Entrepreneurs at ACC Schools Gearing up for Startup Madness, March 27 at NC State

Startup Madness, a collegiate entrepreneurship competition now in its third year, will be held on March 26 and 27 at the new James B. Hunt Jr. Library on North Carolina State University’s Centennial Campus.

This entrepreneurship competition – at which the student teams will be presenting their prototypes – is modeled after the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) tournament format, and the public is invited to view the team presentations. Semi-finals will be held on March 27, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m., and 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. The final four teams will compete at 4:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.

While the afternoon sessions are open to the public, tickets are required for the finals. VIP tickets are available that provide access to a reception for the team members at the HUB the evening prior; a breakfast hosted by Poole College, the event’s lead sponsor, on the morning of the competition; and all sessions on the day of the competition. Additional details including reservation information are available at the Startup Madness website.

“The Startoff Madness teams will compete in a set of tournament-style playoffs in the afternoon of March 27, with the final four teams competing in the evening,” said Scott Kelly, the event’s organizer. He is coordinating the logistics for the event with Lewis Sheats, a lead instructor in Poole College’s undergraduate entrepreneurship curriculum and advisor to the NC State Chapter of the Collegiate Entrepreneurs Organization (CEO).

The competition is limited to schools currently in the ACC or those that expect to be joining in future years, Kelly said. To date, 14 universities have confirmed that they are sending a total of 21 teams to compete, he said. This is up from 11 universities and 19 teams in 2012. The list of schools and team names is on the StartupMadness website, along with ticket information.

“I am seeing a higher energy level around Startup Madness this year, with the additional schools sending teams,” Kelly said. He also is seeing greater quality in the entries, which he attributes to students having greater exposure to entrepreneurship earlier in their academic careers.

“As the startup world grows and becomes more pervasive, I think the quality and maturity of the students is also rising,” he said. “If you start as a freshman in this entrepreneurial world, then as a junior or senior, you’ll be better prepared to launch something. I think it’s trickling down to the younger students; as they progress as students, they continue to increase in the quality of their teams and develop a sense of maturity of student founders.”

Each school is allowed to enter one undergraduate and one graduate team to Startup Madness. Sheats has set a March 15 deadline for NC State’s entries and expects to announce the university’s two teams by March 22.

“Poole College is thrilled to be hosting these teams for Startup Madness 2013,” said Dr. Bradley Kirkman, head of the college’s Department of Management, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, which includes faculty for the college’s undergraduate and graduate entrepreneurship curricula.

“With entrepreneurship being such an important part of what we do here at Poole College and across NC State as a whole, having all these teams bringing their innovative ideas will definitely benefit all of us,” he said. “It has the promise of being an exciting event.”

To date, the following schools have entered or are committed to entering one or two teams in Startup Madness.

• Clemson University
• Duke University
• Florida State University
• Georgia Institute of Technology
• North Carolina State University
• Syracuse University
• University of Maryland
• University of Miami
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• University of Notre Dame
• University of Pittsburgh
• University of Virginia
• Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
• Wake Forest University