Stumberg

The Stumberg Venture Competition is Trinity’s claim to fame in the world of entrepreneurship. In it, student started businesses can win grants totalling up to $30,000 to expand their companies. It’s a huge step in the right direction for people looking to start up a business without gambling on their own income.

Lucky for me, I got to see the final pitches for the big prize of $25,000 in early November. Before the competition even started, however, some of us who weren’t competing were able to showcase our own start up ideas. For my team, we took the opportunity to do some customer discovery, which is the phase of the entrepreneurial process in which you ask people outside of the company what they think about the issues you want to address or the product you want to sell. While gathering info, we met some really nice people and got some great conversations started about the issues we find important.

Then the competition started. Immediately, I was impressed by the goals of the first team: GLO. They hoped to make going out a safer experience for college students and young adults with their GPS app. Then taking a near opposite approach to business, The Country Club Collection explained their simple yet practical and profitable money making venture. After them, we saw two completely different models of business in Cloud Therapy, which thrived on innovation and the Contemporary where they take an unbiased approach to news reporting. It was obvious to see that this competition does not favor any one type of business. Each one was vastly different from the last, and yet they all made it to the final leg of competition.

In the end, it came down to which group had the best business model and could currently make money. That being said, The Country Club Collection won the grant. However, it was amazing to see all the different ways a business could succeed all on display under a single roof.

-Morgan King