After nine weeks of dedication, seven teams made it to the final round of the Shocker New Venture Competition, held Friday, May 3, at Wichita State University.
The winner of the competition was Boosted Ideas Lab, which involved a shot-arc developer and confidence booster created for the developing basketball player. The Boost Hoop instantly sparks love for the game and naturally reinforces critical shooting skills. Team members are Jason DeGarmo, Isaac Wilson, Andrew Haden and Logan Cassity.
- 1st place: Boosted Ideas Lab wins $8,500 and a $1,500 membership to GoCreate
- 2nd place: Tech Head receives $4,000
- 3rd place: PARROT receives $2,000
- 4th place: DUO Health receives $1,000
- People's Choice Award: Bionic6 receives $500
- Healthcare Innovation Award: PARROT receives $2,500
Hosted by WSU's Center for Entrepreneurship, the competition serves as an opportunity for college students from across the state, from a variety of majors, to take key steps in developing and launching a new business venture.
The entire competition was fierce as teams pitched their ideas to a variety of judges and audiences. To start the competition, an application along with a three-minute video that explained each business model was submitted. A selection board reviewed the videos selecting and inviting teams to compete. Those teams continued to refine their ideas through a 10-page business plan.
Judges from within the business community reviewed the various teams’ 10-page plans and made their assessment. Of those reviewed, only 16 teams were able to make it to the next round, the Trade Show.
At the Trade Show teams were allowed to impress the judges with any display, prototypes and presentation that they had prepared. The energy in the room was intense as each team worked on explaining their idea to more than 100 business professionals, along with 70 volunteering student judges.
After an energizing day of continuous presentations, seven teams were then selected to move on to the Final Round based on their chance of succeeding in the marketplace. Those seven were given the chance to present at the Final Round to a panel of judges.
Amongst the judges were some of the sponsors for this year’s competition, which include Foulston Siefkin, GoCreate, IMA Financial, INTRUST Bank, High Touch Technologies, Lubrication Engineers, NetWork Kansas, Riverside Health Foundation, and Jeff & Kelley DeGraffenreid.
The mission of Wichita State University is to be an essential educational, cultural and economic driver for Kansas and the greater public good. Wichita State is a doctoral research university enrolling nearly 15,000 students and offering 59 undergraduate degree programs in more than 150 areas of study in seven undergraduate colleges. The Graduate School offers 45 master's and 12 doctoral degrees that offer study in more than 100 areas. Wichita State's Innovation Campus is an interconnected community of partnership buildings, laboratories and mixed-use areas where students, faculty, staff, entrepreneurs and businesses have access to the university's vast resources and technology. For more information, follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/wichitastate and Facebook at www.facebook.com/wichita.state.