Students attend Quickbooks Connect Conference

Previous+%E2%80%9CShark+Tank%E2%80%9D+contestants+Romy+Taormina+of+PsiBands%2C+Julie+Goldman+of+The+Original+Runner+Co.%2C+Julie+Busha+of+Slawsa+and+Amy+Baxter+of+MMJ+Labs+partake+in+a+panel.+They+spoke+about+their+experiences+in+business+and+entrepreneurship+after+appearing+on+the+show.

Anvi Banga

Previous “Shark Tank” contestants Romy Taormina of PsiBands, Julie Goldman of The Original Runner Co., Julie Busha of Slawsa and Amy Baxter of MMJ Labs partake in a panel. They spoke about their experiences in business and entrepreneurship after appearing on the show.

by Anvi Banga, Aquila Asst. News Editor

Eighteen students attended the annual Quickbooks Connect Conference today at the San Jose Convention Center.

Attendees listened to a keynote speech, explored company booths and attended breakout sessions. The 76 companies with booths included large companies such as Chase and Paypal but also smaller accounting companies such as Expensify, Plooto and Zoho.

“I thought it was really cool. This year, it was mainly focused on accounting, and it was nice to see all the booths. They had an interactive virtual reality station, which was really nice too,” Aditi Ghalsasi (10) said. “Overall, it was a really great experience.”

The keynote speech which students attended featured journalist Lisa Ling interviewing Julie Rice, co-founder and CEO of SoulCycle, a fitness company which offers indoor cycling classes. She spoke about starting the company with co-founder Elizabeth Cutler and the ups and downs of being in charge of a small business.

“For Elizabeth and I, we were two women who were really looking for something more than exercise. We were looking for an experience where we could make friends, relieve stress and take an hour for ourselves and really feel like it was empowering us in a different way than just burning calories or checking it off the list,” Rice said. “What we really wanted to do was create human experience. We really saw that this could be used as an opportunity for people to belong to something, to feel empowered and connected to themselves and other people.”

Sessions included panels from contestants on the TV show “Shark Tank”, on which entrepreneurs pitch their products to a group of judges, and other small business owners as well as sessions based on accounting.

“My favorite part of the conference was the talk that we went to with the ‘Shark Tank’ speakers because it was really interesting to hear that although ‘Shark Tank’ can help a business grow, the entrepreneur still has to keep working hard at it,” Ayesha Baweja (10) said.

Attendees were given a two-day pass for today and tomorrow, and some students chose to attend the event on the second day as well on their own.

Anvi Banga
Attendees file into the Main Stage for the keynote address given by Julie Rice, co-founder and CEO of fitness company SoulCycle. Rice was one of 13 featured speakers at the event.