Entrepreneurship & Technology News 

Brigham Young University is bursting with new ideas. Entrepreneurially minded students from across campus pitched some of those ideas in the annual Idea Pitch Competition, sponsored by the Rollins Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology.

Survival of the fittest is not only found in nature but also in business. Intrigued by the number of adaptations early-stage companies go through before getting their big break, Nathan Furr set out to determine the cause. His answer: cognitive flexibility, and his doctoral dissertation on the subject is garnering attention.

When they're not studying, students usually fill their time by joining clubs, working side jobs or volunteering — but the 2010 Student Entrepreneur of the Year prefers to spend his free time running a million-dollar company.

Brigham Young University's entrepreneurship program is No. 4 at both the undergraduate and graduate levels according to Entrepreneur magazine and The Princeton Review. The report finds BYU's strength in offering low tuition, double the number of mentorship programs of any other undergraduate school in the top ten and a high number of campus organizations and clubs.

Zappos founder Tony Hsieh, who sold his fast-growing shoe and apparel company to Amazon for $1.2 billion, recently revealed that he would have preferred to take the company public instead. But board members had other ideas and thought selling the company was a better way to “harvest” their investments.

In an age when most people go straight to the Internet for information, an effective website is key to a company's success. Getting students to understand that reality and teaching them how to create and implement effective internet marketing strategies was the goal of the inaugural Crexendo Online Marketing Competition, which culminated in an awards ceremony April 9.

Ready. Aim. Launch hippopotamus. Hippo Blast, a game for iPhone in which the player shoots a cartoon hippo from a cannon to see how far it will go, won first place and $10,000 at the second annual Omniture iPhone App Competition, hosted by the Rollins Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology at the Marriott School of Management.

Restless leg syndrome affects nearly 30 million Americans, causing discomfort and keeping them up at night, but three Brigham Young University students hope to provide relief and build a business in the process. The students' innovative product and solid plans gave their company, TranquilMed, a first-place finish the 2010 BYU Business Plan Competition.

Jeffrey H. Dyer, professor of strategy, received the 2010 Outstanding Faculty Award, the highest distinction from the Marriott School of Management at the annual Marriott School Awards Night on March 31. Another 15 faculty, staff and administrators were also honored at the event.

Entrepreneurs blaze their own trails and make their own success, but lessons learned from those who have gone before can increase a startup's chances. That's the message of a new book about entrepreneurial marketing from three Brigham Young University business professors.

The most innovative CEOs spend 50 percent more time practicing five specific innovation skills than do their less creative counterparts, according to a six-year study by three prominent business scholars.

A typical college career fair features logos from the top Fortune 500 companies, but at this career fair, the big names weren't even invited. Instead, the Utah Startup Marketplace, recently hosted at Brigham Young University, connected local ventures — many started by BYU students and alumni — with students looking for employment and internships.

Students at Brigham Young University are out to prove there's no need to wait until after graduation to get a big idea off the ground. Many of them had a chance to demonstrate how they're turning ideas into reality at the 2009 Student Entrepreneur of the Year Competition.

Brigham Young University's Marriott School of Management is one of the top 25 colleges for students looking to start their own business, according to rankings published by Entrepreneur magazine and The Princeton Review.

It's a dog-eat-dog world out there, and many college students wonder how they'll survive in an increasingly competitive job market. But this summer, hundreds of students at Brigham Young University's Marriott School of Management equipped themselves with skills to get ahead by interning for some of the biggest names in business.

A Brigham Young University professor was honored by his peers as one of the top venture entrepreneurs in Utah — for the second time in three years.

Two teams of Brigham Young University MBA students put their entrepreneurial businesses to the ultimate test as they competed against 38 of the world's top-notch business plans at the 27th annual Global Moot Corp Competition, in Austin, Texas.

The next generation of waterproofing is durable, breathable and environmentally friendly — and it is already here. The patent-pending technology, Hydrapel, can even make a paper towel withstand water absorption. Hydrapel was developed by Xeromax, the first-place winner at the 2009 Brigham Young University Business Plan Competition, taking home the grand prize of $50,000 in cash and in-kind services.

Want to bounce a ball inside your phone? There's an app for that. Two students at Brigham Young University created Awesome Ball, an iPhone application that topped the free app charts and won $10,000 at the inaugural BYU iPhone App Competition.

There weren't any painted faces or fight songs playing, but a rivalry was in the air as teams from the University of Utah joined Brigham Young University at the seventh biannual Omniture Web Analytics Competition. But the cougars triumphed with team ".convert" taking home the grand prize of $10,000 and three plasma TVs.