Princeton Tiger Entrepreneurs Conference 2024

Join us for the next Tiger Entrepreneurs Conference that will be held on Princeton’s campus on April 18 and 19. Meet Princeton faculty, students, and fellow alumni making an innovation and entrepreneurial impact across the globe!

Princeton Entrepreneurship Council has organized four previous Tiger Entrepreneurs Conferences – one in Boston, one in Silicon Valley and San Francisco, and two in New York City – and is excited to bring the fifth conference to Princeton’s campus. This will provide the opportunity to highlight many of the exceptional academic entrepreneurs across many disciplines and engage undergraduate and graduate students with all of the alumni entrepreneurs participating in and attending the conference.

VIEW FULL SCHEDULE AND AGENDA HERE.

The highlights of the conference include the following:

Thursday, April 18

The conference kicks off on Thursday, April 18 in the late afternoon with an alumni startup showcase. Six founders will present to the audience and answer questions. This diverse group of entrepreneurs is leading startups across a range of industry sectors and developing impactful new technologies.

Following the showcase, join us in the tent at McCosh courtyard for a festive opening evening reception to network with fellow alumni founders and investors, faculty and students, and guests. Food and drink will fuel the opportunity to connect with old and new friends and begin to learn about the incredible innovation occurring across Princeton’s campus and which is one of the conference’s themes.

Friday, April 19

Following breakfast in the McCosh tent, we’ll convene to hear from Craig Arnold, Princeton’s Vice Dean for Innovation, who will provide an overview of the spectrum of Princeton innovation and entrepreneurship initiatives led by faculty researchers and who are in many cases spinning out these technologies for the benefit of society. The pace of innovation at Princeton is accelerating rapidly and Craig’s remarks will shine a light on this momentum.

Next up will be an exciting faculty and alumni panel on artificial intelligence. As you may know, Princeton recently announced two new initiatives, an AI Innovation Hub in collaboration with the State of New Jersey, and Princeton Language + Intelligence, a new interdisciplinary organization with significant funding to explore the inner workings of large language models, the fairness and equity considerations that must become part of AI-based solutions, and some exciting use cases. The panel will explore these topics with perspectives from both founders and funders, and will be moderated by an alumnus partner involved in the AI practice at Cooley LLC, as the legal issues in this rapidly transforming space are also top-of-mind.

A coffee/networking break will be followed by two fireside chats with faculty entrepreneurs: one in the biotech sector and the other in the blockchain space. Princeton's leadership in both of these strategic areas is noteworthy. In the life sciences, faculty leading Princeton’s research and innovation across fields including bioengineering (Omenn-Darling Bioengineering Institute), molecular biology, genomics, and precision health (Princeton Precision Health) are contributing to many facets of improved human health. Princeton's recently launched Center for the Decentralization of Power Through Blockchain Technologies (Princeton DeCenter) focuses on the technology and its uses as well as on economics, governance, and policies.

A favorite entrepreneurial discussion organized as part of a Tiger Entrepreneurs Conference is the convening of several talented alumni venture capitalists for a fast-paced conversation sharing insights around the investment trends and opportunities in the VC industry they see and particularly those in the various sectors discussed during the conference, the political and global headwinds and tailwinds, and challenges raising and deploying funds in the current environment.

Following lunch, another cornerstone of each Princeton entrepreneurial conference is the opportunity to shine a light on entrepreneurs across the arts and humanities. This year's panel exploring the topic of Generational Perspectives on Mission-Driven Entrepreneurship, will be comprised of several diverse, multi-generational alumni who have founded and/or are leading amazing organizations making impactful contributions in their respective fields.

We will then shift to the new energy and climate tech sectors, in which Princeton faculty and alumni are making huge contributions. The innovations and impact flowing from the various strategic initiatives at Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) are incredible, from new fusion technologies and various energy strategies to a new innovation center. Steven Cowley, Director of PPPL, will discuss these exciting initiatives and their climate impact.

Then, a team of alumni climate tech specialists – representing startups, policy, and venture capital – will speak to Climate Tech Headwinds and Tailwinds in 2024 and share their views of trends, opportunities, and challenges in the current sustainability markets. Princeton's focus, including at High Meadows Environmental Institute and Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, represents a major thrust driving sustainability initiatives and climate change.

The programming portion of the conference then concludes with an exceptional panel of faculty and alumni researchers and founders exploring quantum technology and entrepreneurship, including Andrew Houck, alumnus, professor, and co-director of the Princeton Quantum Initiative. The conversation will explore the many new horizons of quantum science that promise enormous potential.

Throughout the day, in addition to these educational and thought-provoking discussions, several workshops are available for your participation. These will include:

• Cultivating an Entrepreneurial Mindset

• Conducting Effective Customer Discovery

• Developing Your Startup’s Funding Strategy
• Understanding the Process to Spin-Out University Technology (a Princeton case study)

Afterward, we will conclude the conference with a closing networking reception. If there is no need to immediately catch a train or flight, spend your remaining time with fellow alumni and students to reflect on the many discussions and conversations of the day and how you might want to further engage with them.

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Speaking of travel and logistics, whether you arrive by car or train or plane, all activities and programs of the Tiger Entrepreneurs Conference are conveniently located in the McCosh “neighborhood”. It's a very short TigerTransit bus shuttle ride (Princeton's 100% electric bus fleet) from both the Stadium Parking Garage (if you drive) and the Princeton Train Station (if you arrive by train or plane/train).

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VIEW FULL SCHEDULE AND AGENDA HERE.

Please reach out to Anne-Marie Maman at amaman@princeton.edu or Don Seitz at donseitz@princeton.edu with any questions.

To request disability-related accommodations, please contact Neal Bituin, fbituin@princeton.edu no later than three working days prior to the event.

*Please be advised that certain portions of the conference will be videotaped and photographs will be taken for educational and promotional purposes only.