Over 100 students, investors and entrepreneurs gathered on Thursday evening to learn about the ways to get small businesses on their feet.

The forum, held in the Symposium Hall at the Innovative Technologies Complex, was a collaboration between the Office of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Partnerships (OEIP) and the Upstate Venture Association of New York (UVANY), which is a private, statewide organization that aims to advance venture capital and investments.

Jennifer Tegan, the president of UVANY, said this event allowed them to spread their reach into the Binghamton area. UVANY aims to bring together investors and entrepreneurs to help grow start-ups in New York. Tegan said they hope to make it known that there is a capital out there for start-ups.

“UVANY came about some 15 years ago basically to bring those people together, to start saying ‘no, we are open for business,’” she said. “There are deals happening in upstate New York, there are entrepreneurs who need funding.”

Laura Holmes, the program associate in the Office of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Partnerships, said the event allows BU to showcase its start-up companies as well as facilitate networking. The focus, Holmes said, was on economic development and educating students on how to network and expand their business acumen.

“I hope they gain knowledge about not only crowdfunding, but our office,” Holmes said. ”We’re having a really hard time reaching the students on campus, letting them know we are here to support them.”

The keynote speaker was John Vaskis, the senior director of hardware technology at website Indiegogo. He talked about crowdfunding, which is a method that can utilize social media to solicit funds to aid in the development and marketing of a product. He said that there are many options for crowdfunding on social media, such as Indiegogo, which allows for a one-on-one discussion about a specific project.

Vaskis emphasized the importance of making people aware of the product before bringing it to the market. This strategy allows the business to gain feedback on what consumers want, as well as investigate if there is a market for the product. He said he hopes students understand the importance of crowdfunding before launching their product.

“Things that I’m really going to push for is things you do prior to that campaign,” he said. “What we see a lot of people do is they run their campaign and they don’t tell anyone about it prior to launch.”

Nathan Sprague, a senior majoring in business administration, said that these forums are important networking tools. Sprague, who owns both a photography and business card business, said that the event was useful for any entrepreneur at BU.

“[Events like this] are great, it gets a lot of entrepreneurs together, networking possibilities can happen, new relationships can form,” Sprague said. “From an entrepreneurial standpoint, the more people that start businesses in college, or at least are inspired to do so, the better impact it can have on at least the local economy.”