Two of the three winners of the sixth annual University of Northern Colorado Monfort College of Business Entrepreneurial Challenge announced April 12 were founded by Colorado State University students — and are Collegiate competitors in the Colorado State University Blue Ocean Enterprises Challenge in May.
GameCentrics took second place and $15,000, while Change Composites took third and $10,000.
They will meet again on May 27 in Fort Collins, when they compete against each other and 11 other teams for $20,000 and the chance to advance to the next stage of the Blue Ocean challenge and the $250,000 grand prize.
“We couldn’t be prouder of both of our CSU teams,” said Christine Chin, interim director of the Institute for Entrepreneurship in the College of Business. “The Monfort competition was tough, and for two student teams to make it to the finals was impressive in itself.”
The overall Monfort winner, QBLabs of Parker, received $25,000 – and also will be competing in the Enterprise competition in the CSU Blue Ocean Challenge. The startup makes MovementTek, a wearable system that empowers physicians, trainers, and physical therapists to quantify and streamline client progress for better movement analysis and improved treatment outcomes.
All Monfort winners also receive business incubator services from UNC BizHub at Monfort College.
“I look forward to seeing QBLabs and the rest of the established startups who are Enterprise competitors on May 29 and 30,” Chin added.
About the teams
GameCentrics brings gamification to daily workplace productivity with its Anti‐Grind software. Instead of using a controller, the cloud platform integrates with a company’s existing data stream representing employee production information and creates a series of player vs. player, team vs. team, company vs. environment, and personal achievements to set to seasonal and company-specific themes.
“More than anything this experience forced my team to nail down and explain key parts of our business plan,” explained Sahan Jayasumana, co‐founder of GameCentrics. “As college students and recent graduates it is challenging to fund our business. The vote of confidence and startup capital we received from the E‐Challenge allows us to develop our beta product faster than I ever anticipated.”
Change Composites makes a new bike helmet that helps reduce traumatic brain injuries. The design is made of a composite outer shell paired with a non‐Newtonian liner that helps reduce the chances of traumatic brain injury by responding to the force applied to the user’s head.
“Entering a contest like this really makes you focus on the finite aspects of your business and was the biggest value of this process,” said Nate Saam, co-founder of Change Composites. “The prize money will be used to manufacture our first run of helmet shells and the padding inside the helmet. We are incredibly grateful for the exposure and knowledge gained from this contest.”
About the competition
From an initial field of 18 competitors, five finalists were chosen to present their business plans to a panel of judges in a “Shark Tank” format at 9NEWS studios in Denver.
Judges for the Entrepreneurial Challenge included:
- Peter Adams, executive director of Rockies Venture Club;
- Kevin Ahern, founder, chairman, and CEO of CIC Bancshares, UNC alum and Board of Trustees member; and
- Brad Florin, serial entrepreneur and strategic advisor.
Gregg Moss, 9NEWS business reporter and anchor, was the emcee for the event, which was broadcast Sunday night on KTVD Channel 20 and can be seen on‐demand at mcb-echallenge.com.
To learn more about the finalists who competed in this year’s challenge, visit their websites:
- QBLabs: globalteklabs.com
- Change Composites: changecomposites.com
- GameCentrics: gamecentrics.com
- LUCAN Technologies, Inc.: lucantech.com
- VisePower.com, LLC: visepower.com
Learn more about the Monfort College E-Challenge.
Learn more about this year’s CSU Blue Ocean Enterprises Challenge.
