How To Win $50K For Your Startup Idea
Every startup needs money to get a new business idea rolling. So the second year in a row Poets & Quanta is partnering with Washington University’s Olin Business School on a pitch competition that awards $50,000 to the winner.
Last year, 167 entrepreneurs and their founding teams competed for the grand prize in Olin’s BIG IdeaBounce® by going head-to-head in a shark tank-like competition. These teams represented more than 55 universities and came from all over the world including India, Nigeria, Ghana, Belgium, Spain, England and Canada.
BIG IdeaBounce® is a pitch competition open to all current undergraduate and graduate students, as well as anyone interested in pursuing a graduate business school degree (enter here). The competition consists of three rounds, starting with submitting your idea in an easy-to-fill online form open until January 15, 2023. The top 20 teams are then asked to submit a two-minute pitch video. Finally, the top three teams will present their business plans to a panel of judges on Washington University’s Olin campus in March.
“WE HOPE YOU ALL MAKE US DIFFICULT!”
Doug Villhard of Washington University’s Olin Business School
B-School entrepreneurs will also benefit from extensive coverage of the competition Poets & Quanta. So even if you don’t end up in the last three teams, you still have the potential to attract the attention of other angel investors and venture capitalists Poets & Quanta editorial reporting. And the three finalists will also benefit from expert coaching and mentoring from Olin faculty.
Doug Villhard, Academic Director of Entrepreneurship at Olin Business School, who is spearheading the Poets & Quanta Ranking the best MBAs for entrepreneurs for three straight years, notes this is only the second time Olin has opened up his BIG IdeaBounce to students outside of Washington University.
“We are excited to host the second year of WashU Olin’s $50,000 BIG IdeaBounce® powered by P&Q,” said Villhard. “Last year was so much fun for the students, judges and our team at Olin. Once again we are expecting excellent submissions of business ideas from students from all over the world. We hope you all make it difficult for us!”
ALMOST 170 TEAMS PARTICIPATED IN THE COMPETITION LAST YEAR
Last year’s participants certainly did. It was an arduous task to narrow the nearly 170 entries down to a dozen finalists. The business ideas ranged from conceptual to some that were already generating revenue. Many ideas targeted specific markets, from a memory box for people with Alzheimer’s and dementia to an ingenious power source for cyclists to keep them safe and connected. Some were very complex and required sophisticated engineering and design; others were smart but simple ideas to fill gaps in the market. All were well thought out, extensively researched and staffed by teams capable of realizing their founders’ dreams.
The eventual winner: PedalCell, a bike power source that mounts to almost any bike design in minutes. The co-founders of the company met in 2015 as freshmen. Budeli, a real estate tech facility that offers free food delivery to tenants in upscale apartments, won Poets & Quanta‘Public Favorite Award.
“We look forward to hosting the top three teams on campus and filming a quality TV show with our amazing judges all returning for a second year,” adds Villhard. “Olin is proud to consistently rank very highly in MBA Entrepreneurship Poets & Quanta, Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Princeton review, and more. As a result, we attract students who exude an entrepreneurial spirit. This competition is a way to not only celebrate our students, but all the other great ideas that MBA students around the world are working on.”
PERSONALIZED FEEDBACK FROM A PANEL OF COACHES
In order to invite as many potential entrepreneurs as possible, Olin has made entering the competition simple and easy. “It’s just basic information to understand your team’s idea and the parts of it,” adds Villhard. “And then on January 15, a panel of judges will be reviewing those submissions and we’ll be combing through from there to select about 20 to give us a two-minute elevator pitch. From there we will narrow it down to three teams that will present live to the jury in March next year.”
The teams also benefit from extensive coaching before their presentations. “These three teams receive personalized feedback from a jury of reputable jurors and mentors,” says Villhard. “And the winner will receive $50,000 in funding. At any stage of a business, but especially at this early stage, $50,000 is a big deal. We could just be pushing the next big unicorn that emerges from a college student project. We truly believe this event fosters the entrepreneurial spirit that certainly permeates here at WashU Olin, but is among this audience of people who have innovative ideas that don’t give up. This is an opportunity for you to share these ideas and receive validation. It should be a lot of fun.”
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