12/5/2014 Preena Patel
Technology Entrepreneur Center (TEC) is pleased to announce that we will be a regional host for the 2014-2015 Student Startup Madness competition.
Written by Preena Patel
URBANA, Ill. (December 3, 2014) – Technology Entrepreneur Center (TEC) is pleased to announce that we will be a regional host for the 2014-2015 Student Startup Madness competition. Within the College of Engineering, TEC is center that provides students with the skills, resources and experiences necessary to become successful entrepreneurs.
Student Startup Madness is a competition for students to compete against fellow entrepreneurs while grabbing the attention of possible investors and leaders in the startup community. Student Startup Madness is open to all college student digital media startups from any university nationwide.
Throughout this tournament, each startup will have the opportunity to create buzz and support for their entrepreneurial idea. From the 64 first-round competitors, 32 will be selected to move on to the semifinals. From there, the top 8 teams, the “Entrepreneurial Eight” will pitch their ideas to a superstar panel of renowned entrepreneurs and investors in March 2015.
Last year, the University of Illinois’ finalist StylePuzzle placed second. StylePuzzle is an online community that connects personal shoppers with customers who don't have time to shop for recent fashions. The University of Illinois hopes to bring home the first place title in this year’s competition.
Assistant Director of Student Programs and Marketing for TEC, Stephanie Larson states, "This is a great way for our students to pitch their ideas to a regional audience and expose them to student entrepreneurs from other universities."
All applications for Student Startup Madness will be accepted until December 5, 2014.
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ABOUT STUDENT STARTUP MADNESS
The Student Startup Madness concept was developed by Sean Branagan, director of the Center for Digital Media Entrepreneurship at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, in conjunction with SXSW. Student Startup Madness, along with its sponsors and host universities, believes in American entrepreneurship and on-campus startups--- and wants to help young student entrepreneurs succeed and become a part of the SXSW experience.
For more on Student Startup Madness, visit the website (http://studentstartupmadness.com)
ABOUT THE TECHNOLOGY ENTREPRENEUR CENTER
The Technology Entrepreneur Center (TEC) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign provides students and faculty with the skills, resources and experiences necessary to become successful innovators, entrepreneurs and leaders who tackle grand challenges and change the world. This is accomplished through its courses, venture and product competitions, workshops and other curricular and extra-curricular events that expose students to the concepts of technology innovation and market adoption. www.tec.illinois.edu
For More Information:
Stephanie Larson
Technology Entrepreneur Center, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
(217) 265-5456