Entrepreneurship & Technology News 

Two tech startup teams from Brigham Young University won first and second place at the 2023 Utah State Lassonde Entrepreneurship Challenge. The students from the winning teams attribute their startup success to the mentor-heavy initiatives offered by the Rollins Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology within the BYU Marriott School of Business.

Jeffrey Burningham, BYU alumni, donor, and partner to the Rollins Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology, believes that the creative process is a pivotal piece to a fulfilling life. From creating startups in college to venture capital, to owning Peak Capital Partners, Burningham teaches and mentors with the message that everyone is capable of creating new ideas that can better lives and society.

Pursuing goals proves difficult when life becomes unpredictable and demanding. However, Jade Rogers, a manager at BYU Marriott’s Rollins Center for Technology and Entrepreneurship, appreciates the value in life’s uncertainty. Trusting that God continually helps her realize her potential, Rogers moves forward through change and hard times with faith.

Whoever said “third time’s the charm” was obviously not an entrepreneur. There’s no magic number for successful business launches, but for Ben Miller, a BYU Marriott School of Business MBA alumnus, finding a profitable business idea took him four tries. He eventually cofounded SimpleNexus, a large, prospering mortgage industry platform that integrates multiple homebuying processes into a single system. In the midst of his success, Miller remembers the influence of the Rollins Center for Technology and Entrepreneurship and what he learned there about seeking and preparing for success.

Attracted by the sound of live music and the smell of free pizza, hundreds of students gathered to enjoy the Creators’ Kickoff, hosted by the Rollins Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology. Aside from the fun atmosphere and free food, students learned about the excellent resources and benefits available to them through joining Creators, the new student association connected with the Rollins Center, which is located in the BYU Marriott School of Business.

When April Teames Gantz isn’t enjoying the great outdoors with her husband, you’ll find her actively engaged in projects to benefit the community. A senior in the user experience (UX) design program at BYU’s College of Fine Arts and Communications, Teames Gantz participates in groups dedicated to various causes. As a student, she finds fulfillment through working with teams formed within BYU Marriott’s Rollins Center for Technology and Entrepreneurship.

With a background in fashion merchandising, Andrea Farrell used to travel to places such as Las Vegas, New York, and Guangzhou, China, for her day job. Now, as the financial manager for the Rollins Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology at the BYU Marriott School of Business, she spends most of her workdays in room 470 of the Tanner Building. Although Farrell has momentarily put business travel to rest, she’s found a job she loves, where she gets to see students realize their entrepreneurial dreams. 

As someone who has often felt like the odd woman out, Mikayla Cluxton knows what it is like to be lonely. As a second-year student in the entrepreneurial management program at the BYU Marriott School of Business, Cluxton recently created a startup, BeeFriend, to help alleviate loneliness in the geriatric population. Inspired by the iconography of a bee, Cluxton and her two cofounders are creating a hive for the senior citizens in their community to find friends.  

When students enter The Slab, the Rollins Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology’s newly remodeled office space in the Tanner Building, they will often be greeted by office manager Rose Blamires. She may be behind the soda counter making someone a drink, on her laptop completing various office tasks, or sitting in a brightly colored chair, chatting with a student about their aspirations. Whatever the activity, Blamires is an integral part of the BYU Marriott School of Business’s entrepreneurship center and strives to use her strengths to make the Rollins Center a place of collaboration and inclusivity.

As a young man with a limp and a stutter, James "Jim" Ritchie didn't believe he would be able to compete in life. However, a talk he gave as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints changed his life. A lifetime of business success later, Ritchie is now a Rollins Center Entrepreneur Founder with the Rollins Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology at the BYU Marriott School of Business.

Every year innovative students at BYU give their best shot at developing new technologies that can make the world a better place. With $50,000 in prize money on the line, the 2022 Student Innovator of the Year Competition once again delivered potentially life-changing results.

Student entrepreneurs at BYU looking for guidance and financial backing now have the opportunity to receive both through the Rollins Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology's new Seed Grants program.

When the Great Recession in 2008 caused his startup real estate company to fold, Case Lawrence thought he knew what failure was. Years later, however, the COVID-19 pandemic put his trampoline park company on the verge of another business failure. As a mentor with the Rollins Center at BYU Marriott, Lawrence uses his experiences with failure to help young entrepreneurs be better equipped for the road ahead.

Students who participate in the Rollins Center at BYU Marriott know they can find financial support, mentorship, and motivation for their entrepreneurial ventures through the center. Those themes were magnified during the center's annual Founders Conference, which allowed students to connect with and showcase their business skills to members of the Rollins Center's Entrepreneur Founders organization.

With products ranging from airless tires, healthy baby food, and perfectly fitting watch bands, innovative ideas were shared by BYU student entrepreneurs at the Big Idea Jam final. The event is hosted annually by the Rollins Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology at the BYU Marriott School of Business as part of the Miller Competition Series. Entrants had the opportunity to share their ideas, whether those ideas started in a lab or on the back of a napkin.

Barbers are often busy with their hands in clients' hair—cutting, trimming, dyeing, and styling. Understandably, answering a ringing phone isn't usually their first priority. Luckily, BYU math junior Austin Petersen recently thought of a solution: an AI-powered, phone-answering company called Lovage Labs.

When Rebecca Tanner was a human development student at BYU, she wrote a research paper about the benefits of reading to a child starting at a young age. This research helped fuel her passion behind Bookroo, a children’s book subscription box company she cofounded with her husband, two sisters-in-law, and their husbands. 

The first time Matthew Alexander seriously pitched one of his products, he swam with the sharks. The time he spent preparing to pitch his invention, Illumibowl, on the ABC show Shark Tank, among other learning experiences, taught him important lessons about entrepreneurship. Now, as a mentor for the Rollins Center of Entrepreneurship and Technology at the BYU Marriott School of Business, Alexander strives to share his wisdom with aspiring student entrepreneurs.

In the process of tie-dying a shirt, all the colors start out separately but eventually blend together, forming interesting patterns and connections. In a similar way, Mikayla Cheng hopes to encourage genuine relationships among students at BYU through her social media app, Tiedye. Although building the app has been challenging, Cheng has received help from several resources, including the Rollins Center of Entrepreneurship and Technology at the BYU Marriott School of Business.

Not long after Kim Scoville began teaching at the BYU Marriott School of Business, she noticed a need for legal knowledge in the school’s entrepreneurship program. As a graduate of BYU’s J. Rueben Clark Law School, Scoville has spent her career providing legal advice to startup companies. Her work experience prompted her to create an entrepreneurship class that focused on legal issues for BYU Marriott’s entrepreneurship students, many of whom own or plan to own businesses.