Teams are adding their final touches to their registrations due on Monday, Feb. 9 for the Big Idea competition. The Big Idea is one of the programs under the umbrella of the Innovation Institute of Colorado College.
“The basic concept of what we are doing is recognizing that this whole innovation, startup economy is a huge percentage of where jobs and interesting careers are,” explains Patrick Bultema, Executive Director of the Innovation Institute. “Also recognizing that it can be hard to translate this great liberal arts education into being part of the next chapter of creative class economy.”
The Big Idea competition brings teams with a vast spectrum of startup ideas together in a competition to pitch their ideas. The best teams get the most relevant prize—money to pursue their startup.
The first step in the process is a simple registration. Participants state their idea, a basic description of the venture that they want to start, and their team members. Bultema guesses that between 10 and 15 teams will register.
Between registration (Feb. 9) and the end of March is a process of teams refining their ideas and finding their materials.
Each team is paired with a mentor to give them feedback on their trial runs.
The actual competition is on April 7 and will include the top-five teams that were selected to be the final presenters. They will give a ten-minute pitch and allocate five minutes of question and answer time with a panel. At the end of the competition, a decision will be made on how to allocate the $50,000 of prize money.
“Last year we packed Cornerstone Theater for this event. We even had cheering sections. It was a really fun thing,” recalls Bultema.
Bultema preaches that the best way to learn startups is to actually do it. In addition to giving the students the opportunity to actually pitch a startup, the Innovation Institute is also giving students more opportunities to educate themselves on the topic.
One of these opportunities, “Innovation Thursdays,” features a variety of successful entrepreneurs coming to Colorado College to share their interesting startup stories and advice. For example, last week two community members, one a founder of a startup and the other a CEO, came to campus and demonstrated pitching.
“Some Thursdays are more educational, while some are more interesting,” says Bultema. This Thursday, three entrepreneurs in the outdoor industry will be coming to speak at 5:30 p.m. in Gaylord Hall.
The Innovation Institute is also a sponsor and proponent of the Soup Project, which focuses on local, social entrepreneurship. The criteria for the Soup Project is much different than that of the Big Idea Competition. The Soup Project ideas must be engaged with a local agency and have some kind of connection to the legacy of the Shove community kitchen.
“Colorado College is always struggling with being in our own little bubble, so the attempt is to get engaged,” says Bultema on this competition.
The eight teams that have already registered for the Soup Project will also associate with The Collaborative for Community Engagement.
Bultema also mentions some other ideas developing at the Innovation Institute.
The institute has now established a faculty advisory board, which will hopefully soon be able to announce their mission statement about the relationship between innovation and academics at Colorado College.
“We’re also looking at things like creating a certificate program so you could get a certificate in innovational entrepreneurship as part of your time here at Colorado College,” says Bultema.