Prepping For Stumberg

A couple weeks ago, the Trinity Entrepreneurship Department hosted its most well-known event: The Stumberg Venture Challenge (Which I described earlier here). This time around, however, I actually got to compete.

Being on the other side -- a competitor rather than an audience member -- is definitely a different experience. You find an idea you love, work on it for months, work to meet deadline after deadline, and hope you do that idea justice. There’s a million little things that go into this idea that, as an audience member, you would not see, from market research to attempting to build a social media following to late nights designing your prototype (and then another one when you decide the first wasn’t good enough).

And then things go wrong. In the final days before the competition, for instance, I found out I couldn’t actually go to Stumberg. But until that point, I had been the person who pitched for the team. So at the last minute, we had to start training another team member to do the job. Getting through that issue, two days to Stumberg, our founder got sick. Our team of 4 was down to 2. 

The day of is a scramble. You have to remember business cards and posters and prototypes. You’re sneaking in last minute practice for your pitch and making sure you look professional. Then you’re watching your competition -- who are also your friends that you want to do well --, and you’re listening to the judges that are being super mean to groups you thought were awesome.

And then you’re up. And though I wasn’t there to see my team pitch, I can only imagine the nerves.

And then it’s over. And you wait to see who won.

While we didn’t actually win the prize, I’m still extremely glad we participated. In those weeks before Stumberg, I felt more like an entrepreneur than in my year as an entrepreneurship minor. I learned so much about what it takes to start a business and market it. Though we plan on slowing Atoll Packs (which I talk about here) down now, our group is more prepared than ever to make it successful.

-Morgan King