The StartUp Learning Community is hosting their annual 100-Hour Challenge contest running Nov. 8-12 at UW Makerspace.
The contest encourages entrepreneurial-minded students on campus to come up with a creative yet substantial product idea or service over the weekend with donated products from UW Surplus with a Purpose. SWAP, a department within Purchasing Services on campus, is a multi-faceted surplus property disposal operation that resells junk from all departments.
The StartUp Learning Community, a partnership between the Wisconsin School of Business and University Housing, is located in Sellery. The Community hosts the contest every year, attracting mostly undergraduate students
Students will pick up material from SWAP at MakerSpace on Thursday and will pitch a product, idea or service that is valuable, innovative or socially beneficial.
To be considered, students will submit a video or photo series to a public website by mid-day Monday.
“[This] entry-level contest has inspired many student entrepreneurs to explore the campus startup scene more fully. For example, two of the three students that won the best pitch at last year’s Transcend competition entered the 100-Hour Challenge their freshman year,” Judge said.
Usually, around 40-50 student teams begin the challenge on day one, and around 20-25 teams submit their ideas with the chance to win one of the three prizes.
“[All] judges are professionals around the Madison community who have expertise in their area of judging — Creativity, Revenue Value and Social Value. There is a cash prize of 400 for each," Judge said.
According to Judge, this will be the StartUp Learning Community’s first partnership with the UW Makerspace.
