Startup Weekend, Pitch Competition Kick Off Innovation Week
Mid-Missouri’s Innovation Week (also called Bringing Up Business) commenced over the weekend, with entrepreneurs and businesspeople taking over the Veterans United building on Buttonwood Court for Columbia’s Startup Weekend 2016, the city’s sixth. The action continued today at a day-long pitch competition hosted by Columbia College.
Huntclub, a tech platform that allows hunters to rent private land for short-term hunting trips, took first place over the weekend, grabbing $2,000 and three months of office space at the Missouri Innovation Center as a prize. Huntclub was also awarded a spot in the pitch competition — 11 business competed overall.
The pitch competition was judged by a four-person panel: Bobby Campbell, local entrepreneur; Quinten Messbarger, of the Missouri Innovation Center; Kathleen Bruegenhemke, president of Hawthorn Bank; and Jim Whitt, CPS School Board president. The panel awarded first place to What R My Chances, a website that allows dental school applicants to input their data, such as test scores and grade-point average, and see what their chances are of being accepting to different schools. The site also offers suggestions on how applicants can improve their standing. What R My Chances also won a pitch competition at Columbia College in April 2016.
Founder Trent Finley started the business as a solution to the problems he was having as a pre-dental student at MU. In his pitch, he detailed the laborious process of applying to dental school and showed how his site, which gives applicants a percentage chance of being accepted at different schools, helps save time and money in the application process. Finley hopes to expand the product to other fields as well. “Dental is not even close to the biggest market,” he said, noting that medical school and law school both have higher application numbers. When Bruegenhemke asked him if he’d considered an early exit strategy, which might include a sale to a bigger company looking to capitalize on the What R My Chances algorithm, Finley said that he’s focusing on building up his company and his brand on its own strength.
ZipVR, a product from Eco Zipline Tours that combines a safer zip-line braking system with a 360-degree video camera, won third place in the competition. Global Hiker, an app that lets users connect with local hiking and exploration guides (Campbell, in his comments, called it “Uber for hiking”), took second place. Flydra Creative, a digital animation studio, won first in the audience vote for their original animated series “The Weeklings,” which has raised $19,000 on Kickstarter in six days.
Even for businesses that didn’t win, the competition allowed entrepreneurs to practice their pitch ideas and get feedback from startup experts. “The biggest thing is just experience,” said Cory Crosby, who pitched his socially-minded fitness center, 2 Real Fitness. “This was the first time I’ve ever done something like this, talking about my business in front of a crowd … It’s just about building a community.”
Check bringupbiz.org for more events coming up during Innovation Week, and keep an eye on CBT‘s social feeds.