FREIRICH ENTREPRENEURSHIP COMPETITION
Final Round | April 12 | Murrray-Aikins Dining Hall, 2nd Floor
First Round Results
Congratulations to the following teams who will be moving onto the Final Round!
Business Name | Description | Team Members |
---|---|---|
Academix | Social enterprise-making quality education accessible for everyone. A tablet-based educational tutoring for children/students in developing countries, beginning with Uganda and Nepal. | Ankit Gupta and Erick Mulindi |
Grit Palace - Evolved Performance Apparel | Grit Palace's mission is to evolve performance apparel by harnessing the power of nature. Performance clothing made from sustainable materials. | Amea Lombardo and Milan Lombardo |
MESTH Collection | To provide the experience of a lifetime through quality affordable clothing that showcases the richness of African fast fashion across the globe. Fashion and bags made from fabric sourced in Burkina Faso. | Malika Sawadogo |
Platinum Summit | An app that allows you to aggregate all of your credit cards into one and then uses AI to optimize your use of credit card incentives, while optimizing your credit score. | Kubair Bahl and Taha Bhatti |
Quantam | South African based ride sharing app that connects public taxi drivers to passengers. | Justice Rapinga |
Querify | An app that lets you optimize your playlists on Spotify and other streaming services by easily generating playlists based on their criteria. | Bernardo Sa and Jack Biggins |
QuickThought | An app that helps college students schedule group work and optimize their free time, with Schedule Syncing: A platform that can host all calendars, all devices, and all friends under one umbrella. | Azizul Hakim, Casey Rueda, Fiker Tadesse, and Jacob Kriss |
TripGOAT | A travel planning app that uses AI and personal profile to optimize travel plans, offering a personalized and customizable planning platform with instant plan generation. | Rayen Oueslati |
Student Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ'S)
Mentor/Judge Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ's)
Student FAQ's:
What is the Freirich Entrepreneurship Competition and how does it work?
The Freirich Entrepreneurship Competition is a competition for Skidmore students, with awards totaling up to $20,000. The competition is preceded by StartUp Skidmore in the Fall, where students learn to prototype and work with alumni to improve their ideas, as they compete for prizes.
In March, there is a mentoring event, where students can work with alumni to improve their ideas and learn from experts in several functional areas of business, as they compete for prizes. Both StartUp Skidmore and the mentoring event are optional.
Also in March, there is a semi-final round, where students create a presentation deck, with a cashflow projection, and present their plan in a seven-minute proposal to alumni. Eight companies will be awarded $1,000 towards supplies or services to improve their proposal, and will proceed to the next round of the Freirich Competition, which is held in April. Students are expected to create an updated deck, with projected cashflow statements, and present a ten-minute proposal to alumni as they compete for prizes. Students will be provided with a list of alumni mentors that they can consult with during the competition. Students will also receive a list of alumni dry-run judges that they can consult with as they prepare for the semi-final and final rounds of the Freirich competition. All student competitors are invited to attend the finals to build their networks and knowledge of entrepreneurship.
We have also created a one credit course, IL 251, to give non-business majors, more academic support as they compete. You don’t have to take IL 251 to compete in the Freirich. For those students who are minoring in Entrepreneurship, the field study requirement can be satisfied by competing in the final round of the Freirich Competition.
What are the rules for the competition?
- Participants can be an individual or a team.
- To participate in the competition, a Skidmore student must be at least a 50% owner of the company being pitched.
- To participate in the final round, students must compete in and be selected in the semi-final round.
- All funds awarded should be spent by the winner on the business that is presented.
- Semi-final participants must submit their slide decks, projected cash flow projections and presentation videos approximately one week prior to the first round of the semi-final competition.
- Finalists submit their slide decks and projected cash flow projections approximately one week prior to the first round of the finals competition.
- Students may not participate on more than one team per year.
- Grand prize winners from previous Freirich competitions are not eligible to participate in the competition.
- What should be included in your presentation (in any order):
- General Description: What problem are you solving? What is your business model? Describe how your venture makes money and how your business model will assure long-term sustainability.
- Value Proposition: What are your company’s key, differentiated value propositions (e.g. lowest cost, highest reliability, best performance, etc.)? What is your venture’s right to win versus the competition?
- Structure: What is the structure of your organization? Do you have the team members that you need to start and grow? How will the structure change with growth?
- Product/Service: What is your product/service offering?
- Function and Benefit: How does your product/service work? Define and quantify key benefits (e.g. cost, performance, technical, etc.) for customers.
- Development Stage: Where is the product/service in its evolution (e.g. idea/conception, proof of concept, fully tested prototype, etc.)?
- Competitors: Who is your competition? What makes you better than other companies currently in the market?
- Target Market: What markets and market segments are you targeting? How big are these markets and how can you sustainably capture them?
- Customers: Who are the specific customers that you are pursuing or will pursue?
- Financials: Will the company make money and when? You should have cash flow projections for five years. These projections should be quarterly if your business is seasonal. You will hand in the full statements, but your presentations should summarize the financial statements, although you should be prepared to discuss the full statements. I suggest creating a graph that shows when you break-even and a summary of revenue, borrowing, proceeds from the sale of equity, expenses, net revenue and net cash.
- Can I use AI to create my pitch deck? Artificial Intelligence tools are evolving as we speak and I can’t keep up with everything that is happening, so if you use AI, you need to disclose that you used it and how you used it. I assume the judges will have a different response if you use it to create a logo, than if you used it to create your entire presentation. Please be judicial and smart in your use of AI.
10. W9 forms are required for all cash prizes.
What is the judging criteria?
Judges are asked to evaluate companies according to the following criteria:
- Market Opportunity: Clear market need and a plan to take advantage of the need.
- Competitive Advantage: The product or service is something unique that has a protectable competitive advantage in the proposed market.
- Management Capability: The team has the skills and experience to develop this venture and address the associated risks.
- Financial Understanding: The team has a solid understanding of the financial requirements of the venture.
- Roadmap/Growth Strategy: The team has engaged in short- and long-term planning and has considered strategies for growth.
- Sustainable Business Model: The team understands and can communicate their core business model. They are likely to develop a sustainable venture. Judges focus their deliberations on the long-term viability and sustainable competitive advantage of each venture.
- Did the student use AI in their presentation? Students may use AI in their product. Use of AI for brainstorming is encouraged. Use of AI to create the presentation or parts of the presentation is permitted, but not encouraged. Students must disclose if they used AI.
You should not attempt to contact judges prior to the competition. If you know a judge, please let Professor Hill know, prior to the competition.
What is the schedule?
- March 17 by 5:00 p.m., decks with projected cash flow statements are due. Decks and cash flow statements cannot be changed once they are submitted.
- March 21 and 22 at various, assigned times - Semi Finals. For this year, we have decided that the semi-finals will be held virtually, via Zoom, or similar online platform.
- April 5 by 5:00 p.m., decks with projected cash flow statements are due. Decks and cash flow statements cannot be changed once they are submitted.
- April 12 from 1:00 to 7:00 – Finals, in person on second floor of Murray-Aikins Dining Hall
How does mentoring work?
- Attend the mentoring event, where you can work with alumni to improve your ideas and learn from alumni experts.
- You will be provided with a list of alumni mentors that you can consult with during the competition. It is up to you to contact the mentors.
- You will also receive a list of alumni dry-run judges that you can consult with as you prepare for the semi-final and final rounds of the competition.
What if I have additional questions?
Email any questions you have to Professor Hill at chill@skidmore.edu
Mentor / Judge FAQ's:
How has the Freirich Competition changed?
Ken Freirich’s leadership in creating, funding and nurturing the Kenneth A. Freirich Entrepreneurship Competition, demonstrated to the College the importance of entrepreneurship to the Skidmore community.
As a result, the College hired a consultant to see how the entrepreneurship offerings at Skidmore could be made more robust. Based on the consultant’s input, Skidmore has created a minor in Entrepreneurship, with two tracks, one for artists and one for everyone else.
We have also made four important changes to the Freirich Competition.
- We created a one-credit course to give non-business majors more academic support as they compete. Participants are not required to take this course to compete, but in its first semester over 20 students enrolled in the course.
- We created a field study requirement in the Entrepreneurship minor that can be satisfied by competing in the Freirich Competition.
- We created a new ideation event called StartUp Skidmore that takes place each fall, where students learn to prototype and work with alumni to improve their ideas.
- Finally, we created a mentoring event, where students can work with alumni to improve their ideas and learn from experts in several functional areas of business
What is the time commitment for the Mentoring Event on March 3rd?
Three hours.
This event will be held in person in the Billie Tisch Center for Integrated Sciences and the Schupf Family Idea Lab.
The event is open to all students and will serve as a kick off to the Competition. Students do not need to register in advance in order to participate. Same day registration is available.
The format will be similar to “speed dating” with mentors stationed at tables and participants circulating – spending 10 to 15 minutes with each mentor.
During this event you will hear 3-minute pitches by the students about their businesses. The purpose of the panel is to help the students develop their ideas and learn about functional areas of business, like marketing, finance, and operations.
What is the time commitment for the Semi-Finals on March 21st & 22nd?
Approximately four to five hours.
As a result of the pause in the Competition for a year, the Entrepreneurship minor, and the additional support for competitors, it is difficult to estimate how many students will compete in the semi-final, or down-select round.
For this year, we have decided that the semi-finals will be held virtually, via Zoom or similar online platform, to give us more flexibility to handle a larger than usual field of competitors, if that is needed. For the semi-final event, you will be asked to review 10 to 20 student decks with financial statements before the semi-final event.
We try to give you a week to access the online portal to review the students’ work.
The length of the event will vary with the number of student submissions. Depending on the total number of teams, the semi-finals may be split into two sessions, over the course of two days. Judges may choose to participate in one or both sessions.
All judges will reconvene for a 30-minute selection call with Professor Hill
What is the time commitment for the Final Competition on April 12th?
Eight hours (full day).
For the final event, you will be asked to review between six to eight student presentation decks and projected cash flow statements before the final event.
We try to give you a week to access the online portal to review the students’ work. The event is generally six hours long.
The students make a 10 minute presentation and there are 10 minutes for questions. There is an hour for the judges to deliberate and then a half hour to announce the winners.
A reception for all participants and judges will immediately follow the announcements.
What is the time commitment for mentoring?
It varies and is based on mentor availability.
Alumni with an interest in and/or past experience with the Competition, alumni who participate in the kick-off mentoring event, and judges from the semi-final round, are invited to serve as a resource to further mentor teams as they develop their plans and prepare for presentations.
Some competitors need a great deal of mentoring, some don’t. Most of the mentoring takes place virtually, over zoom, or over the phone. Some mentors help the students by introducing the students to others so they can advance their business ideas. As with most things in life, mentoring is what you make of it.
Some teams will ask for assistance in shaping their business concepts and honing their semifinal and/or final presentations. Mentors may assist by scheduling dry runs with teams (via zoom).
Dry runs for the semi-finals will be scheduled the week of 3/4/24, and during the week of 4/1/24 for the finals.
Can I volunteer to be a mentor for StartUp Skidmore in the Fall?
Yes. We are looking for volunteers.
Please contact Jackie Pierce at jpierce1@skidmore.edu or John Chaplin at jchaplin@skidmore.edu for more information.
Will there be criteria provided for judging?
Yes. Professor Hill will provide a rubric for each round of judging.
Prior to each event, Prof. Hill will provide an overview of the selection process, including a thorough explanation of how to use the rubric for team assessment.
Can I help fund the Competition?
Yes, you can help fund the annual prize pool.
Ken Freirich has provided a generous $500,000 endowment to allow the Competition to continue in perpetuity as a central component of entrepreneurship programming at Skidmore.
Its income supports the annual prize pool (currently funding the first place prize) and the Competition’s operating budget. This year funding is sought and most appreciated for the other prize levels.
Please contact Jackie Pierce at jpierce1@skidmore.edu or John Chaplin at jchaplin@skidmore.edu for more information.
Can I invest in a student business?
We are concerned about conflicts of interest and perceived conflicts of interest, so it is our preference that if you invest in a business, you do so after the student has graduated and is no longer eligible to enter the Competition.
If you invest in a student business and that student competes in a subsequent Competition, you will not be asked to judge the student, whose business you invested in, but instead may be invited to judge in another year.
Can I just give money to a student business I believe in?
You can do what you want with your money, but we don’t encourage this practice.
Is mentoring, judging or being a pre-semi-final panelist something I can do more than once?
Yes, many mentors and judges have been involved over many years.
Given the popularity of this event, we rotate judges, mentors and panel participants annually, in an effort to engage more of the alumni community in this important event.