COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. Six interdisciplinary student teams from the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs will share ideas for new businesses ranging from the design and sale of automotive performance parts to the creation of a shortbread-serving English tea house in the university’s first-ever business plan competition April 29.
The students, competing for $5,000 in prize monies, will be judged by a group of local entrepreneurs and university faculty on the quality of the business development plans developed by team members who represent various UCCS academic majors.
“These are not just business students competing against each other,” Ben Martz, associate professor, Business, said. “We have psychology majors who have teamed with students from business, from engineering, from nursing or from several other areas of the campus to develop an idea. This synergy from people with different perspectives is the essence of entrepreneurship.”
As part of the contest requirements, student teams must represent at least two academic disciplines. For business majors who joined with students studying in other areas of the campus, the contest was intended to cement classroom themes of entrepreneurship and to create a real-to-life learning laboratory, Martz said.
Beginning at 8:30 am., April 29 in room 5101 Breckenridge, the students will present to an nine-member panel of local successful entrepreneurs and College of Business faculty members. The judges will consider the originality of the students’ ideas as well as the thoroughness of their plans and the quality of presentation. Following the presentations, the judges will select a first prize winner and two runners up. First prize will receive $2,500 to use at the team members’ discretion. Second place receives $1,500 and third place, $1,000. The winners will be announced at a 1 p.m. dessert reception at Breckenridge 5101.
“This will not be unlike a presentation before a group of venture capitalists who, at the end of the day, may decide to invest in a new idea,” Jeff Cooper, a private investor and executive director of The Petritz Foundation, said.
Contest judges will include: Iris Clark, Vectra Bank; Marilynn Force, The Force Group; Bill Miller, Limestone Ventures; Loren Lancaster, Core Capital Group; Mark Patterson, Stockman, Kast, Ryan and Co., Allan Roth, instructor, Business, Jeff Ferguson, professor, Business; and Rick Redella, instructor, Business.
The contest is sponsored by the Petritz Foundation in cooperation with the College of Business Administration’s Center for Entrepreneurship. The Petritz Foundation, located in Colorado Springs, provided the prize monies and collaborated with UCCS faculty members in developing the contest. The foundation was created by Richard L. Petritz, a former professor, entrepreneur and venture capitalist. The foundation’s activities support his interests in science, entrepreneurship, and excellence in performing arts.
UCCS, located on Austin Bluffs Parkway in northeast Colorado Springs, is the fastest growing university in Colorado and one of the fastest growing universities in the nation. The university offers 25 bachelor’s degrees, 17 master’s and two doctoral degrees. The campus enrolls about 7,800 students annually.