On Tuesday, November 28, numerous WashU student-led startups and judges joined in a virtual event to announce the winners of Olin’s BIG IdeaBounce® and the Hatchery Olin Cup. Olin’s Entrepreneurial Awards, hosted by Doug Villhard and Rian Edwards, started by announcing the startups awarded funding through Olin’s BIG IdeaBounce®, a 2-minute video elevator pitch contest open to all WashU students. An impressive 110 student business ideas were submitted, competing for a portion of the $15K prize pool. “A lot of these ideas are coming from groups, so really it was more than 300 students who participated,” said Edwards. “We’re so proud of these students – they work really hard on these ideas!”
In addition to potential funding, every team that made it to the finals will receive detailed feedback on their pitch, including how they were rated on each of the eight judging criteria. Finalists also receive judges’ comments to help improve their pitch and idea. The pool of judges, 97 in total, consisted of real entrepreneurs, VCs, startup mentors and professionals, faculty, staff, and alumni. Runners up included both undergraduate and graduate students. The top three teams were announced in both the undergraduate and graduate levels.
Congratulations to the following:
- 10 Runners Up ($500 each)
- SunBlanki, Fresh Sense, Ease, Sustain-a-Plate, Snap Shoes, EmpowerEase, AquaDrop, iMatter, Uplift, and SearchSentry
- Undergraduate Winners
- 1st place ($3,000): Pathfinder Toys
- 2nd place ($1,250): SugarTech
- 3rd place ($750): Track-A-Bus
- Graduate Winners
- 1st place ($3,000): ASL Aspire
- 2nd place ($1,000): AnotherMe and Phoenix (tie)
The evening continued with the highly anticipated presentation of the Olin Cup, which is awarded to one of the startups that participated in the course Business Planning for New Enterprises, better known as The Hatchery. Through this course, taught by Villhard, students can pursue their business idea or join an existing team, engage with mentors and advisors, gain valuable knowledge through workshops, and more. Eight teams participated in the course this fall: CardStock, For Womenhood, Phoenix, RaQote, Rasa Chai, Say Hi, Sustain-A-Plate, and ThreadHub. “I couldn’t be more proud of all eight teams,” Villhard shared. “I wish I could show some of these pitches, the first versions, to what they have developed to today.”
In a knockout round-style presentation, the teams were split into two groups, with the winner of each group going head-to-head in a final presentation. Approximately 70 judges, split between two breakout rooms, listened to and scored the pitches. The two teams vying for the title were Sustain-A-Plate and RaQote. After presenting their pitch again to the full audience, votes were tallied and Sustain-A-Plate was named the Olin Cup winner!