The International Business Model Competition is the first and largest lean startup competition in the world. But who’s thinking lean when they can bring home the bacon?
Student entrepreneurs faced off for almost $150,000 in prize money at the competition, which was founded by Brigham Young University’s Rollins Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology and hosted by Microsoft Ventures on Microsoft's sprawling campus in Redmond, Wash.
Making it to Washington wasn’t easy. More than 5,000 teams from nearly 500 schools in five continents participated in affiliated competitions. However, only 41 were invited to participate in the final event, where students presented their business models and received training from some of the world’s top business leaders.
SwineTech, a student startup from University of Iowa, took home first place and $30,000 after wowing the judges with its presentation and product, Echo. Echo helps pig farmers reduce piglet crushing, a major cause of piglet mortality, and gives a real-time health analysis to help save piglets’ lives. The product detects when a piglet is being laid on by its mother and communicates to a belt-like structure — similar to a Fitbit — on the mother, which alerts her to stand up.
“This is huge win for my team and me,” says Matthew Rooda, president and CEO of SwineTech. “This really shows that, even though we are only 22 and 23 years old, we’ve done a really good job running the company to this point. It’s a good boost of confidence.”
Teams from BYU were close behind, finishing second and third. Second place and $20,000 was awarded to Wavio, a startup that creates and sells a small hands-free, off-grid communication device for outdoor enthusiasts. Third place and $10,000 went to Whistic, a cloud-based platform that provides workflow solutions to challenges surrounding third-party vendor security risk.
Co-hosted by the Rollins Center and Harvard, the IBMC is a unique student startup competition that focuses on the process entrepreneurs use to develop and launch validated products and companies. This year the competition was held in conjunction with the first-ever Lean Startup Thought Leader Conference.
“While most competitions emphasize outputs like business plans, the IMBC is laser-focused on the inputs of the entrepreneurial process,” says Jeff Brown, director for the IBMC and assistant director of the Rollins Center. “Our primary aim is to educate and inspire smarter entrepreneurs, who in turn launch more successful ventures.”
Keynote speakers at the event included entrepreneurial gurus James Whittaker, a distinguished technical evangelist at Microsoft, and Brant Cooper, author of the New York Times best-seller, The Lean Entrepreneur.
IBMC Winners
First Place ($30,000): SwineTech, University of Iowa
Second Place ($20,000): Wavio, Brigham Young University
Third Place ($10,000): Whistic, Brigham Young University
Fourth Place ($6,000): Hewa, Monterrey Institute of Technology
Fifth Place ($5,000): Nisoltus Medical, LLC, Michigan State University
Sixth Place ($4,000): Guardana, Northern Caribbean University
2016 Final Judges
Alex Osterwalder, author of Business Model Generation and co-founder of Strategyzer
Brant Cooper, author of The Lean Entrepreneur and founder of Moves the Needle
Nathan Furr, author of The Innovator’s Method and co-founder of the IBMC
Paul Ahlstrom, author of Nail It Then Scale It and co-founder of Alta Ventures Mexico
Tim Enger, business manager of Microsoft Ventures
The Marriott School is located at Brigham Young University, the largest privately owned, church-sponsored university in the United States. The school has nationally recognized programs in accounting, business management, entrepreneurship, finance, information systems and public management. The school’s mission is to prepare men and women of faith, character and professional ability for positions of leadership throughout the world. Approximately 3,300 students are enrolled in the Marriott School’s graduate and undergraduate programs.
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Writer: M'Leah Ricker Manuele