Student startups step out for final contest

CU-Boulder as startup incubator? You can take that to the bank. Six student entrepreneur teams are vying for a shot to advance to the national New Venture Challenge. But first they’ve got to get past an all-star investor panel.

A record 60 teams entered the campus competition last fall with dreams of startup rock stardom and $30,000 in cash prizes to build the next great company in one of four specialized tracks: clean tech, IT, music or social impact, and an open-ended grab bag theme with demonstrated customer need.

For Alison Peters, Boulder’s infectious startup spirit is on full display at CU. “With all of our cross-campus programs, we’re seeing that students from every discipline, from fine arts to engineering, want to understand business creation before they graduate,” notes the Managing Director of the Deming Center for Entrepreneurship.

Now, six months and 40 teams later, the business plan challenge peaks on April 5 with an open community demo night judged by Libby Cook of Philanthropiece, Foundry Group’s Jason Mendelson and Glenn Russo of Zayo Group.