By Mackenzie Nichols

For the college-aged aspiring entrepreneur, this is the time to pursue innovative business ideas. Thousands attended the Forbes Under 30 Summit in Boston, and speakers presented their successful ventures and businesses to young entrepreneurial minded attendees, urging them to believe in their ideas. Mike Nelson, a computer science major from Northeastern University’s College of Computer and Information Science (CCIS), attended the event and obtained valuable advice that he hopes to incorporate into his academic and professional life.

The Forbes Under 30 Summit is an annual four-day tech and business related festival that took place this year on stages throughout Boston in October 2016. The stages were set up in colleges throughout the city and were labeled by content agenda: The Tech Stage, The Create Stage, The Capital Stage, and The Impact Stage. The Under 30 Village, set up in Boston’s Faneuil Hall, was a stage where attendees could relax and view small and large businesses that were tabling their products.

“The main message that [the hosts of the event] wanted to get out there was that these are real people and they did this, and you can do this, too, if you put in the hard work and effort,” Nelson says. “Most of the people presenting were only in their mid twenties, so I think they wanted to show [the attendees] that if you have a great idea, pursue it, follow it, and you could be up here on the stage.”

In fact, Nelson says, one presenter at the Summit was an attendee last year, and this year she was lecturing. The lecturer spoke about her education at Massachusetts Institute of Technology researching underwater autonomous robots that improve climate change studies by reporting sea level and habitat changes. She displayed one of the robots and presented a PowerPoint to investors onstage, and during the presentation she was approached by an investor who was interested in her project.

At the Under 30 Village in Faneuil Hall, smaller companies convened to introduce their innovations.

“One woman [At the Under 30 Village] had chips made out of crickets and was telling us about how her company was trying to get crickets introduced as a protein source,” Nelson says. “I thought that was interesting and they tasted really good. She seemed very motivated and wanted our feedback. She seemed very inspired to be there.”

The other stages were set at Emerson College, Northeastern University, and Harvard Business School. Nelson attended the presentations at the Tech Stage at Emerson College, where he watched noteworthy professionals speak about their success and give advice. Nelson says that the Tech Stage resembled a play or opera stage. On one side, chairs were set up with the names of the lecturers and their respective companies, and on the other side an alternative rock band played during the time between speakers.

Nelson was most interested in Ashton Kutcher and cofounder Guy Oseary’s presentation of their venture capital company Sound Ventures. By investing in businesses such as Uber, Spotify, and Airbnb, Sound Ventures expanded their original worth of $30 million to $250 million in just five years.

“The one thing that [Kutcher] said that was really important was to become a complete expert in your domain,” Nelson says. “He said to take a specific part of the industry that you want to change and learn everything possible about it. That’s how people who have start ups get to the next level.”

Nelson hopes to use the advice and wisdom he learned at the Summit moving forward at CCIS and beyond. He says that he has always been interested in looking out for new ideas for business ventures, and would want to go back to the Summit if the opportunity arises.

“There is no substitute for hard work,” Nelson says. “These people put in the effort, and if you do that then you can get something out of it. There are opportunities, and if you have an idea, these platforms are available as springboards out to next steps. If I have an idea in the future or if one of my friends wants to start something, then I know these opportunities are available for people who are still in college to go to the next level.”