Every so often an idea comes along that wows just about everyone.
That's the idea that judges at the Shocker New Venture Competition are looking for during Friday's all-day startup competition for Wichita State University students.
The Center for Entrepreneurship at WSU boiled the competition down to 55 students who will compete for the top prize — a $25,000 investment in their project, which WSU says is the largest for any collegiate competition of its type in the state.
The second-place winner will receive $7,000, with $4,000 going to the third-place finisher.
"It provides aspiring student entrepreneurs a unique opportunity to get some real world experience," said Nancy Kersenbrock, associate director of the Center for Entrepreneurship at WSU. "It allows them to pitch their ideas for startups, to really work on refining their business strategies and then just getting valuable insight into what it takes to actually launch a successful business."
The trade show runs from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., followed by a keynote speaker and elevator speeches. The public is invited to the trade show, which takes place at Koch Arena on the WSU campus.
The Shocker New Venture competition started in 2007 with the goal to provide students an opportunity to launch their products.
Students have already completed the first round, in which they submitted a three-minute business model video.
"Judges gave them both qualitative and quantitative feedback," Kersenbrock said. "Those judges were made up of C-suite professionals — presidents and vice presidents of companies, successful entrepreneurs, investors and subject matter experts."
All the judges were personally selected. Each judge works as a mentor, refining each student's business model.
On Friday, the students who made it through the first round will show off their projects. They are divided up into 15 teams. Some teams have one person on it, while others have three or four.
"We've got approximately 90 judges that will come in from the community to actually attend the trade show," Kersenbrock said. "We would absolutely love to have the public attend to see what's going on here. These students are over-the-top amazing."
The ideas run from businesses in cybersecurity, education, medical devices and apps. During the finals, which takes place after the trade show, keynote speaker and lunch, students will give a five-minute speech.
"Everyone will be so impressed and so excited about our future under their hands," Kersenbrock said. "It's an amazing opportunity to get that real-world opportunity to develop these ideas and really look at commercializing their product. They're able to get amazing feedback from our business community."
