Dan DaranciangYesterday, the Skandalaris Entrepreneurship Program at the Olin School of Business launched “Idea Bounce,” a new opportunity that facilitates the sharing of creative and innovative ideas between members of the Washington University community. The project, which consists of a Web site and events, invites prospective entrepreneurs to bounce their business ideas off of one another.
The Web site debuted last week, and the Skandalaris Center hosted its first event on April 28 in May Auditorium.
“How do great ideas become reality? We wanted to provide a resource that would help people make connections,” said Chris Dornfeld, the entrepreneurship collaboration director at the Skandalaris Center.
The first event had a total of 13 presenters with 14 ideas. The ideas presented ran the gamut from ‘Better for you Beef’ (beef mixed with tofu) and the ‘Pup Tub’ (a self-contained dog-washing apparatus) to ‘Washington University Press’ (a book press for the university). Each presenter was given two minutes to “bounce” an idea to the audience and a panel of five judges, which included community partners such as venture capital firms, incubators and other local entrepreneurs.
Senior Brandon Heller, collaborating with fellow senior Ari Roisman, presented “Engineering Innovation for the Disabled Workforce.” Brandon said that their proposal is to make productivity-enhancing devices for the disabled.
“We came up with the idea in hopes of keeping jobs in the United States as opposed to outsourcing,” Heller said. “We propose to do this by making the disabled more able to perform simple jobs.”
Of the ideas presented, five entrepreneurs will win $100 prizes and dinner with the judges of the contest. The winners will be selected by a set of three standards: the quality or value of the idea, the creativity of the idea and the quality of the presentation.
Although not everyone wins the competition, junior Aarin Yu explained that Idea Bounce’s objective is to provide a forum for members of the Washington University community to share innovative ideas and learn how to start a business or patent an invention.
“Idea Bounce is a stepping stone to helping you accomplish your goals,” Yu said. “Although everyone doesn’t win, they still learn through the workshops, get exposure and form networks. If you can think of an idea, we can find a way to help you.
Ideabounce.com is open to anyone in the St. Louis area and entering the competition is free of cost. The interface is similar to that of a blog, but posting is open to the public. Contestants have posted 20 ideas on the website thus far. Prospective entrepreneurs post descriptions of their ideas along with what they need to make them into a reality.
-With additional reporting by News staff