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SALT LAKE CITY — A student startup from Brigham Young University took home a $30,000 prize over the weekend en route to winning the Utah Entrepreneur Challenge.
The statewide business model competition is administered by the Lassonde Entrepreneurial Institute, an interdisciplinary division of the University of Utah’s David Eccles School of Business, and sponsored by Zions Bank.
This year’s winner, Powder Baby Dry Shampoo, sells healthy non-aerosol dry shampoo products in five different colors.
Kylie Black, who founded Powder Baby, said the prize money would help move her business forward.
“When they called my name and I won the grand prize, it meant a lot to me because we need this money to promote this summer,” Black said. “We need this grant to really continue to grow. We have the best product, we just need to get it in front of people, and this contest gives us the legs to do that.” I’ll give it to you.”
Black said she founded the company after experiencing other dry shampoo products and thinking she could make a better product.
“I really chose it because I really hated dry shampoo,” Ms. Black said. “It took us about a year to come up with the right bottle and the right materials. Now you can find us on our company’s website. We also sell on Amazon.”
Throughout the competition, teams from colleges across the state competed for a $100,000 prize. While Powder Baby Dry Shampoo took home the top prize, other student startups had successful weekends as well.
Ensign College’s team took second place and won $10,000 for their Iso Retractor product. This is a dental retractor with suction slots that efficiently removes over 90% of fluid from the oral cavity. Spot Parking, a BYU-U.S. joint venture in third place, automates and streamlines the parking enforcement process to ensure reliable, consistent, and fair enforcement of parking policies through machine learning and computer vision. To do. Spot Parking Team won him $7,500.
“This year’s Utah Entrepreneur Challenge brought together an incredible group of student entrepreneurs from across the state,” said Anne Bastien, program director for the Lassonde Entrepreneurial Institute. “This contest allows these teams to compete for prizes and prizes. It also gives them a great opportunity to practice their pitch and make great connections that will help them build their company. I look forward to seeing what these teams and individuals achieve in this competition for years to come. ”
In early March, Lassonde Institute hosted a high school version of the challenge, and West High School’s Rocket Instructor project was crowned the winner, winning a $10,000 prize.
The business aims to provide free one-on-one online math tutoring and was started by Syna Aggarwal with her brother Arya after a personal experience of needing a tutor.
People can learn more about all of the 2024 Utah Entrepreneur Challenge finalists on Lassonde’s website.
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