Students can stroll through Gainesville’s startup central Thursday night.
The UF Entrepreneurship Club and the Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation are teaming up to visit about 30 businesses in a 1.5-mile walk for an event dubbed Startup Crawl.
It is a continuation of an event the club has been doing for five years, originally called the Startup Walk, said Ian Mitchell, president of the Entrepreneurship Club.
“The purpose of Startup Crawl is so that the Gainesville tech community, our startups, our campus, our Student Body and the community itself all can have an event they can rally around that really gives them a chance to check up on each other,” said the 20-year-old first-year UF international business graduate student.
Participants will visit major technology and startup companies between campus and downtown.
Startup Crawl has tour groups at 4:45, 5:15 and 5:45 p.m. The times are subject to change depending on the attendance, Mitchell said.
The event is free and open to the public, but participants are encouraged to RSVP on the Facebook page because there is a limit of 120 people.
David Nassau, a 19-year-old UF marketing sophomore, is involved in both the club and the Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. Nassau attends Startup Hour monthly and said his favorite thing is the people he meets.
“Gainesville is a cool place, and the people are even cooler,” Nassau said. “Especially when you’re in a room with people who had an idea and went forward with it.”
[A version of this story ran on page 3 on 4/16/2014 under the headline "Entrepreneurial students to explore startup central"]
