Melissa Papulski (proper) reacts after profitable the Canyon Challenge on Friday afternoon.
Story by Rick VacekPhotographs by Ralph FresoGCU News Bureau
The circle of life at Grand Canyon University.
The problem of fixing the startup enterprise puzzle.
The evolution of the final two years.
Judges (from left) Spencer Bazz, Carson Foley and Gabe Cooper hear intently as college students define their enterprise fashions throughout the Canyon Challenge.
It was all on show Friday afternoon within the Canyon Challenge, GCU’s biannual entrepreneurial competitors (see slideshow right here).
First, and most noticeably, there was the large crowd, which included highschool college students on a Discover GCU journey. They packed the Canyon Ventures Center to observe 5 college students pitch their concepts to a few alumni who served as judges.
Dr. Randy Gibb, Dean of the Colangelo College of Business (CCOB), was thrilled to see “the vibe, the vitality, the environment” after two years of pandemic-induced digital classes or restricted attendance.
The vitality was additional charged by having three judges – Carson Foley, Spencer Bazz and Gabe Cooper – who’re GCU alumni.
Cooper operates his Noggin Boss hat enterprise out of Canyon Ventures, and Foley and Bazz each work for the occasion’s sponsor, Trinity Capital. On high of that, Foley was one of many Canyon Challenge opponents in 2019 after which was the emcee the final two years.
Best of all, the winner is an ideal illustration of how this all suits collectively. She even likes to do puzzles, particularly Sudoku and Wordle, and discovered in highschool the best way to clear up a Rubik’s Cube.
Papulski presents her Campus Consignment enterprise mannequin …
As a resident assistant the final three years, senior Melissa Papulski was decided to determine a greater method for college students to promote undesirable furnishings and home equipment and got here up with Campus Consignment, which already has greater than 150 customers regardless of being launched solely 10 days earlier than the competitors.
The startup addresses a disposal downside prevalent on faculty campuses throughout the nation. Students battle to seek out consumers for mini-fridges, sofas and the like once they transfer out, first seeking to a Facebook group, then a Goodwill truck after which, as a final resort, throwing them away.
It saddens Papulski to see crimson tape on an merchandise, which implies it has been rejected by Goodwill and must be taken to the dumpster.
“That’s heartbreaking,” she stated. “There’s a lot potential. There’s a lot stuff. GCU is nice. I like dwelling on campus. We have such nice residence halls, such nice flats, however we accumulate lots in these larger areas.”
GCU college students sometimes begin out dwelling in a residence corridor, which has extra furnishings, after which in subsequent years transfer to a campus residence, which has a full kitchen however no furnishings.
“So it’s simple to modify between needing a mini-fridge for 2 years after which not want it,” she stated. “We have loads of out-of-state college students who don’t wish to take it house or put it in storage – it’s simpler to donate it or throw it away.”
… after which reacts when she is chosen because the winner.
Papulski is a type of college students who got here from afar – she’s from McMinnville, Oregon, the place environmental points are a giant deal. “I’ve at all times cared about sustainability, attempting to reduce as a lot as I can for myself, and even then I discover it tough,” she stated.
And she is about to expertise it once more. She graduates in a number of weeks with twin levels in movie and entrepreneurship and is shifting to the Dallas/Fort Worth space, hoping to begin a profession in video advertising and marketing. She loves the dresser she has used for the final two years, however it might’t go along with her.
But now there’s Campus Consignment, which solves friction of distance – the size of the journey and its problem are a consequence of the vitality and sources wanted to finish the journey.
“I may see my buddies utilizing it,” stated Foley, explaining why the judges have been swayed. “I simply graduated from GCU, and I’m a part of all of the Facebook group chats that folks promote issues on. I simply noticed an easy strategy to implement it right here.
“And with the scalable mannequin of it being an app, it made sense – they may scale to each single campus. It made sense, and it made cash.”
From left, Melissa Papulski, Talbert Herndon and Nathan Mikulin show their winnings after ending within the high three.
Papulski plans to make use of the $2,500 first prize to reimburse herself for the $200 she spent on startup prices after which make investments the remaining in what’s forward as she manages the enterprise from Texas. She has been speaking to GCU college students about turning into the native level of contact, identical as she would do if she scales it to different universities.
“What’s good is that it’s a platform – it’s an app,” she stated. “I’m in a position to run all of the databases, mainly run the entire enterprise and do advertising and marketing from afar, wherever I would really like. This enterprise is ready to be scaled to different universities. They nonetheless may sign up and I may run all that knowledge and have the ability to oversee it.”
The judges chosen Nathan Mikulin‘s RingMe, which turns a specifically made ring in your finger into an digital enterprise card, because the second-place finisher, price $1,500. Feiri (Rate My Food), Talbert Herndon‘s app that gives diners with rankings of every merchandise at eating places quite than simply the final Yelp evaluations, was third and obtained $1,000.
The different finalists have been RCG Innovations, by Maggie Whalen, a customized headline firm for automobiles, and Fixxi (Chamberlain St. Jean), an app for locating dependable technicians who can repair cellphones and different digital units.
Papulski’s entrepreneurship class, taught by Canyon Ventures Director Robert Vera, helped her sharpen her concept.
“The pitches have been so sturdy as a result of so many are in income. They’re not simply an concept or a mannequin or a plan,” Gibb stated, noting that every one additionally includes know-how and thus encourages collaboration between faculties, such because the partnership between CCOB and the College of Science, Engineering and Technology.
Four of the 5 opponents have been in ENT-446, the entrepreneurship class in CCOB taught by Canyon Ventures Director Robert Vera. Students from the category met with Vera afterward to debate what they’d discovered from Friday’s expertise.
“He was in a position to sharpen us so properly coming into this,” Papulski stated. “He performed a pivotal half in me even pitching to be on this. I had this concept and he’d say, ‘OK, it is a nice concept. Where are you going to take it? What are you going to do?’ I used to be in a position to, every week in school, say, ‘This is the place I’m at. What’s the following step?’ He would present me that that is what it is advisable to do to make this an precise enterprise.”
The steerage course of was additional clarified by Papulski’s participation within the shark tanks organized by the IDEA Club. That’s the place she discovered the best way to pitch her product. But what was the primary time like?
“Awful,” she stated. “My greatest weak point is definitely my public talking. My voice will get actually shaky. It’s not scary for me. I simply get tremendous excited, so I lose breath and I get all caught up on my phrases.
“In the start, it was a very completely different presentation, completely completely different info that I placed on. Then I tapped into friction of distance, which is a geography time period, and was in a position to kind it and see what I truly was attempting to indicate. Before, it was all this info that was like, ‘This is why we’re so cool.’ And now it’s, ‘This is what we wish to provide and that is the place we wish to go.’”
An enormous crowd turned out for the competitors.
It all goes again to that GCU circle of life. In entrepreneurship, meaning varied issues, and Tim Kelley, who chairs entrepreneurship and the Canyon Angels funding group, is greatest geared up to clarify it:
“The aim is to advertise entrepreneurship to all college students in each method potential, the mission being that the very best, if not the one method, to study enterprise is to do enterprise.
“Through IDEA Club being the gateway entry level, from freshman 12 months or everytime you’re motivated, that’s when you can begin and start to construct your concept at our shark tanks. You’re pitching to crowds of individuals to appreciate your concept.
“If you’re not the startup type of individual otherwise you’re not teaming up with one other scholar, then come right here to Canyon Ventures. Here, we’ve acquired nearly 50 corporations which can be world-class corporations which have obtained funding from skilled traders. They’re in income in lots of circumstances, and you may come right here and work for them and see how these entrepreneurs are making it occur.
Tim Kelley welcomes friends to the occasion.
“And then should you’re not within the operational facet however you like funding and also you wish to see how entrepreneurs elevate cash, then come work in Canyon Angels. There, you see how the cash flows into these organizations, how traders understand the enterprises and, identical to with our two alumni judges, what they did right here on campus is strictly what they’re doing working for a publicly traded enterprise capital group that actually invests tons of of tens of millions {dollars}.”
So many prospects, so many alternatives, and all of it begins with merely having an concept. GCU’s entrepreneurial circle of life continues to go spherical and spherical.
And perhaps sometime it can embody a few of these visiting highschool college students. The circle simply retains getting larger.
Contact Rick Vacek at (602) 639-8203 or [email protected].
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Related content material:
GCU Today: Washed Clothing is true match for Canyon Challenge
GCU Today: Senior nails the highest prize in Canyon Challenge
GCU Today: Freshman sews up victory in Canyon Challenge
https://information.gcu.edu/2022/04/papulski-entrepreneurship-win-at-canyon-challenge/
