More than a century ago, poet Ralph Waldo Emerson was believed to have written something along the lines of, “Build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door.”

Although the participants at Friday’s inaugural Student Startup Fest at Terrapin Beer Co. weren’t selling mousetraps, some of the young impresarios at the event may soon hear plenty of knocks on their respective doors.

Hosted by the University of Georgia’s Society of Entrepreneurs and influenced greatly by both a management class on entrepreneurship taught at UGA’s Terry College of Business and the Four Athens tech incubator, the Student Startup Fest featured close to a dozen groups — with products and services including handmade jewelry and technology solutions — seeking to take their creative business ideas to new levels and connect with like-minded innovators.

“We wanted to create an event to allow everyone to showcase what they’ve done and to see what everybody else has done so we can showcase their products and progress,” said Neerav Maniklal, one of the organizers of the event. “People who maybe never would have seen this can get together and come and see all the success these students have had and the hard work they’ve put into it. This is a way to market these businesses and show what’s been done.”

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