Stumberg Competition

Today was the second round of the Stumberg Competition. I had been looking forward to hearing these pitches all day, and I knew my fellow entrepreneurs must be even more anxious as $25,000 was hanging in the balance. To explain to those of you not familiar with the Stumberg Competition, essentially there are two rounds. The first round in the spring awards four teams $5,000, and then they have the summer to work on their idea and in the fall compete again for the grand prize of $25,000. They also get to work on campus and get mentorship as part of an accelerator program. It’s a pretty sweet deal if you ask me, and if you ask any startup founder, it can be life changing.

Today was the big day and while I was not competing, I am close with a few of the finalists so I was eagerly awaiting their pitches to the judging panel. Before the pitches, however, there were other startups on display. I ran into some underclassmen friends who are in the introductory entrepreneurship course and had a table set up to discuss their idea. While these were all in early ideation stages, it was cool to be able to see their ideas early on and talk with them about where they envisioned it going.

After milling about the various tables and grabbing a few complimentary snacks thanks to the department, I was able to snag a seat with some friends of mine to watch the pitches go down. As an entrepreneur myself, I found myself being highly critical of their pitches, taking mental notes about what they did well and unsuccessfully. That said, I thought they all did a great job, especially when they were asked some tough questions from the judging panel.

At the end of the day, there could only be one winner and The Country Club Collection took the grand prize of $25,000. Their business plan arguably was the most compelling and while I thought all of the team presented great business plans, I could understand the reasoning of the judges for selecting them. I thoroughly enjoyed the evening and I’m looking forward to the next Stumberg competition for seed funding in the spring.

-Kylie Moden