Guest speaker Amy Salin talked to us about the UW business plan competition. Amy Salin is the assistant director from the University of Washington's Buerk Center for Entrepreneurship at the Seattle Campus. The UW business plan Competition is open to college students across the state.
She talked to us about 3 different challenges; the Health Innovation Challenge, Environmental Innovation Challenge and the Business plan competition. The health innovation challenge involves students coming up with innovative ways to improve the health industry. This includes accurately collecting health data, health apps, prototype challenge etc. The environmental challenge is sponsored my Alaska airlines and involves students coming up with innovative ways to tackle environmental problems.
The judges in this competition are investors themselves and participants that get through more often than not get investment from Angel investors and VC investors. Participants are asked to try to connect with the judges and try to get the judges connect to them. Also participants are asked to attend a mandatory 1 hour training with a panel of coaches to practice for the real show down.
The winners of the competition are given $70,000. In the six years of the competition, there have been 46 companies created and and 37 still in existence. These companies range from consumer products to tech and beyond. The competition is difficult and competitive but students are encouraged to apply and to at least get the experience of pitching to an investor.
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