While the rest of Syracuse University was buzzing with excitement this weekend as the class of 2011 celebrated its graduation, the School of Information Studies (iSchool) was swarming. Foursquare founder, Dennis Crowley ’98, returned to his alma mater to give the iSchool convocation speech on May 14, 2011.
Crowley’s speech focused on the journey he took from Syracuse University to inventing the most popular location-based service today. He ended with four very simple, yet important, pieces of advice: “You can be anything you want to be when you grow up,” “Do what you love and the rest will come,” “Everything happens for a reason,” and “Don’t let people tell you that your ideas can’t work.”
Crowley has had his own ups and downs through the years, but is grateful for the obstacles he has overcome.
“I’ve had the luxury of thinking about what I really want to do because there’ve been so many stops in my career,” Crowley said. “I’ve been laid off, another job didn’t work out, this idea was killed, and I had to start from scratch.”
Foursquare, launched at South by Southwest in 2009, allows users to “check in” at businesses and venues to let friends know where they are. The service has seen enormous growth and is rapidly approaching 10 million users.
“A lot of this year’s graduates look up to Dennis and the work he has accomplished,” David Rosen ’11 said. “His speech was very inspirational and proof that with hard work and passion, dreams can be accomplished.”
If you missed Crowley’s speech this weekend, you can view it on YouTube. The speech also earned coverage on Mashable, The Next Web, UNY Startups and CNN Money.