{"id":14231,"date":"2025-12-17T20:08:16","date_gmt":"2025-12-17T20:08:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/?p=14231"},"modified":"2025-12-17T20:14:06","modified_gmt":"2025-12-17T20:14:06","slug":"ideas-take-the-stage-at-the-auggie-entrepreneur-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/2025\/12\/17\/ideas-take-the-stage-at-the-auggie-entrepreneur-cup\/","title":{"rendered":"Ideas take the stage at the Auggie Entrepreneur Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ideas moved fast at Augsburg University\u2019s third annual Auggie Entrepreneur Cup<\/a>, where student teams presented their ventures earlier in the day and returned that evening to celebrate, connect and hear the results. Set against holiday d\u00e9cor and live jazz, the reception buzzed with conversation as students, faculty, alumni, and business leaders reflected on a full day of pitches\u2014and the work that led up to them.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Auggie Entrepreneur Cup challenges students to collaborate across disciplines and perform at a professional level. Teams\u2014made up of one MBA student, two undergraduate business majors, and two graphic design majors\u2014spend the fall semester developing an entrepreneurial venture, culminating in high-stakes presentations judged by business leaders and faculty.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\u201cThis is experiential learning in action,\u201d said Dusty Froyum ’98<\/strong>, chair of the Business Advisory Board. \u201cStudents are working across disciplines, refining their ideas, and building relationships that matter.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Judges selected the top three teams, awarding donor-funded prize money of $3,000 per student for first place, $2,000 per student for second place, and $1,000 per student for third place.<\/span><\/p>\n

The first-place team stood out with a venture for Navatar Health focused on preventative screening to reduce the risk of colorectal cancer. Ryan Harvey ’26<\/strong>, an accounting major, led the team\u2019s financial analysis, while Jacob Henry \u201926<\/strong> said the experience pushed him to think differently and learn from teammates with backgrounds outside his own.<\/span><\/p>\n

For the graphic design students, Alanna Franklin ’25<\/strong> and Bri Mccutchan ’25<\/strong>, collaboration meant translating creative vision across disciplines. They noted that clearly communicating how branding brings an idea to life took time\u2014but ultimately helped unify the team\u2019s pitch and sharpen the final presentation.<\/span><\/p>\n

Jacqueline Zimmerman ’26 MBA<\/strong>, was struck by the professionalism on display. \u201cI was impressed with the caliber of students and their level of professionalism,\u201d said Zimmerman, a training program manager at Medtronic. Meeting judge Norm Hagfors\u2014one of the four individuals who helped found Medtronic\u2014was, she said, a personal highlight.<\/span><\/p>\n

More than a competition, the Auggie Entrepreneur Cup is about connection\u2014between students, mentors, alumni, and industry leaders. George Dierberger<\/strong>, Augsburg’s Howe Endowed Professor of Entrepreneurship, is excited for this spring\u2019s Baby Shark, an expanded competition that opens the entrepreneurial experience to even more students.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Top image: The winners of the 3rd Annual Auggie Cup. From left to right, Ryan Harvey \u201926, Jacob Henry \u201926, Alanna Franklin \u201925, David Perdue, Founder\/Principal of Navatar Health, Bri Mccutchan \u201925, Jacqueline Zimmerman \u201926 MBA. Photo by Courtney Perry.<\/em>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ideas moved fast at Augsburg University\u2019s third annual Auggie Entrepreneur Cup, where student teams presented their ventures earlier in the day and returned that evening to celebrate, connect and hear the results. Set against holiday d\u00e9cor and live jazz, the reception buzzed with conversation as students, faculty, alumni, and business leaders reflected on a full <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":14232,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[241],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"wps_subtitle":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14231","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14231"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14231\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14237,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14231\/revisions\/14237"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}