About us
RVA Works connects, inspires, educates, and empowers entrepreneurs!
RVA Works holds public events, provides cohort-based business acceleration. Through our Open Trellis technology emerging entrepreneurs attend educational events, receive business advice, credit counseling, and referrals to lenders.
RVA Works is also a promotional partner for 1 Million Cups events, a national program of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation that is designed to help entrepreneurs identify opportunities and overcome challenges.
In Richmond, Virginia the Robins Entrepreneur Series (formerly 1 Million Cups) is hosted by the Robins School of Business, University of Richmond, and pro bono events are offered on a hybrid basis to benefit those outside of our region.
RVA Works Enterprise Support is an independent Virginia public charity that supports this series and other free, public events through promotional support. Open Trellis, Inc is a technology firm that supports entrepreneurs through education, mentorship, and financial serices.
Speakers include entrepreneurs and those creating systems that support them. These entrepreneurs share their individual stories and motivation, their business model, and their growth strategy. Plus, attendees work to find ways that we can help the speaker.
Entrepreneurship provides society a way to change the economy and cultivate social impact through inclusion. The entrepreneurs who participate in our programming span industry sector, experience and education level, age groups, and ethnicity.
Join us, and learn more...
Upcoming events
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UR to Y Combinator - Acceleration Achieved
·HybridRobins School of Business, Univ. of Richmond, 1 Gateway Road, Rm 224, Richmond, VA, USFrom the University of Richmond to Y Combinator. Two Spiders. One of the world’s top startup accelerators. And 200,000+ researchers already using what they built. 🚀
Our Robins Entrepreneur Series is bringing home two of our own — and their story is the one every student needs to hear.
👉 Ayush Garg and Ryan McCarroll, co-founders of AnswerThis (YC F25), join us at the University of Richmond - Robins School of Business
Here’s why this one’s special: AnswerThis wasn’t built in Silicon Valley. It was built here, developed at UR with support from Richmond’s entrepreneurship and innovation community, and they went all the way to Y Combinator...
The accelerator behind companies like Airbnb, Stripe, and DoorDash. That’s the path from a Richmond classroom to the center of the startup world, walked by two people who were students not long ago.
Meet the founders:
🔹 Ayush Garg — Founder & CEO. The son of two PhD researchers, Ayush published peer-reviewed work at 16 and built open-source tools for scientific literature before studying computer science at UR. AnswerThis, his AI research platform, now helps 500,000 researchers in 170 countries accelerate how they discover, analyze, and synthesize the literature.
🔹 Ryan McCarroll — Co-founder & CMO. Raised in Northern Ireland, Ryan was building businesses in high school — including a coffee subscription company that shipped to 10 countries — before studying mathematical economics at UR. He leads AnswerThis’s growth and go-to-market.
Come hear how an idea becomes a company, how two students got into one of the most selective accelerators in the world, and what they’d tell you if you’re sitting on an idea right now.
If you’ve ever wondered whether your startup could start right here — this is the Richmond conversation to be in. 🕷️
What would you ask two student founders who went to YC? Drop it below. 👇
📍 Robins School of Business, University of Richmond
🗓️ Friday, Oct. 30th 11:30 - 1:00pm
📖 Full lineup: https://lnkd.in/eNEfFhpfVirtual? Join Zoom Discussion at 12pm Eastern: https://lnkd.in/eSgR_N6h
The Discussion. This series of hybrid events is perfect for budding entrepreneurs, experienced executive mentors cultivating an entrepreneurial mindset, early-stage investors, and students exploring innovative product design.
At each session, business founders serve as guest speakers share about their career, their firm's business model, as well as the successes and challenges in the product development process. Participants learn from the speakers’ experiences, discuss valuable insights, and connect with other entrepreneurs, students, faculty, and investors.
Logistics. A light lunch is served, as entrepreneurs connect with one another, learn from peers, and contribute to the conversation:
- Friday, Oct. 30, 2026
- 11:30am EST - Coffee & Connection
- 12:00pm - 1:00pm EST - Presentation & Discussion
No pre-registration is requir16d. Join us:
Robins School of Business
102 UR Drive, iLab Room 123
University of Richmond, VA 23173Parking. Free parking is available in the U5 and U6 lots immediately adjacent to the Robins School. Please enter the main foyer, turn to the left and proceed to room 123 (EY Innovation Lab) on the ground floor.
Please note that visitors have a two-hour parking window.
Please sign in when you enter the room, providing your license plate number.
On Zoom Webinar at 12pm Eastern:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86930744337?pwd=Yb4mzm4hNYboKII0f94aFbo4wVRnSz2 attendees
Past events
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