The Business Startup Competition added a new workshop to its itinerary with the addition of Evening with the Stars on Oct. 1.
This allowed prospective Startup Competition participants to attend a question-and-answer style workshop, where they got to hear from previous competition winners. The winners were able to share about their experience in the competition as well as give updates on their businesses.
THE FESTIVITIES BEGIN
After a bit of mingling, previous startup competition winners MBA graduate Karissa Le and 2017 Biola alumna Jordan Perkins each gave their pitches of their companies. Le won the 2018 competition with her team’s company Youniquely_Made, a web platform that matches designers with businesses. Perkins won the competition in 2017 with her team’s company Illuminate International, a social justice company seeking to provide an education to global children in need through the sale of children’s books.
The night then transitioned into a Q&A segment, where students could text in any questions they had regarding the competition or each of the two companies.
ADVICE FROM THE WINNERS
Both Le and Perkins commented on how the competition has impacted their business skills.
“For us, the startup competition really gave us an opportunity to really try it,” Le said. “I think the biggest thing that my team really took away from it was sharing our ideas. When you have an idea, it’s really easy to keep it to yourself, because you’re trying to protect it… but throughout the workshops you learn that… you actually should share your ideas because you want more feedback from other people that might make you think, ‘Maybe I should pivot, maybe I should change.’”
Perkins participated in the competition previous to her team’s win, but came up short.
“I think for me and for our team, we really felt like the startup competition was valuable even that first year when we didn’t win because we got to be exposed to ideas,” Perkins said. “We got to be exposed to feedback… to what goes into making a concept an actual viable business. So for us, it was really great to think through the very steps that go into building a business and then figuring out what our strengths and our weaknesses were.”
Freshman business marketing management major Sarah Hartono found it beneficial to hear from previous competition winners before deciding how to pursue the competition on her own.
“I think it was inspiring that they did not start off with a perfect plan,” Hartono said. “It was something they had to work really hard towards… It’s easy to forget that they’ve spent and invested a lot of time into it.”
The night closed with a chance for students to mingle with potential teammates if they have not formed a team already.
The next workshop for the Startup Competition is Pitch Night and Pizza, where students can come hear the teams pitch their competition ideas, as well as join a team if not previously on one. The event will be held on Oct. 8 at 7:30 pm.
