Idaho Entrepreneurship Challenge underway on ISU’s campus

Teams need to register their idea in September.

The Idaho Entrepreneurship Challenge is a competition hosted in Boise where students from schools throughout the state come together to present their business idea for an innovative product or service. Before going to Boise, students must prepare a business concept proposal, prototype or sample, and a 60-second elevator pitch, which could all lead to their selection by judges to attend. Once in Boise, the students will present their ideas in front of a panel of judges for a chance to win a portion of the $100,000 in prize money.

As the challenge and preparations are under way, U.S. Bank will host a Pitch-Off contest at ISU during the first week of December. During this contest, teams will present a four-minute pitch to panels of judges. Students with the best pitch will win a cash prize from U.S. Bank.

Prizes for this preliminary competition at ISU include:

• First place, $2,000
• Second place, $1,000
• Two runner-up awards, $500
• Best support materials, $250

The U.S. Bank Pitch-Off Contest will incentivize students to polish up the eventual 60-second elevator pitch they will need to put together for entry into the final competition.

Information about the Idaho Entrepreneur Challenge and USBank Pitch-Off:

• September – Register project with CEED by emailing a brief synopsis of contest idea to Jeff Street at strejeff@isu.edu and include “IEC Project 2020” in the subject line.
• October/November 2019 – With help of CEED prepare Proposal, Team, and Impact Statements
• November 2019 – Informal Practice Pitch Workshop in the College of Business, Business Administration Building, Room 403.
• December 2019 – Pitch-Off Contest in the ISU Pond Student Union where teams compete for $2,000 prize money from USBank.
• December/January – Prepare application, which may include a prototype or sample, for contest in Boise
• January 2020 – Submit application to the competition in Boise, which includes an online application and 60-second pitch video. Help in preparing the video is provided by CEED.
• March 2020 – Expense paid trip to Boise for finalist teams to make your pitch. Bring home the money.

Student teams must include at least one matriculated, full-time, degree-seeking undergraduate or graduate student enrolled in an Idaho University or College in academic year 2019-2020, fall or spring semester. While collaboration with industry is encouraged, the contest  requires that a student or students must be a substantive members of the founding team, and a committed leader of the venture.