New Center Hosts Innovation Challenge
The Principia College Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation opened this fall, seeking to promote and inspire entrepreneurial spirit and encourage collaboration and creativity. Supported by Don (US'64, C'68) and Christina (C'66) Koch and by the College’s 50th Reunion Classes of 1966 and 1967, the center has space in Old Watson that is open to students 24/7. It’s equipped with walls covered in IdeaPaint and technology that puts virtual conversations and collaborations at their fingertips.
Along with hosting workshops this fall, the center held its first Shark Tank-style Innovation Challenge in November. Thirteen teams gave two-minute pitches to a panel of judges—Rahna Barthelmess (C’88), Tom King (US’69, C’79), and Mark Shaw—who assessed each business idea on its innovative solution to a problem or need, feasibility, and entrepreneurial spirit. The following day, Business Professor Dale Matheny, who directs the center, and the Koches presented prizes to the top three teams, whose projects ranged from an online shopping aid to urban rooftop commercial farms.
“Students brought their ‘A’ game to the Innovation Challenge,” Matheny says. “Working together in teams with students from a variety of majors, they learned what it takes to develop and pitch ideas for products and services that are marketable. This represents what they’ll experience after college.”
Creative Thinking and IdeaPaint
“We often stay late into the night at the center, making lists of concepts and drawings on the IdeaPaint walls,” says senior Jami Wissman, who along with junior Kent Heckel (pictured above), claimed first prize at the challenge for their text-based shopping aid. “Though we actually began to develop Questionable Shopping, a texting service for Amazon products, over a year ago, the center and Innovation Challenge provided the opportunity to explore it further,” Jami explains. Kent adds, “After the challenge, people commented how doable this idea is and asked, ‘Why isn’t this already a thing?’ We’re on track to get it up and running later this year.”
For senior Meg Andersen and her teammate Jason Wissman (C’15), a web developer in Ohio, the center and challenge helped them advance Pigeon.cards, which helps customers select and send well-designed greeting cards. “Our service is ultimately about connecting people,” Meg explains. “We’ve found that in an age of social media, individuals actually long to reach out in a tangible way. A physical, high-quality greeting card does just that.”
Other teams set out to meet specific social and environmental needs. Junior Jeff Lewis earned third place for his Green Roof Initiative, which tests an urban agriculture business model and seeks to build the first green roof on campus. International students junior Diego John and senior David Njau developed the mobile app “MyBiasara,” enabling small business owners in Kenya to grow their businesses by adopting best practices in financial accounting. And senior Annika Erickson and sophomore Kirill Kudaev presented the mobile app “Neighbor” to link homeless individuals to shelters and volunteer organizations providing help.
After a successful first semester, the center looks ahead to similar endeavors to foster innovation. “The most amazing thing to me is the truly creative and practical ideas students are coming up with,” Matheny says. “Our mission is to ask—and then support and encourage them to turn their ideas into positive impact. There is not a more effective learning environment than one that empowers students’ passion to pursue the good ideas they have generated. We believe students shouldn’t just be learning about the world but interacting with and changing it.”
Innovation Challenge Trivia
The high-energy audience participated by answering challenge trivia questions between presentations. How well can you do? Here are a few:
1. How many new businesses are started each month in the United States?
2. How long did it take for Facebook to make money?
3. What percentage of small businesses are owned and operated by a single person?
4. What city in the United States has the fastest growing start-up scene?
Answers: 1) 543,000 2) Five years 3) 78 percent 4) St. Louis