VT’s Apex Center

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ENTREPRENEURIAL ENERGY AT NEW OFF-CAMPUS APEX CENTER

By Jennifer Poff Cooper

There’s a new home for Hokies seeking a physical location to meet, put their heads together, and receive needed support and advice for their startup companies.

Virginia Tech’s Apex Center for Entrepreneurs is a 6,000-square-foot technology-enabled, posh space located above PK’s Bar & Grill at 432 North Main Street in Blacksburg. Apex opened at this new location on September 20. The Apex Center, which is under the umbrella of the Pamplin College of Business, provides programs and support to students who want to become entrepreneurs. Apex was launched in 2014 inside a small, 500-square-foot office space in Pamplin Hall. The program has grown rapidly and is one of the reasons that the Princeton Review ranked Virginia Tech number 25 in undergraduate entrepreneurship programs last year.

The concept was the vision of Robert Sumichrast, dean of the Pamplin College of Business, said Derick Maggard, Executive Director of the Apex Center for Entrepreneurs. Maggard is a Tech alum with a graduate degree in Industrial and Systems Engineering who himself had been owner of many companies. He was Executive Director of the Roanoke-Blacksburg Technology Council when Sumichrast hired him as the founding

executive director of the new center. The center received a big boost in 2015 with a $5 million endowment from the founders of Apex Systems.

The first year, the center worked with 135 students. Today it works with approximately 3,500 Virginia Tech students annually and at least 40 startup teams a semester, groups that it coins its Startup Hokies community.

The Startup Hokies community is where students who are interested in entrepreneurship can come to learn about how to start a business and see the full portfolio of programs that Apex offers, including mentorships and possible seed funding.

Now, in its much larger home, the center’s staff and students can collaborate, and the center can host workshops, pitch competitions, and other programs. Previously, Apex had to host student programs in locations such as auditoriums and classrooms throughout campus. The constant shifting caused confusion and missed opportunities for students, said Maggard.

“Previously we were like a chef operating in a borrowed kitchen,” he said. “Now we are the cooks in our own kitchen.”

Through the new space and Startup Hokies programs, students can meet others interested in starting businesses. Also, those who are actively working on a new venture can participate in more formal programming, such as the incubator or accelerator programs. Startup teams are selected for the incubator or accelerator programs depending on the stage of their business.

Though the majority of Apex students come from Pamplin or the College of Engineering, often the student business teams that win pitch competitions comprise Hokies from more than a few disciplines. This interdisciplinary aspect makes the Apex Center “very different” from similar centers at other universities.

“Any Hokie, any major, any year” can participate, said Maggard. By serving

Derick Maggard

all students across campus, the center promotes networking among disciplines and breaks down barriers between them.

In talking with students from other schools, Isabella Rossi, Marketing and Communications Coordinator, said, “The resources with Apex are broader and more beneficial than at other universities.”

Another unique aspect of Apex is that it is “entirely experiential,” said Maggard. Students receive no credit or pay but rather choose to spend their time building this skill set. “Students want to put into practice what they learn in the classroom,” Maggard said.

When asked about the biggest challenge the center faces, Maggard quickly answered: funding. In the list of the top 50 entrepreneurship programs, Apex was the center with the smallest budget. “That speaks to how scrappy we are,” said Maggard, “but it puts us at a disadvantage.”

Financial sustainability is a top objective moving forward. The center is privately funded by corporate sponsors and philanthropists, except for a small slice from Dean Sumichrast’s budget. Awareness is another objective. The goal is to increase the center’s visibility of entrepreneurship and innovation to the public and to be accessible to the student teams that Apex serves. Said Maggard, “We want to be the destination of choice for student entrepreneurs.”