Competition seeks out young entrepreneurs

In September 2012, the Building Entrepreneurs in Software and Technology (BEST) fund was created by a group of 10 individual investors, along with an additional $100,000 from IU’s Research and Technology Corporation, according to inside IU Bloomington.

BEST is a competition open to current, full-time IU Bloomington seniors and graduate students. It will grant $250,000 in prize money each year for the students with the best plans for a student-led Internet, software or technology business, according to Inside IU Bloomington.

“They thought that if they could have a competition where students could take what they learned in the classrooms and actually have a chance to experientially try to pitch those ideas, to put them into real practice and have investors that would seed those ideas with real money, then we might have a way that students come together and sort of move their ideas into reality,” Donald F. Kuratko, Distinguished Chair of Entrepreneurship in the Kelley School of Business, said in a video produced by the Big Ten Network. 

In the competition, students present their business venture ideas to actual investors and compete for the first place prize of $100,000, which they would use to invest in their company, according to Inside. The remaining prize money would be distributed amongst selected finalists, allowing others to benefit from the competition as well.

Winner of the 2012 BEST Competition, Jonathan Baldwin, used the prized money to get YuMingle, one of the four start-up investments awarded investment dollars in the inaugural competition in 2011, up and running in 2012, according to Inside.

IU alum Mark Cuban became an additional BEST investor and will serve as a judge for future competitions, according to Inside.

Registration for the next BEST competition can be done by completing a pre-registration form due Monday, Oct. 28 2013 at 5:00 p.m., and an entry form due Monday, Nov. 18 2013 at 5:00 p.m., according to BEST 2013-14’s website. Finalists will be notified on December 13, 2013.

- Makenzie Holland