T hree students earned prize money to fund their original business ideas in The Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship’s first VC-Squared competition.

A part of Research Day, the “Shark Tank-esque” contest challenged students to present their ideas for products or businesses to four expert judges—each deciding whose idea was worth funding.

“Our inaugural VC2 was most definitely a success. The students really carried the event with their innovative and inspiring business ideas,” said Dr. Nicolas Creel, assistant professor of business law and director of the center. “There is a ton of latent entrepreneurial talent in this student body, and I aim to tap into it with this and other events going forward.”

Gavin Inrocci took the first-place prize of $400 with his idea for an apparel app, Trey McCallum walked away with $200 and second place for his new TV hardware design, and Joel Saucedo—first-year physics student—won most innovative award and $100 for his idea to redesign medical equipment. 

The event was designed to encourage students to develop new, creative ideas and promote thoughtful solutions to self-identified problems, Creel said. 

The competition was open to all majors and gave 12 enterprising students opportunity to realize their ideas with the potential to save lives, make a difference, create an impact, engage the community and more. While 10 presentations were made to the judges this year, Creel says their outreach will only expand with time.

VC-Squared was the culmination of Creel’s advising to the participating students, who could have also developed skills in the center’s Bobcat Business Builder Bootcamp—or B-Quad—a business education workshop open to anyone willing to learn what it takes to launch and grow a business. 

Students were evaluated by the “shark” judges on their persuasiveness, quality of product or service, pricing, marketing plan, oral communication skills, professionalism, innovation and their ability to answer detailed questions. 

They could earn additional points if the judges were willing to invest their own money.

In the end, the event gave students a way to see the potential of their ideas to succeed. Not without criticism though, as the judges’ thoughtful questions and advice pushed each presenter to think critically about all aspects of their plan.

If they didn’t win money, they still left with a better understanding of business and more ideas to motivate them.