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Aspiring entrepreneurs heard from the startup expert himself, Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey.

More than 700 people attended the C100 AccelerateTO event recently at the Mattamy Athletic Centre. The C100 is a non-profit organization based in San Francisco and dedicated to connecting Canadian tech entrepreneurs with business opportunities in Silicon Valley. Its 100 charter members are executives, entrepreneurs, and venture capitalists at companies including Apple, Google, Microsoft, Salesforce and Oracle, with investors representing more than $17 billion in capital. Through the C100’s mentorship initiatives, it is helping grow the next generation of billion dollar Canadian-led technology companies.

Attendees heard about Dorsey's startup experience beginning as a youngster when he discovered a fascination with dispatch software. His parents got him a police scanner, where he heard the same information over and over again, which served as a source of inspiration for him.

"I've always been curious about the world and how things work," Dorsey said. "I would always hear people say on the scanner what they were doing, where they were going or where they were."

It took Dorsey two weeks to build Twitter, which was officially launched in 2006. In the last seven years, Twitter has gained 260 million users, it handles 1.6 billion search queries per day, is one of the 10 most visited websites, and has been described as the SMS of the
Internet. In 2009, Dorsey went on to co-found Square, a mobile payments company that allows merchants to accept debit and credit card payments on their iOS, smartphone or tablet computer.

"Be passionate about what you're building and you have to build it for yourself," Dorsey said. “I love creating, building and technology. I think technology is the best paintbrush that works for me. Twitter is the canvas for communication and Square is the canvas for commerce.”

Having established Twitter and Square in San Francisco, where the headquarters are stationed, Dorsey often uses the Golden Gate Bridge as a metaphor for product development.

“We have to build something of merit that will stand up,” he said. “Being entrepreneurial is someone who takes significant risk to build something that makes a difference in the world.”

While Dorsey spent close to 10 years figuring out his niche as an entrepreneur, moving from project to project, over time he’s become more self-assured and has some sound advice for his former 20-year-old self.

“Hardest thing when you’re younger is having that confidence and conviction,” Dorsey said. “Experiment more, get that confidence and have patience.”

Entrepreneurship runs deep at Ryerson with the success of the Digital Media Zone (DMZ) incubating and accelerating 84 startups and launching 134 projects since opening in April 2010. One way undergraduates and recent graduates can expand their entrepreneurial potential is by applying to be part of The Next 36, a resource-rich program designed to nurture young business leaders. Next 36 staff and alumni will be on campus and at the DMZ Sept. 25 from 5:30 to 7 p.m. to share information about the program and talk about 2014 applications.

Individuals and student groups are also making waves one way or another in the business world. Enactus Ryerson won the 2013 Enactus National Championship in May, boosting them to the Enactus World Cup on Oct. 1 where they will represent Canada. Prior to that, fourth-year environmental science student Karen Quinto will pitch an urban energy idea to experts and potential investors at the Water Innovation Lab Sept. 24 to 29 in Alberta; and PhD physics candidate Eric Strohm is currently attending an entrepreneurship academy at the University of California, Davis in Sacramento about his research on using sound waves to detect disease and infection in blood samples.