Join us in the downstairs in the basement of the Friend Center for breakfast.

Concurrent Session 1 -- Inside the Classroom: How We Teach High Tech Entrepreneurship at Princeton with Chris Kuenne ’85 P17 P23

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In this 50-minute MasterClass, Keller Center Lecturer Chris Kuenne will lead an abbreviated class focused on Harvard Business School’s FreshTec case. Prior students from Chris’ EGR 491 class will participate in the class for roughly half the time to show how Chris uses the case method to teach the following principles:

• What is an ecosystem and how does it work?
• How do profit margin, risk and market forces affect the power dynamics across the players in the ecosystem?
• What is the biggest challenge in commercializing FreshTec’s product?
• Among the growers, brokers and retailers, who is best positioned to create and capture value through FreshTec’s product?
• Following the 25-minute case study demonstration, Chris and his former students will open the session up to questions from the audience.

When you register for the conference, you will have the opportunity to order a digital copy of the HBS case study, if you have an interest to read it prior to this class.

Concurrent Session #2 -- Workshop: How to Pitch Your Startup to Family Offices 

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Family offices can be an excellent source of funding and support for startup companies, social enterprises and investment funds at all stages – often rivaling angel investors and VCs. But is this the right path for your startup?

In this workshop you will learn about the types of startups that are most successful in getting backing from family offices and the best practices for successfully targeting and pitching a startup to family offices.

Topics covered may include:

• What are family offices and how do they differ from other types of investors?
• Why do family offices invest in startups?
• What are the characteristics of successful pitches to family offices?
• Tailoring your pitch to the specific needs and interests of individual and multi-family offices
• Building relationships and networking with family offices
• Understanding the due diligence process
• Addressing common concerns and objections of family offices
• Navigating the negotiation and closing process

Stephen K. Shueh '97, founder and Managing Partner of Roundview Capital

Concurrent Session #1 -- Social Impact Experiences Through Summer Internships

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Throughout the year, Princeton Entrepreneurship Council is organizing a number of alumni events focusing on social entrepreneurship and social impact ventures. For this Reunions conference, we thought it would interesting to invite several undergraduates who have participated in a summer internship opportunity offered by PICS (Princeton Internships in Civic Service).

PICS is now part of a new and broader Princeton initiative called LENS (Learning and Education Through Service), designed to enable every Princeton undergraduate to have the opportunity to participate in a paid service internship.

Learn about these types of internship opportunities and hear from undergraduates joining us at this session who will describe their experiences and interests in investing a summer in the social impact space.

Emily Sharples, Class of 1969 PICS Program Director, will moderate this discussion and Q&A.

Concurrent Session #2 -- Workshop: How to Perform Customer Discovery to Find True Product:Market Fit 

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Whether you are at the beginning of the startup process or your startup already has paying customers, all successful startups need to know how to continually create products and services that engage and delight their current and future customers. Customer Discovery is the process by which you understand your target customers’ wants and needs, develop compelling products and services that they will want to purchase, and avoid costly mistakes.

Join Genevieve Ryan Bellaire ’11, Founder and CEO of Realworld, to learn best practices for conducting effective customer discovery and leveraging the insights you gather to create a stronger customer offering.

Concurrent Session #3 -- Generative AI: The Good, The Bad and the Precarious Edges

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This panel will discuss the rapid developments in generative and explainable AI, the advances and pitfalls of GPT and related technologies, the ethical implications, and perspectives from Princeton startup founders in the space. It’s all the rage since OpenAI, recently acquired by Microsoft, released ChatGPT and with other big tech companies responding with their own solutions and applications s across a range of use cases and industry sectors.

Moderated by Don Seitz '79, the panelists include:

Arvind Narayanan, Professor of Computer Science at Princeton University and effective July 2023, Director of the Center for Information Technology Policy, studies the societal impact of digital technologies and particularly AI. Among many initiatives, he is leading a book project to dispel the hype, remove misconceptions, and clarify the limits of AI.

Ruth Fong, a teaching faculty member in the Department of Computer Science, leads Princeton's Looking Glass Lab and collaborates with the Visual AI Lab. Her research and teaching focus on computer vision, machine learning, and explainable AI.

David W. Miller, Director of Princeton's Faith & Work Initiative, researches ethics issues from a number of perspectives and teaches both undergraduate and graduate student classes on the topic.

Two student founders:

• Edward Tian '23, founder of GTPZero, an app that sniffs out bot-written text in educational settings and other use cases
• Mayank Agrawal, a Ph.D. student in psychology and neuroscience, co-founder of an AI-tech enabled startup rethinking the field of market research

Engage with and learn more about Princeton startups and then vote for your favorite. Each founder will staff a table at which you can discuss one-on-one his/her startup. Three startups with the most votes will then participate in the Startup Competition later in the afternoon.

The startups:

• 1M3
• Afriex
• AquaSky Launch Innovations
• Butter
• Flux Marine
• FMI Technologies LLC
• Green, Set, & Match
• Hempitecture
• Jaide Health
• Lambent Data, Inc.
• Metropolis World
• MoVA (Museum of Virtual Arts)
• MUDZIMU
• Roundtable
• Tiger Testing
• WeatherTiger, LLC

Read more about the startups

This panel of VC professionals will discuss the headwinds facing the investor industry and the entrepreneurs seeking capital. Starting with the pandemic, current economic forces and rising interest rates are leading to downward valuation adjustments and banking industry turmoil which are contributing to new uncertainties for the startup sector. The panelists will discuss these various dynamics and assess today's investing market for early-stage startups as well as growth and later-stage companies.

The panel will include Joy Marcus '83, Co-Founder and General Partner of The 98; Ita Ekpoudom '03, Partner at Gingerbread Capital; and Luke Armour '13, Founder and Managing Partner at Chaac Ventures.

The conversation will be moderated by Kyle Corcoran '03, Managing Director, Head of Disruptive Commerce & Technology Investment Banking at Morgan Stanley.

Grab lunch and engage with Princeton startup founders at the Startup Showcase.

Join a discussion and Q&A with Craig B. Arnold, Vice Dean for Innovation, and Tom Meyer '87, Managing Partner, Nassau Street Ventures, part of Alumni Ventures Group.

The three finalists (as voted by attendees during the Startup Showcase) will pitch to the audience and compete for the grand prize. A panel of judges (TBA) will then select and recognize the winner. Hosted by Mayra Ceja '03 and Eric Sharret '02.

We welcome the entire Princeton entrepreneurial community to gather and celebrate Princeton founders, funders and the entrepreneurially curious. Co-hosted by Princeton Entrepreneurship Council, Princeton Alumni Angels and Princeton Entrepreneurs' Network.