Today, I spoke to two entrepreneurship classes at Virginia Tech with the CEO of Webmail.us - Pat Matthews. The classes are taught by another local young entrepreneur J.B. Hite. There were 50 students in the class - mostly seniors who were very engaged in learning more about the opportunities in the region.

For instance, how do you start internet companies when you do not have programming skills? Are relationships with your friends at risk when you start businesses with them?

A couple of points raised to the students were - would you rather be a big fish in a small sea or a small fish in a large sea? Are you factoring in the cost of living when making your living decision or does it matter? Not sure if they had thought of these concepts.

Additionally, Pat challenged the students to follow their passion instead of the money or location - and that passion does not necessarily mean you have to start your own business.

Overall, it was a great exchange between local students wanting to start a business. The challenge is to convert some of those.

Perhaps that next step is to attend the Roanoke Entrepreneurship Workshop on April 4.