2015 BMC Proves Beneficial For Student Entrepreneurs

PROVO, Utah – Mar 04, 2015 – Smart-home technology, a motion-activated toilet light, and a platform for supporting online content came out as some of the top ideas from the Business Model Competition sponsored by the Rollins Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology.

“We’re seeing students identifying problems and creating innovative solutions for those pains,” says Stephen Liddle, CET academic director. “It’s really satisfying to see students be creative and tackle difficult problems.”

The Business Model Competition is part of the Miller New Venture Challenge, a series of workshops and competitions that help students apply and understand lean startup principles by using the business model canvas. More than one hundred teams entered the competition which was narrowed down to 11 companies who took home a share of the $21,000 in prize money.

Judging criteria was based on a company’s ability to implement lean startup principles, such as creating a minimum viable product and making changes due to feedback collected from customers. Linq, an automated home temperature system, was voted by the judges to receive the top award of $4,000.      

Penny Pledge, an online plugin that allows people to contribute a penny to their favorite online content, and IllumiBowl, a clip-on motion-activated toilet night light, were awarded $3,500 each. Simple Citizen and Sotrek followed with $2,000 a piece while Bedsleds, Inofridge, Recyclops, Clutch Pump, Klos Guitars and Withu each took home $1,000.

“I hope the student entrepreneurs use this experience as a springboard to grow and validate their ideas,” says Chad Carlos, judge and BYU professor.

Through the competition, finalists received feedback from successful entrepreneurs and opportunities to develop their networks. The Business Model Competition has recently aided many successful startups including Genius Security, Cowboy Kolaches, and Owlet. This year’s entries aim to continue the strong tradition thanks to knowledge gained at the event.

“Because of what we learned from this competition about business development, we’re a lot closer to reaching our goals of increasing sales and momentum,” says Mason Wooley, CEO and founder of Linq.

For more information on the winners and the Business Model Competition, visit millernvc.com/bmc.

The Marriott School is located at Brigham Young University, the largest privately owned, church-sponsored university in the United States. The school has nationally recognized programs in accounting, business management, entrepreneurship, finance, information systems and public management. The school’s mission is to prepare men and women of faith, character and professional ability for positions of leadership throughout the world. Approximately 3,000 students are enrolled in the Marriott School’s graduate and undergraduate programs.