Editor’s note: Ritwik Pavan, currently a student at UNC’s Kenan-Flager Business Schhol, was the youngest entrepreneur (he’s 18) to not only attend two global technology summits but also be there to represent a startup – his own Linker Logic Technologies. He launched the company while he was a student at Raleigh’s Enloe High School. Pavan also helped develop WRAL.com’s Apple Watch app. In this post, he recounts his global experiences.

CHAPEL HILL – Last semester, I attended the Web Summit in Portugal. Two weeks ago, I attended the Dublin Tech Summit in Ireland. Before I talk about Portugal and Ireland, I want to talk about how I got here.

My name is Ritwik Pavan and I’m an undergraduate student at UNC Chapel Hill. I am double majoring in Computer Science and Business. Over the past three years, I have established a tech company, Linker Logic Technologies, that specializes in developing successful app platforms for several startups and companies, some that are now valued at millions of dollars.

We are an innovative firm that specializes in various services from helping companies in consulting and building their brand and identity to developing complex platforms that assist in solving business ideas. We accomplish this through building apps, web platforms, and custom database management to meet the client’s needs. Over the course of the last three years, we have grown to hire several college students and contractors across the country. With the help of an experienced team, we have transformed over 28 clients’ ideas into reality.

This past year, we played an integral role in the platform expansion of Votebash, a unique company that wanted to expand their web and app platform to change the community. Votebash is a unique platform that rewards users for sharing their opinions on a plethora of topics. Linker Logic Technologies is in the process of helping the startup launch applications on various platforms such as iOS, Android, and Apple Watch. VoteBash was recently voted as one of the Top 100 Startups in North America and subsequently awarded top 100 Global Startup by Red Herring.

Due to these incredible accomplishments early on, our client’s startup was invited to showcase their product at the Web Summit in Portugal and the Dublin Tech Summit in Ireland. My team and I were courteously invited to attend both summits with our client because of our contribution in developing the startup.

Web Summit

In early November, I skipped a week of school to attend Web Summit, the largest tech summit in the world. Despite having to make up a significant amount of schoolwork, I will never regret the decision to attend the event. Over 70,000 people attended the event, including over 720 important speakers that have developed and led successful companies.

To highlight the grand importance of this tech summit, Uber made their debut at this same summit and received investor money that allowed them to be the largest ride-sharing company in the world. During the summit, I got the opportunity to meet and talk to several important connections such as Robert Greifeld (CEO of NasDaq), Mike Schroepfer (CTO of Facebook), Ronaldinho (former footballer for Brazil and FC Barcelona), and several others.

I also attended several speaker forums, learned the steps they took that led to their success, and how to apply it to my own technology firm. During the tech summit, I also met several executive leaders who extended internships at tech giants such as Facebook and Google as well as various startups in Portugal.

Dublin Tech Summit

I had to skip another week of school in February to attend the Dublin Tech Summit in Ireland. I was fortunate enough to bring one of my team members (and classmates) to experience the summit with me. The Web Summit in Portugal was originally supposed to be held in Dublin, Ireland. However, due to space limitations and high demand, they had to move some portions to Portugal.

This summit was much smaller than its Portuguese counterpart, only housing 12,000 people. While this summit was smaller, it was in no way less impactful. This summit allowed me to have much more personalized interactions with several leaders I met. I was delighted to meet Gary Vaynerchuk (VaynerMedia), Jared Grusd (CEO of Huffington Post), and several other successful entrepreneurs.

During the conference, I attended a talk held by Gary Vaynerchuk and I found him inspirational in many different ways. Similar to me, he came to America as an immigrant from another country and strived for excellence in every way possible. His success is something definitely worth emulating.

Both summits provided an unforgettable experience. However, the most important takeaway from them comes in their connection to the entrepreneurial classes that I have taken in the Kenan Flagler Business school. They have helped me grasp what it means to successfully apply these talents to real world scenarios.

This experience has honed my entrepreneurial skills and forced me to think about how I could make a unique impact on the world some day. I will forever cherish these experiences.

(C) Ritwik Pavan