Rollins Center Holds Business Idea Competition During Entrepreneurship Week

PROVO, Utah – Oct 27, 2014 – Brigham Young University students demonstrated their innovation talents by participating in the Big Idea Pitch competition during the fourth annual Entrepreneurship Week, a week full of events that encourages students to take advantage of the entrepreneurial resources available through the Rollins Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology.

“Competitions like the Big Idea Pitch give students incentives to get hands on experience with entrepreneurship," says Steve Liddle, Rollins Center academic director. “The workplace is changing; everybody at BYU needs to learn how to be innovative and to create value in an organization whether they think they are entrepreneurs or not.”

The Big Idea Pitch gave 25 students their first opportunity to publicly display their entrepreneur abilities by giving them each 90 seconds to pitch their business ideas to a group of judges for a chance to win cash prizes. Alex Brown, a senior marketing management major from Poway, California, and his team won the Audience Choice award and $500 for their idea of creating a mobile messaging app that connects people affected by cancer. For Brown, even more important than the money was the confirmation that he was on track to start a successful and meaningful business.

“Winning the Audience Choice award at the Big Idea Pitch gave our idea some great validation,” Brown says. “It’s awesome to see that other people believe in the idea and see its potential to change the world.”

The Big Idea Pitch is the first competition in the Miller New Venture Challenge, an annual series of entrepreneurship competitions hosted by the Rollins Center. These and other entrepreneurship events will give students more opportunities to develop and refine their business startups.

E-Week also offered students chances to learn from panels of successful entrepreneurs who are now mentoring students and supporting the Rollins Center. Amy Anderson, founder and former CEO of MediConnect Global (now Verisk Health), was one of a group of four panelists who gave advice on the importance of building the right team to create and run a successful business.

“Hire people who are smarter than you and love what they do,” says Anderson, who sold MediConnect Global in 2012 for $377 million. “Never be afraid of that because if you are smart enough to hire people smarter than you, then you’re the person people are going to want running the company.”

Other events during E-Week gave students opportunities to network with entrepreneurs and investors to obtain new business associates or additional help for starting their own ventures. Many attendees left the activities with new motivation to become entrepreneurs.

“This week got me really excited to not only attend other entrepreneurship events in the future but also to go home and work on my own projects,” says Nathan Radmall, a senior majoring in computer science from Eden, Utah. “Now that I understand what the Rollins Center offers, I can’t wait to start using it.”

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.