On March 22nd, the MITX Future Leaders Group invited college students to form teams of 2-5 people and participate in an all-day hackathon to "experience the life of a startup entrepreneur." One of our fabulous FLGers, Anumn Hussain, Inbound Content Strategist at HubSpot, recaps this awesome event for us below.
Anum Hussain is an inbound marketing manager at HubSpot, working specifically on Signals, a new chrome extension for salespeople. Anum is also the director of marketing for MIST and lecturer at the Isenberg School of Management. She was recently honored at The White House as an emerging Muslim woman leader in business. You can connect with her @anum on Twitter.
40 students. 12 hours. 7 pitches. 6 mentors. 5 judges. 4 speakers.
These numbers accurately represent an exhilarating and exhausting day of connecting undergraduate students to the tech and marketing scene in Boston.
Truth is, marketing has changed. Marketing is still changing -- but the undergraduate classroom experience is not reflective of the transforming marketing landscape.
Over the past few years, technology has transformed business, and today’s CMO has to embody CTO-like perspective and understanding.
And this altering industry is why the 2013 Class of MITX Future Leaders hosted an event targeted to marketing communication students -- to expose these students to the marketing, technology, and startup scene in Boston that they have yet to be introduced to.
Students from Emerson College, Northeastern University, and Boston University gathered for a “business hackathon” -- Hack the Campus Bubble. Students worked on developing their own business or startup, guided by expert guest speaker presentations and mentorship from the Future Leaders. At the culmination of the event, student teams debuted their unique ideas in a pitching competition to an esteemed group of judges from Boston-area companies.
Here’s a 2-minute glimpse into our day:
After surveying students, every single one said they would attend the event again, and that this event was important to their growth as it exposed them to a world of business they were not getting in the classroom.
Here’s more from attendees of our event on Twitter:
NUMA Eboard having a blast at @MITX Hack the Campus Bubble #marketing pic.twitter.com/CvXJisNSCx
— NUMA (@NU_AMA) March 22, 2014
workinnn my brain muscles at the @MITX Hackathon ??@SGBeepat @EmersonCollege @SMack_xc @cwes93 @emilycfeldman
— Olivia Martiniello (@_OliveMartini) March 22, 2014
Having an awesome time at #MITX hackathon! Thank you @HubSpot, @DunkinDonuts, Bingham, and @hireminds for making it possible!
— Cambria Davies (@cambriaitalic) March 22, 2014
"Whenever someone comes to you with a problem, just ask yourself what a little kid would do." -@danwolch at @MITX hackathon. #advice #quotes
— Anum Hussain (@anum) March 22, 2014
Fun day mentoring students as they build new businesses/startups at our @MITX hackathon.
— sasha hoffman (@sashaphoffman) March 22, 2014
Had an awesome day framing the problem and a solution for #Boston #BrainDrain at the @MITX marketing hackathon! Cc @anum @arielrwinton
— Matt Bilotti (@MattBilotti) March 23, 2014
Had such a crazy, challenging, inspiring day @HubSpot today for @MITX #Hackathon! Thank you so much @anum and everyone else involved!
— Fiona Gilmore (@fionacarmel) March 23, 2014
What a privilege to see so many awesome pitches! Big props @anum and @MITX for putting on such a killer #hackathon yesterday. #funcubator
— Dan Choi (@choibles) March 23, 2014
Excited to be speaking at #MITX Hackathon @dialexa (at @HubSpot w/ 2 others) http://t.co/8VA7QYWHpf
— Jeanette C. (@jeanettec007) March 22, 2014
It was my pleasure. A very impressive group of college students and amazing support from the FLG team @anum @MITX @choibles @marissalowman
— Jacqueline Hampton (@jacq_hampton) March 24, 2014
The winning team from Northeastern has won complimentary tickets to the 2014 FutureM conference.
