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Starting a Company in 3 Days

3/11/2019

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Starting classes at university level was something I was truly excited about when I finally finished my associate’s degree. I really imagined and expected fresh, adventurous, and challenging opportunities to grow as a student and eventually, a professional. The idea of being able to learn about a future career path, however, through reading and homework assignments can be only so much exciting. Actual fun, if continuously and strictly searched this way, can be limited, even nonexistent. As adolescence fades and adulthood emerges, we sometimes falsely assume that fun must be sacrificed in order to handle responsibilities. Starting school at a University and being exposed to new opportunities were almost one and the same thing. Taking advantage of opportunities to test character and compliment the education that cannot be learned in a class room can indeed be a fun way to learn about entrepreneurship, investors’ interests, and storytelling.
What 3DS is

The 3-day-startup project is a 72 hour workshop designed to help university students start companies. Members of the Regional Economic Development Association, (REDA) team up with the Austin education program 3DS to invite local students with an entrepreneurial spirit learn 3 months' work of starting a company in 3 days. Every spring, students at Utep sign up for a chance to develop and idea or a solution to a common problem, with the intent to develop it into a market opportunity. This year, REDA and 3DS would like to extend the chance to enroll to others who are not enrolled in the university and limit the scope of the problems to clean technology specific start-ups.
Over the course of 72 hours: participants discuss problems and potential solutions, form teams, and build a pitch deck. Participants who don’t necessarily have a strong idea at the beginning of the event may join a team who does. Even a vague idea, however, mixed with a strong desire to learn what it is like to start a company can be sufficient and indeed worth signing up for such great experience.

Once a couple of ideas have been selected and everyone has a team, the learning experience begins. Joining 3DS as a participant, has been one of the most intense things I’ve had the chance to go through in college. On the very first day, after being asked to explain in one sentence what problem our company intended to solve, my brain started to function strangely and set into a state of flow.

On day two, we learned about things like customer discovery, customer validation, prototyping, and what investors thought of our ideas. Most of the tasks that need to be thought of and completed, when laid out seem complicated-- especially against something abstract like an idea. Mentors at 3DS, however, bring the kind of feedback and insight that excite participants toward more clearly defining what or how proposed solutions make the dream work.
Team work and individuals’ levels of commitment toward achieving a goal can be seriously challenged during this workshop. Still, the feeling of legitimate growth usually abounds in a setting like that of 3DS.
Engaging in critical thinking while actively searching for answers to then present to a group of investors and judges is not something one does for fun.
This workshop, however, is a platform to do something difficult and intense in a rather amusing yet truly challenging way. If you have never taken on this challenging way of coming up with answers, you’ll feel and know this by the time the weekend is over. Seriously, just listening to other passionate individuals pitches and developing your own is a vibe you’ll find missing after just three days.
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3daystartup.org
Little by little participants who are initially clueless as to how to build a pitch deck, learn this valuable skill toward the end of the workshop.

The skills participants can and should expect to acquire or polish are a reward in itself, in my opinion. Business classes hardly ever provide with a chance to really hone story telling skills. How are story telling skills relevant at all when it comes to business? Well, essential, really. Participating in 3DS made me realize how selling an idea actually happens. The concept is simple, an entrepreneur with an idea naturally believes his idea makes perfect logical sense to the investor and should be validated. However, what really actually gets people moving is adapting an idea that resonates with them emotionally. To do this, a story which creates emotional impact should be carefully delivered.

Bottom Line

It all comes down to what you, as a participant, really get to take with you from this experience.
From my own experience, I can guarantee participating is nothing you will regret. Meeting other students with the same entrepreneurial spirit is always a rewarding experience. This, coupled with the knowledge of three to six months’ worth of company building experience and you can start a team that will maybe one day generate lots of profit! So whether you want to benefit from this development of skills that ultimately compliments, and cannot be found in your higher education journey, or simply curious to see how an idea will be received, 3DS is the perfect place to do all that. Won’t you sign up?!

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    Luis Quintero

    Studies economics at the University of Texas at El Paso.

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  • Regional Identity Fall 2021
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    • NFTs and Crypto Assets
    • Amazon Distribution Center and its Economic Impact on the City of El Paso
    • The Holiday tale of Inflation, supply chain, and the Omicron variant
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    • Are Hospitals Spending Smart?
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    • Regional Organization Collaborates with Border Proud Students
  • Regional Identity Fall 2020
    • Voter Behavior During COVID-19
    • The Economic Impact of Restricted Borders in the U.S.
    • Rising Cost of Healthcare due to COVID-19
    • COVID: Consumer Behavior and Its Consequences
    • COVID-19 and Its Effect on the Gender Pay Gap
    • Amazon in the Borderplex Tristate 2021
    • Navigating the Election During COVID-19
  • Regional Identity Collection
    • RI - Fall 2019 >
      • Nobel Laureates Use Economics to Study Global Poverty Crisis
      • Acquisition of El Paso Electric
      • Effect on Retail Sales Post Walmart Shooting
      • Sun Country Montessori: Serving El Paso’s Children
      • Downtown El Paso: Construction Underway!
    • RI- Spring 2019 >
      • Starting a Company in 3 Days
    • RI - Spring 2017 >
      • The Cannabis Market in El Paso
      • A Gateway Opportunity: The Housing Authority
    • RI - Fall 2016 >
      • Border Crossing Visionary Meeting
      • Casas por Cristo
      • Go 10
      • The Reynolds Home
    • RI - April 2016 >
      • Argentina Anew
      • Dave & Buster's
      • The Economics of Coffee Shops
      • What a Hotel can do for a Community
      • Peso Devaluation
    • RI - February 2016 >
      • Bear Market: OIL
      • Carlos Bakery
      • Hispanic Enrollment Increases
      • Kopi Coffee
      • Toll Lanes
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      • Blake’s Lotaburger
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      • Man with a Vision
      • Mount Cristo Rey
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  • Regional Identity Spring 2022
    • Post Pandemic Consumer Spending
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    • Editor Selects
    • Economic models, GDP and the Quality of Life: A Commentary
    • NFTs and Crypto Assets
    • Amazon Distribution Center and its Economic Impact on the City of El Paso
    • The Holiday tale of Inflation, supply chain, and the Omicron variant
    • Coronavirus and the Economy
  • Regional Identity Spring 2021
    • Incorporation of Sustainability in the Business World
    • Financial Markets in the United States
    • Are Hospitals Spending Smart?
    • What Vaccines Could Mean for Air Travel
    • Let’s Talk About Inflation during the COVID-19 Pandemic
    • Regional Organization Collaborates with Border Proud Students
  • Regional Identity Fall 2020
    • Voter Behavior During COVID-19
    • The Economic Impact of Restricted Borders in the U.S.
    • Rising Cost of Healthcare due to COVID-19
    • COVID: Consumer Behavior and Its Consequences
    • COVID-19 and Its Effect on the Gender Pay Gap
    • Amazon in the Borderplex Tristate 2021
    • Navigating the Election During COVID-19
  • Regional Identity Collection
    • RI - Fall 2019 >
      • Nobel Laureates Use Economics to Study Global Poverty Crisis
      • Acquisition of El Paso Electric
      • Effect on Retail Sales Post Walmart Shooting
      • Sun Country Montessori: Serving El Paso’s Children
      • Downtown El Paso: Construction Underway!
    • RI- Spring 2019 >
      • Starting a Company in 3 Days
    • RI - Spring 2017 >
      • The Cannabis Market in El Paso
      • A Gateway Opportunity: The Housing Authority
    • RI - Fall 2016 >
      • Border Crossing Visionary Meeting
      • Casas por Cristo
      • Go 10
      • The Reynolds Home
    • RI - April 2016 >
      • Argentina Anew
      • Dave & Buster's
      • The Economics of Coffee Shops
      • What a Hotel can do for a Community
      • Peso Devaluation
    • RI - February 2016 >
      • Bear Market: OIL
      • Carlos Bakery
      • Hispanic Enrollment Increases
      • Kopi Coffee
      • Toll Lanes
    • RI - Fall 2015 >
      • Blake’s Lotaburger
      • Creating a Successful Business
      • Man with a Vision
      • Mount Cristo Rey
      • The Missing 43
  • About Us
  • Events
  • Contact
  • Blog