Last week, a group of Smith Soc members from across the country embarked on a weeklong trek to Israel. Over the course of the trip, members unraveled how Israel became the Startup Nation—meeting with representatives from venture capital, startups, government, and the media, including the Jerusalem Post. Members toured Old City Jerusalem and met with the former chief scientist of the Israeli Ministry of Economy. The group also visited JVP, a prominent venture capital firm, and Mobileye, a leading autonomous vehicle company.
Aspiring for variety,
We look at autonomy
Within the economy.
I hope it brings notoriety!
—Limerick by UVA Darden member James (Asher) Begley
More than a dozen Smith Soc members trekked to Palm Springs, California, for a weekend of discussion with scholar and investor George Gilder on the disruptive potential of blockchain technology.
Members from our 2018 Chapter Award winning chapters—BYU, Northwestern Kellogg, and UVA Darden—attended the 2018 GrowCo Conference on May 30-31. The event, sponsored by Inc.
To conclude a busy month for Smith Soc, our Texas chapters convened in downtown Austin to discuss entrepreneurship and innovation. Members from our student chapters at SMU, Baylor, UT Austin, and Rice gathered with our professional chapters in Austin, Dallas, and Houston for two days of interacting and learning.
The event kicked off with a rooftop cocktail reception on Thursday evening, where members were able to converse over drinks and food.
On Tuesday evening, July 25th, Smith Soc's NYC Professional Chapter hosted a panel discussion that considered the future of New York's tech sector in at a venue on the west side of Midtown Manhattan.
The San Francisco Professional Chapter held its 2017 Summer Reception on Thursday July 20th. The reception featured a conversation with Joe Lonsdale, one of the co-founders of Palantir. Lonsdale also is a co-founder of 8VC and helped launch a number of other multi-billion dollar companies, including Formation 8, Addepar, and OpenGov.
The Adam Smith Society's Austin Chapter opened the Smith Soc Summer Receptions series with a happy hour reception on Tuesday evening, July 18.
On Tuesday, April 4th, the Adam Smith Society chapter at Duke University Fuqua School of Business welcomed entrepreneur and angel investor Christina Bechhold to campus. She is Co-Founder and Managing Director of Empire Angels, a venture capital and angel investing firm.
As 2016 has drawn to a close, tech industry insiders increasingly have been wondering if the "sharing economy" has hit its peak. Has the market become saturated with new start-ups and apps? What is the future of companies operating in this space?