Jake Jabs Center’s Startup Workshop Preps Student Teams for Pitch Night

Students interested in taking their start-ups to new heights attended THE CLIMB | Startup Workshop on April 6, 2017, in preparation for this spring’s THE CLIMB | Collegiate Pitch Night on April 27th.

During Startup Workshop, students were able to network and learn from several speakers about:

• Business Viability, led by James Lowry, Founder, Concept2Exit Group
• Marketing & SEO led by:
  • Dr. Madhavan “MP” Parthasarathy, CU Denver Associate Professor of Marketing and Director of The Jake Jabs Center for Entrepreneurship
  • Joel Appel, Founder and CEO, Launchpad LLC
  • Mallory Richardson, Communications Coordinator for The Jake Jabs Center for Entrepreneurship
• Legal Issues & Intellectual Property, led by:
  • Matt Jonsen, Patent Group, Dorsey Whitney LLP
  • Jake Holt, Trademark Group, Dorsey Whitney LLP

Some quotable moments:

• “When you start your business, you are the chief of sales. If you have no sales, you have no business.” – James Lowry
• “You can get analysis paralysis if you’re searching through so much data to make decisions. Use it, but be careful of how much.” – James Lowry
• “Startups should consider whether or not money spent on a patent application is worth it.” – Matt Jonsen 
• “It’s so important early on to make sure that your brand is clear and register those [trade]marks to add value to your company.” – Jake Holt
• “There are plenty of free resources to help you learn how to market your business and implement SEO best practices on your website. You just have to find the time and make the effort to learn them and put them into action.” – Mallory Richardson

Lowry also gave students tips on how to succeed at Collegiate Pitch Night, regardless of whether or not they take home the grand prize. Lowry discussed his relationship with a former Business Plan Competition contestant, Cameron Smith, Founder & CEO of SquirrelBox. Lowry attended the Competition, met Smith and saw him pitch SquirrelBox. Even though Smith didn’t win the Competition, Lowry believed in his idea, ultimately becoming a mentor to Smith and an investor of his business. “It just goes to show how beneficial it can be for you to attend these events and make connections in the local Denver community, even when you’re not sure of the outcome,” Lowry said.

About THE CLIMB | Collegiate Pitch Night

A spin-off of the fall 2016 semester’s THE CLIMB | Jake Jabs Business Plan Competition, Collegiate Pitch Night is a business development competition for collegiate start-ups. Five to seven student start-up teams will present their business ideas LIVE to a panel of judges, and cash prizes of more than $3,500 will be awarded to the judge’s first place team as well as a “People’s Choice” award. You can RSVP for the event here!