Entrepreneurs will have an opportunity to pitch their business ideas to a panel of local funders at Blackstone LaunchPad's fourth annual Funding Symposium from 6-8 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 12, at the David Adamany Undergraduate Library. The panel will discuss the various funding options available to startups and small businesses including crowd funding, microloans, bank loans, angel investment and venture capital. Following the panel discussion, audience members will be invited to make brief pitches describing their product or service, its target market and how they would use financing. The panel will offer feedback. The event will conclude with a networking hour.

Scheduled panelists include representatives from Patronicity, Kiva Detroit, Comerica Bank, Detroit Development Fund, Growth Capital Network, Mission Throttle, Invest Detroit and Dynamic Wealth. 

"The goal of the Funding Symposium is to help startups and small businesses gain a better understanding of the funding landscape and establish a working relationship with potential funders," says Aubrey Agee, senior program administrator of Blackstone LaunchPad at WSU. "For some of our successful student entrepreneurs, this event is where their relationship with their funder began. The next one might be you." 

The Funding Symposium takes place in the Community Room of the David Adamany Undergraduate Library, 5150 Anthony Wayne Drive, in Detroit. The event is free and open to the public. Both student- and non-student entrepreneurs are encouraged to attend.

For more information, contact Aubrey Agee, senior program administrator, at aubrey.agee@wayne.edu.

Blackstone LaunchPad offers career guidance, resources and mentorship to entrepreneurs, innovators and inventors at Wayne State University. Blackstone LaunchPad's mission is to show Wayne State University students that starting a new venture is a legitimate career path and attainable reality. Since 2011, WSU's Blackstone LaunchPad has helped launch 137 student ventures, 50 percent of which are now generating revenue and helping to strengthen Detroit's and Michigan's economy. Blackstone LaunchPad is supported by the Blackstone Charitable Foundation and the New Economy Initiative.

Wayne State University is a premier urban research institution offering more than 370 academic programs through 13 schools and colleges to nearly 28,000 students.