On Tuesday, five teams will compete for $50,000 in “The Big Idea” competition. The Big Idea is a startup competition put on by the Innovation Institute of Colorado College during which a total of $50,000 is awarded between teams in order to promote creative and innovative entrepreneurship.
The competition involves teams ranging across an entire spectrum, from pure non-profits to Internet software startups.
This year, five teams will compete for the grand prize. Of these five teams, three have competed in “The Big Idea” in previous years. Though not limited to CC, every idea this year originated from a CC student.
Five judges will sit on a panel and make the final decisions regarding the division of the $50,000. This year, the panel includes Bob Selig, President of Hayward, a California-based Davis Instruments Corp. He is a Colorado College alum and long-term Board of Trustee member for CC. It will also include Scott Smith, Owner of Viant Capital, which is based in California. Smith is also a CC alum.
Heather Carroll, another panelist, is the President and Executive Director of the Joseph Henry Edmondson Foundation in Colorado. She is a CC alum and current Board of Trustee member.
Tony Rosendo will also help judge the competition. He is the Co-Founder and Managing Director of Atlas Prep, a local charter school. Tony is also a CC alum and current Board of Trustee member. Finally, Sean Stewart, an award-winning novelist, renowned digital storyteller, Emmy winner, and entrepreneur will also sit on the panel.
Each team will have ten minutes to pitch their ideas and then the judges have five minutes to ask questions. This year’s teams include Bene, Colorado Springs Food Rescue, Friendlier, iDro, and Kadi Energy.
The Bene team is promoting an app they have developed which is already up and running and live in the app store. The app provides a forum for users to anonymously give and receive advice on any issue they are facing, from boy problems to financial issues. The team consists of members John Silvester and Dan Keogh.
The Colorado Springs Food Rescue is a well-known group around campus, but they have an updated feature of their food delivery service in order to make it more effective. They’ve developed an “uber-style” app for real-time food rescue in which businesses with extra food at any time can let CSFR know so that a volunteer can come pick it up as immediately as possible. The team that will present on Tuesday includes Dan Lewis and Meredith Bird.
Friendlier is another competitor with an Internet app for their product. However, this app is based on condensing every social media website that a user might belong to into a more easy and accessible forum. It aims to keep you in touch with your most valuable contacts from Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. Teams members include Anubrat “A.P.” Prasai and Soeren Walls.
Last year, a team called City Roots competed in “The Big Idea.” This year they’re back with a new name: iDro. To further their hydroponics-based idea from the previous year, they have a new system that is fully automated for hydroponics. It auto-senses nutrients in the hydroponics system and adjusts the intake and outtake as needed, providing a more effective system for utilizing hydroponic systems. Fred Lindseth and Jeremy Harlam make up the iDro team.
Finally, Kadi Energy is another team has returned from last year to compete again. The goal of this team is to provide cellphone chargers to the continent of Africa, where access to electricity is difficult to come by.
However, these cellphone chargers use sunlight as their energy source, making it cheaper and easier for users to use and afford. Team members of Kadi Energy include Paul-miki Akpablie, Usaama Alnaji, Rachel Katzoff, and Samantha Barlow.
The Big Idea presentations are scheduled to take place on Tuesday, April 7 in the Celeste Theater in Cornerstone. The event will also include a raffle for attendees to win a $500 gift card to Mountain Chalet and a short presentation by the hosts of the new KRCC show “Critical Karaoke.” The entire event will also be live-streamed.