Frequently Asked Judge Questions

How has the 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.