In front of a packed house at the Boulder Theater, New Venture Challenge (NVC) finalists had only 5 minutes to convince a panel of Boulder’s most successful entrepreneurs that their business concept deserved venture funding over the other 100 participating teams. This may seem like a daunting task, but this year’s 10 NVC finalists spent countless hours over the preceding nine months preparing for this moment.
The NVC is an annual entrepreneurial competition where CU Boulder students, faculty, and staff form teams, develop innovative ideas for a product or service, iterate and refine their products, and ultimately present their pitches. In April, the celebrated its 10th year of fostering innovation and bridging the gap between entrepreneurs and funding sources by providing $75,000 to the most fundable company at the finals.
This year’s winner, Specdrums, won the judges over with its creativity, determination, and a wildly successful Kickstarter campaign. Specdrums’ flagship product is an app-connected ring that allows users to create music at their fingertips. Shortly after the NVC 10 finals, Specdrums was acquired by Sphero, a Boulder-based interactive toy and robot maker.
“NVC was a very exciting experience for us,” said Specdrums co-founder and CEO Steven Dourmashkin. “Since not making it past the finals last year, we've been working hard to improve our product and build our community. The momentum we've achieved since then put us in a great spot to participate in NVC 10, and the countless hours polishing and practicing our pitch paid off!”
The Silicon Flatirons Center for Law, Technology, and Entrepreneurship co-founded and cultivated the NVC and ran the program for nine years before handing it over to the new CU Boulder Innovation & Entrepreneurship Initiative last fall. Like Silicon Flatirons’ own Entrepreneurship Initiative, the NVC is centered around three goals: encourage participants to explore entrepreneurship, no matter what discipline or department they are from; unite the campus with the resources and mentorship available in the Boulder community; and inspire participants to enjoy and engage in entrepreneurial experiences. From September to April each year, the NVC hosts a variety of workshops, mentorship events, and networking opportunities, and attracts rising stars to compete.
Before the kickoff of this year’s NVC, Specdrums sought the assistance of Colorado Law’s Entrepreneurial Law Clinic (ELC), which gives law students a unique opportunity to provide legal representation for Colorado’s most promising startup and small business clients. Tyler Hayden (’18) and Jack Vihstadt (’18), one of the ELC’s 2017–18 student attorney teams, worked closely with Specdrums on interesting legal challenges facing the young company, including issues related to data privacy and products liability. The student team also drafted the company’s terms of service and privacy policy, both of which can be found on the company’s website and mobile app.
“Representing Specdrums stressed the importance of managing client expectations, setting appropriate deadlines, and delivering a quality work-product under time constraints,” Hayden said.
A common thread between these innovation-focused, collaborative programs is the work of Associate Professor Brad Bernthal (’01). As the co-founder and point person for the NVC during the past decade, Bernthal has fueled his passion for providing Colorado Law students with immersive opportunities to engage with Boulder’s world-class startup scene. Bernthal also serves as the director of the ELC and the Silicon Flatirons Center’s Entrepreneurship Initiative. Under his leadership, the NVC has expanded dramatically, and the ELC has grown to include 20 student attorneys who assist more than 30 companies each year. The NVC and ELC continue to have an inspiring impact on the University of Colorado campus and the Boulder startup ecosystem.