The Utah Entrepreneurship Challenge announced its finalists Monday, Feb. 3.
The competition, which is held annually, narrowed the entries from an initial submission of 126 down to 30, all of which were submitted by students from 11 of Utah’s colleges.
The U’s Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute spearheads the event, which is almost entirely student-run and is the final in a three-part series, aptly called the Utah Entrepreneurship Series. The event offers students a chance at camaraderie with fellow inventors, and more importantly, a grand prize of $40,000 — which is indispensable to anyone starting a new business.
Thad Kelling, marketing manager for the Lassonde Institute, recognizes how much the competitions funding can help.
“To receive even $5,000 is a tremendous addition to the projects,” Kelling said. He also thinks the project benefits highly from being student-run.
“It is a great program for students to not only participate in but to manage,” he said.
The challenge is highly competitive. Although it is run by the U, it is open to all students from Utah schools, and the $40,000 prize — part of over $100,000 in funds and prizes offered to winners — draws large amounts of interest to budding entrepreneurs. Previous winners include companies such as Owlet Baby Monitors, which created a wireless monitoring system for babies at-risk with Sudden Infant Death Syndrome — and Wasatch Microfluidics, both of which have been met with success, Kelling said.
“The teams that advance to the finals of this competition have historically done very well, and we expect them to again this year,” Kelling said. “Honestly, every team surprises me. I’m repeatedly blown away with the degree of sophistication and creativity.”
Rather than directly judging business proposals, the board that decides the finalists for the competition judges candidates’ responses to questions regarding topics such as its innovation, whether its needed and its marketability.
Nick Roberts, a senior in business marketing and international studies, is student co-chair for the competition. Roberts enjoys entrepreneurship because of its diversity and accessibility — he thinks it brings together topics that regularly wouldn’t combine.
“The environment is one that’s a little less formal,” Roberts said. “It’s highly creative. It seems to be this amalgam of art, science and engineering.”
The next step in the challenge is narrowing down the finalists to a top ten and awarding end prizes to the winners in the categories of best presentation, best written business plan, best technology and the grand prize at a banquet that will be given in April. A finalist from last year, Power Practical, won best presentation and has since raised over a million dollars in Kickstarter funds to finance their product, a camping pot that can also be used for alternate purposes, such as a phone charger.
Roberts attributes the program’s success to the overarching program at the Lassonde Institute.
“[The institute was started to] help feed student innovation and give back. And it’s really worked,” he said. “[It’s like an] ecosystem of entrepreneurism.”
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