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Duke Entrepreneurs Pitch Ideas, Make Contacts at Downtown Event

DukeGEN co-chair Howie Rhee welcomes participants to the innovation showcase Wednesday.  Photo by Megan Morr/Duke University Photography
DukeGEN co-chair Howie Rhee welcomes participants to the innovation showcase Wednesday. Photo by Megan Morr/Duke University Photography

More than 100 Duke students, alumni and others gathered in the new American Underground@Main facility in downtown Durham Wednesday evening to trade entrepreneurial ideas and make new contacts at an "innovation showcase."

Some of the students described their summer working with start-up companies in Durham or the San Francisco Bay Area, learning how to develop products, analyze markets, obtain financing and reach out to customers. The audience also cheered for several Duke graduates who described their success launching businesses and, in one recent case, selling a company for millions of dollars.

"Building this ecosystem and building what you all do has an unlimited payback" in terms of producing jobs for Durham and the region, Michael Goodmon of Capitol Broadcasting Co., one of several speakers at the event, told the audience.

"We're here to help you make more productive connections," said Howie Rhee, co-chair of the Duke Global Entrepreneurship Network (DukeGEN), which sponsored the event with Duke's Innovation and Entrepreneurship Initiative. DukeGEN also organized similar gatherings in other cities Wednesday evening.

Opened in July, the 22,000-square-foot American Underground facility on W. Main St. provides small offices and working space for about 40 start-up companies. It complements a similar entrepreneurial hub the group opened at the American Tobacco Campus in 2010.

Below: More than 100 people learned about Duke enterpreneurship during a showcase in the new downtown American Underground facility.  Photo by Megan Morr/Duke University Photography.

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