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The Villanova Entrepreneurial Society (VES) hosted its first annual Start-Up Challenge from March 12 to 20. The business plan competition challenged 20 teams of four to five members with the task of writing a business plan for an imaginary startup company. The teams were competing for cash prizes totaling $5,000.

The teams all received an information packet on their product on Friday, March 12. They were given until midnight on the following Thursday to complete a business plan. Several teams were actually seen running with their plans to meet the deadline that night. The four finalists were posted on the VES website the following day, with four teams also listed for the “elevator competition,” with a chance to secure the fifth spot in the final round. The competition featured a simulated situation in which one randomly selected person from each team was to “run into” a company executive in an “elevator” on his or her way out of the building. The winner of the elevator competition, Mexicali Blues, went on to make a presentation in the final round, and eventually took home the grand prize of $2,000 as well.

The recognition ceremony of the competition was held at a catered banquet in Bartley Hall on Saturday night, March 20. In addition to the $2,000 grand prize, second prize winners received $1,000, and there were four category prize winners receiving $500 each. The competition was judged by professors, as well as industry executives, several of whom spoke at the banquet.
The Startup Challenge was conceptualized and developed by Entrepreneurial Society President, Adam Siegrist, and vice president, Travis McMenimon. They also worked in conjunction with their faculty advisor, Dr. James Klingler. Siegrist called the competition “a tremendous success,” and they plan to continue the competition in the future. Other members of the Entrepreneurial Society on the Startup committee were students Henry Watson, Negar Jahanbin, Anthony Mascieri, Chris Klenk and Rob Nydick.