Student entrepreneurs have forged quite a reputation at the University of Arkansas. For years, UA student teams have competed in entrepreneurship competitions around the world, racking up millions in prize money. Now, there will be a competition right here in Arkansas with the aim of putting Arkansas on the map.
This new competition, the Heartland Challenge, is the first global collegiate startup competition to be held in Arkansas. The Heartland Challenge will bring graduate students from around the globe to pitch their businesses.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Heartland Challenge is going virtual. The 12 teams will go head-to-head on May 28 and 29. According to Sarah Goforth, executive director of the UA Office of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, many national and international startup competitions have been canceled entirely, a “devastating” blow to teams that had prepared to a year or more to compete. This virtual competition, she said, will allow the teams to pitch their companies and capitalize on their prior work.
On May 29, the Heartland Challenge will host the final round of the event, as well as an elevator pitch competition. These events will be streamed live on Facebook, which Goforth hopes will provide a “nice boost of energy in the current environment.”
The University of Arkansas team, CelluDot, will face off against teams from Johns Hopkins (two teams), Tufts University, Georgia State, Oklahoma State, the Sasin School of Management in Bangkok, Rice University and the universities of Maryland, Missouri and Tennessee.
Goforth said the Heartland Challenge, a partnership between the UA and Arkansas Capital Corporation, was developed to give back to the entrepreneurial community that has nurtured Arkansas companies. She sees the competition as a way to pay it forward for other universities and entrepreneurs.
The competition is also designed to demonstrate the strength of entrepreneurship in Arkansas and serve as an advertisement for potential companies that participate in the Heartland Challenge and might choose to relocate to the state.
“We are trying to build our knowledge-based economy and show that it can support healthy, sustainable growth. We want to do that by connecting the investors and the people in our community with some of the most exciting student innovators around the world,” Goforth said. “But we’re also wanting to bring those innovators here and see our community and we believe, once they get here, they’ll be surprised and delighted maybe consider this as a place to build their company or their next company.”
The entrepreneurs will participate in 60-second pitch rounds as part of the competition, as well as investor roundtables designed to stimulate real-life pitch meetings. The investor roundtables, Goforth says, will be “unconventional,” as the entrepreneurs will not use PowerPoints or notes but must connect with the investors.
More than 100 companies applied to the Heartland Challenge in its inaugural year. But that’s only the beginning for Goforth, who intends for the competition to become an annual event.
“I think the value that we are creating is the connectivity between the opportunities here and some of the most talented people in the world who are getting ready to finish their Ph.D. or their MBAs and getting their ideas off the ground. So, I’m hoping that the event this year will attract sponsors for next year and keep it going again,” she said.
The prize pool includes:
1. First Place Main Competition – $50,000
2. Second Place Main Competition – $25,000
3. Third Place Main Competition – $10,000
4. Fourth Place Main Competition – $5,000
Elevator Pitch
1. First Place $3,000
2. Second Place – $2,000
Investor Roundtable Awards
1. Social Impact – $10,000
2. Health and Well-Being – $10,000
3. Food, Agriculture and Sustainability – $10,000
4. Supply Chain Innovation – $10,000
