie

The Duke Global Entrepreneurship Network (DukeGEN) is an online network for Duke's community of entrepreneurs (both  alumni and students). Through DukeGEN, Duke entrepreneurs can both connect with other Duke entrepreneurs and get answers to their questions related to starting a company.

The goal of DukeGEN is "to be a sophisticated and active network that helps create debate, dialogue, and lucky encounters between Duke entrepreneurs."  Founded by Reid Lewis '84, Michael Cann '95, Jon Fjeld '90, and Howie Rhee '04, there is a small committed group of volunteers that are "providing the energy and coordination to encourage Duke entrepreneurs, around the globe, to connect and increase their chances of success."

Since DukeGEN was started in April of 2008, the group has successfully proven it's value to Duke's entrepreneurial community. Notably, DukeGEN now has over 700 members on LinkedIn (and about 90 on Facebook, and 188 members on the Google Group).  In addition, there are some good discussions going on (94 discussions on the Google Group, 26 on LinkedIn).  

Questions that have been posted on DukeGEN have ranged from "how to split equity between founders" to "whether the venture capital model is broken" to getting specific advice for starting companies in "wound care" and "apartment rentals".

All Duke alumni and students are welcome to join.  Go to www.dukeGEN.com for more information.

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