threeday conference featuring speakers, debates and networking opportunities for young
entrepeneurs.
-In the Think Tank Competition, competitors have 10 minutes to present a proposal to a panel of judges for cash prizes.
-All competitors receive feedback about their business idea from the judges panel.
-Angel investors, venture capitalists, entrepeneurs and students all attend the conference.
During fall semester, 10 students entered into Elon’s Entrepreneurship Program. Dr. Barth Strempek, associate professor of business administration, gave his students an assignment to come up with an investor pitch and to devise a basic marketing plan, which took months to research.
Fox spent his fall semester working on a business plan that created photo montages for student organizations and groups. His idea quickly became popular among the entire school community, especially Elon’s Greek organizations.
At the same time, Smyth worked on a business that changed ordinary photographs into coloring book pages, which could be customized for a specific group.
“The original plan,” Smyth said, “was to create a coloring book featuring Elon University to start with and then eventually move into the customized market as a brand extension.”
Smyth explained that after reviewing both business proposals, the panel voted to mesh her idea with Fox’s “to create a more diverse product offering with higher profit margins.”
“[Our project] was the most logical to have internationally,” Fox said.
Fox and Smyth will be the first Elon students to compete in the new “Think Tank” competition at IUM. Their project plan cannot be unveiled yet, despite the community’s curiosity.
“We don’t want any local competition to emerge before the fall semester, when we are given the opportunity to actually put this idea into action,” Smyth said.
Junior Anthony Warren, another business major, joined the team at the start of spring semester. He has “[provided] great perspective and insight into the project,” Smyth said positively. Unfortunately, Warren is unable to compete next week with his teammates.
The most influential person for these students in this process, however, was Strempek.
“[He] has helped us to truly believe we have a chance in this competition,” Smyth said.