Entrepreneurs present at Minot State
From a dessert food truck to a brewery to a business that would deliver fast food and other items to Minot doorsteps within three hours, young entrepreneurs at Minot State are full of ideas.
Students in Tracey Mays’ Entrepreneurship and New Venture Creation class presented their ideas for new start-up fictitious businesses to judges and other interested spectators over the noon hour on Wednesday at Minot State.
Andy Jones and Kolby Lang came up with Shop 4 U, which they said would deliver all sorts of products to Minot door steps for a reasonable price within three hours. They would focus mainly on small markets, unlike the big businesses like Amazon. They said their business would require a delivery van, an app, and partnerships with area businesses and access to their delivery catalogues so customers could point and click on the item they wanted delivered. A delivery of $50 or less might include a $15 flat fee per delivery and the price would go up for more expensive orders.
Danielle Alexander, Emily White and McKensie Popinga came up with a dessert food truck called Sweet Ride, which would offer delicious treats like mini chocolate chip cookies and chocolate chip brownies. White said a food truck would be a great start up business for an entrepreneur, as the overhead cost for a truck is not as great as one for a store front business. Sweet Ride won both the people’s choice and the judge’s awards.
Students Sydnee Canales and Danny Youngren pitched Beaver Brewing, a brewery that Youngren said they would want to locate in a rented building in downtown Minot. Craft beer would be brewed on the premises and there would also be an open mic night and other social events. Youngren and Canales told Marc Wachtfogel, Ph.D., director of human resources, that they would hope to find “angel investors” to launch the business.
Mays, an assistant professor of entrepreneurship and management, said student groups created and presented five business proposals in all. Each booth visitor asked questions about the business and gave play money to “invest” in their favorite business.
The students were competing to see who could amass the most play money and popular votes from the visitors to their booths. Judges from local banks also judged the business proposal and indicated which of the five they would choose to invest money in.
Some of the students said they would like to make their fictitious businesses real ones someday.
The other two businesses were Nutrition on Wheels and Shop4U.