In early 2020, then Boston College undergraduate Maggie Yan, Carroll School of Management ’22, had an idea for a conference. She and the other new members of Start@Shea, the student executive board of the Edmund H. Shea Jr. Center for Entrepreneurship, had been tasked with creating an event that would welcome other newcomers to the Center. As she says, “Because we were inexperienced, we didn’t come with any pre-conceived ideas about what would and wouldn’t work. I said, ‘What if we just had a conference?’

“We have a beautiful campus and this great center for entrepreneurship that is so under the radar. We wanted to invite local Boston students and other young entrepreneurs and also to support freshmen. We thought it should be a fall event, when everyone has a fresh outlook on the year.”

Then the pandemic hit—so, in true entrepreneurial fashion, they pivoted.

“In the fall of 2020 and again in the fall of 2021, we held a weeklong virtual conference, called Entrepreneurship Week,” says Maggie. Finally, by the spring of 2022, everyone felt comfortable with the original idea of an in-person conference. Maggie agreed to stay on after graduation to spearhead it and planning began for the first annual Solstice, the Boston College Entrepreneurship Conference. She now serves as the Shea Center’s Entrepreneur in Residence; mounting the Solstice Conference is core to her role.  

Creating a conference from the ground up

The original eight-member planning team chose the name ‘Solstice’ as emblematic of a moment of change—and for its connection to the infinite possibilities of the universe. Colin Lee '23, Alina Yan '23, Chloe Chen '24, Alex Park '24, Julia Burdsall '25, Chris Carrabes '25, and Molly Dugan '25 met at night throughout the summer of 2022, often at 10 pm to accommodate a West Coast team member. Maggie notes, “With 2022 being our first year, we were figuring things out as we went along. It takes a lot to put on even a small event, much less something of this scope. It took the commitment of the full team to make the event successful.”

The first decision was the date; the team picked a football game day thinking it would encourage people to also attend the conference. They even hosted a tailgate along with the more traditional conference offerings of speakers, panel discussions, and workshops. The team also considered how to differentiate this conference from other events mounted by the Shea Center throughout the year.

Maggie explains, “Most typical entrepreneurship events are centered around venture capital and tech companies—which are the most visible part of the entrepreneurial world—but there is a lot more to entrepreneurship. We wanted to highlight all the places an entrepreneurial mindset can take you.” The team dug deep into their networks to find speakers and panelists outside the typical universe of Shea presenters.

Of course, even non-traditional start-ups look for funding, so the keynote speaker was Meagan Loyst, ’19, founder of Gen Z VCs. Another centerpiece of the 2022 Solstice Conference was a panel discussion with venture capital firms. But there was a range of atypical activities, too. In one workshop, randomly assigned teams took an idea from concept to execution in just three hours; in another, participants gained access to The Hatchery, where they used state-of-the-art equipment, such as 3D- and laser-printing machines, woodcutting technology, and sewing and embroidery equipment. And when participants learned to “pitch,” their target was business publications, not venture funds.