BOSS Startup
November 2020
story: sean finerty
This year, the Keenan Center for Entrepreneurship has once again hosted its Best of Student Startup (BOSS) series, a semester-long program for student-driven startups. BOSS provides an opportunity for Ohio State students teams to create and pitch new products, services or technologies to a panel of entrepreneurs and leaders. Over 40 student startup teams participated in a series of entrepreneurship workshops and developed pitch presentations for their business ideas during the course of the Autumn 2020 semester.
Inception and Structure
The long running program began in 2013. Initially, it was solely a pitch competition with several rounds for students to compete in for funding. Jake Cohen, the program director for collaboration and events for the Keenan Center, discussed some of the characteristics of the program after it was revamped in 2017.
“The program is designed to get students connected to the Keenan Center’s resources and the entrepreneurship ecosystem,” he says. Within a semester, 3 workshops are facilitated by a different startup leader in Columbus. The focus of these workshops is to have students learn from leaders in the entrepreneurship community and entrepreneurs themselves. They are designed to be wide-ranging. They provide a broad context that anyone can benefit from, whether that be students just starting to form their idea, or those that are far along in the startup process.
Overview of Workshops
The first workshop has teams identify their key problem and essentially determine whether it is one that is worth solving. Teams subsequently come up with a solution statement, are introduced to customer validation and overall answer the question of whether or not their business is viable. The goal is for students “to focus on solving a problem that’s worth solving and back that up with research,” says Cohen.
Presentation is the focal point of the second workshop. Teams learn about utilizing their pitch deck, take a crash course in effective public speaking and learn how to put together a concise presentation. In the last workshop, teams deal with strategy. The startup teams receive advice on their marketing strategy and future operations associated with getting their respective business off the ground. Furthermore, teams deal with finances and go over what funding they need depending on what stage they’re at.
Final Pitch
After the workshops, the program gives the opportunity to pitch their ideas to a panel of judges à la “Shark Tank.” The judges ask questions and give feedback and ultimately 5 teams are selected to pitch again to a new set of judges. The first place team is awarded $2,000 towards their startup idea, the second place team receiving $1,500. Since the finale is free and open to the public, the third place team is the recipient of the “People’s Choice Award” which is awarded to the team receiving the most votes from the audience aside from the first or second place teams. The People’s Choice team also receives $500 towards their startup.
Successes and Past Finalists
“One thing that’s really unique about the program is it’s really open to anyone no matter what stage of the entrepreneurship process that they’re at,” says Cohen. Whether there are first-time students with a fresh idea initially dipping their toes into entrepreneurship, or teams that have an already established business, there’s an opportunity for everyone to benefit.
The program has also seen a diverse student base in terms of both ideas.
“Every year with our BOSS finalists, there’s a really wide range of the finalists and where they are at with their idea,” Cohen says. Past finalists have included students entering the beginning stages of funding, as well as already established businesses looking to grow and expand. The program has seen many success stories as well. One of the many examples is David Butcher, a student who went through the BOSS program with the idea to start a food truck. Butcher won the program, and has now opened a brick-and-mortar restaurant in Dayton.
“One thing that’s really unique about the program is it’s really open to anyone no matter what stage of the entrepreneurship process that they’re at.”
Adapting the Program to a Virtual Setting
Due to the ongoing COVID-19, the BOSS series has been conducted completely virtually this year through Zoom. Despite this, Cohen believes that not much has changed about the program.
“We’re really lucky because I think this program lends itself well to a virtual format,” he says. He cites the benefits of virtual settings, such as greater access to students not living on campus and more opportunities to engage with experienced entrepreneurs.
Whether you are a student just starting to get into entrepreneurship, or one looking to gain new incite and resources for your idea, Cohen believes that BOSS is the “perfect program” for participants to obtain the guidance that they need to turn their ideas into a reality.
On Wednesday, November 18th 2020 come and watch the final 5 student startup teams pitch their business ideas for funding. The event is free, open to the public, and will be conducted via zoom. To learn more and RSVP, visit go.osu.edu/boss.