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The 37th Annual Burton D. Morgan Business Concept Competition

Final Event

Join us Wednesday, December 10, 10:00 AM–2:00 PM in the Rawls Hall 3rd Floor Atrium for the final round of the 37th Burton D. Morgan Venture Concept Competition! Come see the Top 10 "Standout Concept" student teams compete for the big prizes ($10K for 1st, $7K for 2nd, $5K for 3rd).

Over the past ten weeks, 120 teams and nearly 250 students from across Purdue have been designing, building, iterating, and refining their new venture concepts. This year’s participants are a vibrant representative mix of builders from Engineering (37%), Business (26%), Science (25%), Polytechnic (10%), Other (2%). The Final Event is a celebration of their hard work—and your chance to see Purdue’s most promising new ideas in action.

Event Agenda

  • 9:30 – 10 a.m. | Finalist & judge check-in
  • 10 a.m. – Noon | Top 10 team presentations
  • Noon – 1 p.m. | Lunch + judge deliberations
  • 1 p.m. | Announcement of Top 3 winners + celebration + networking

Judge Panel

Finalists will present to an outstanding group of experts in early-stage venture building. A huge thank you to our judges:

  • Drew Beechler, VP Marketing, Alloy Partners
  • Landon Young, VP Pre-Seed, Elevate Ventures
  • Katelyn Vierk, Associate, High Alpha
  • Mickey Swortzel, Operating Partner, Roll Tack Ventures
  • Mitch Black, Venture Director, HG Ventures

Call for Submissions

The 37th Burton D. Morgan Competition will again be about creating new venture concepts and focused on business design. We will be applying a proven playbook practiced by premier venture studios in the nation to get there.

  • Are you passionate about a problem space but haven’t had the chance to dive deep into it and explore whether you can design a potential business idea?
  • Do you have a business idea you've been sitting on, unsure how to take the first step?
  • What about a problem you've personally experienced or witnessed that made you think, Someone should solve this!
  • Have you spotted a gap in the market or an unmet customer need, or do you see an opportunity for a we can do better than that solution?

If any of these resonate, this competition is your chance to turn that inspiration into action!

Submit your preliminary draft venture concept by Sunday, October 5, 2025 to enter the competition and embark on this exciting journey of business creation. Remember, your initial submission is simply an expression of commitment to go through the journey. You should not worry too much about the initial submission — you will not be assessed on it; it will be your starting point to build on.

New This Year

Key Dates

Virtual workshops will be held on 10/3, 10/10, 10/17, 10/24, 11/7, and 11/21.

$50K in Prizes will be distributed to several top concepts at the Competition’s Final Event on . Submit your concept

Have questions? Reach out to the Competition’s lead, Professor Kostas Grigoriou, at kgrigori@purdue.edu.

Information for Students

What to Expect

The Burton D. Morgan Business Concept Competition is an active learning journey designed to help you take the first step toward developing a business concept. It will guide you through answering the critical question: Is there something here? You'll gain the confidence to decide whether to move forward. You'll consider designing a prototype and testing for traction.

Participants will start by submitting basic information about the problem or opportunity they've identified.

Over the course of a couple of months, you will:

  • Frame and validate customer problems
  • Assess market potential
  • Identify opportunities for differentiation
  • Envision solutions that resonate with customers

The ultimate goal? To confidently answer the question: "Do people want this?"

How You'll Succeed

Success in this competition depends on your proactive engagement with the market. You'll conduct customer and stakeholder discovery interviews and seek insights from experts. To support your journey, we'll provide workshops, tools, and feedback to help you refine and develop your business concept.

Workshops will be held virtually on Fridays at 6 p.m. on the following dates: October 3, October 10, October 17, October 24, November 7, and November 21. All entered participants will have access to a Brightspace competition page to submit assignments, access workshops/materials, schedule office hours, and receive feedback.

Awards

The competition culminates in a final event on , where approximately 10 teams with the most promising concepts will compete for:

  • 1st Prize: $10,000
  • 2nd Prize: $7,000
  • 3rd Prize: $5,000

The top three winners will be chosen by a panel of judges experienced in early-stage venture building.

Additionally, 7-8 other teams with standout concepts will each receive a $3,000 "You need to build this!" prize meant to encourage (but not require) you to develop a prototype for your business concept.

Assessment Criteria

For the Final Event, concepts will be assessed according to the following criteria:

  1. Priority JTBD (important, unmet, valuable)
    • Clarity of target customer
    • Clarity of JTBD
    • Significance and magnitude of unmet need
  2. Clarity of value proposition
    • Differentiation and uniqueness
    • Performance improvement over existing solutions to JTBD
  3. Size of market opportunity
  4. Technical and execution risk of imagined solution

This competition is designed for new, early-stage concepts, ideal for those ready to explore customer needs and market opportunities.

Requirements to Participate

To qualify for the final event, you'll need to:

  • Complete 1-2 virtual office hour meetings with our team
  • Submit four short assignments at key milestones to track your progress and receive feedback (through Brightspace)
  • Commit to attending the final event on in person

Eligibility

The competition is open to all Purdue students. However, your concept must meet these criteria:

  • It has not received more than $10,000 in funding from any source
  • It has not generated more than $5,000 in market revenue
  • It is not based on Purdue-owned Intellectual Property (IP)

Ready to Get Started?

Submit your preliminary draft venture concept by Sunday, October 5 to embark on this exciting journey of business creation!

Join one of our upcoming virtual information sessions to get all your questions answered and learn more about the competition process.

Virtual Information Sessions

Register for the above info session(s) to receive a Zoom invitation.

Past Competitions


($10K)
Corin Tuinstra, John Lucas
Addressing inefficiencies in our current trade finance infrastructure

($7K)
Edgar Babajanyan, Lewis Polansky
Giving CFOs/analysts 75% time back via AI in their data pipelines for reporting

($5K)
Levi Reyes Premer, Mark O'Donnell III
Reducing the cost of residential electrification via data-driven load shifting

Congratulations to all finalists for their amazing work. They walked away with a $3K "Standout Concept" prize. In no particular order:

  • Amit Manchella, Aditya Naidu | helping IB analysts reclaim valuable time via automation of complex workflows and repetitive diligence
  • Shambhavi Adkar, Tong En Sim, Mahee Jain | redefining women's wellness by delivering life-stage personalized health solutions
  • Bilsha Das, Drew Riordan | addressing the decreasing attention span in education by writing truly engaging homework through personalized problem reframing
  • Ryan Jo, Maheshwari Das, Chorong Park | working on the caregiver turnover crisis in home health by improving caregiver-senior fit via emotionally-intelligent matching
  • Ilke Akturk, Ali Sinan, Akturk Burla Ondes | going from frustration to optimization in lab management via data integration, task automation, and inventory management
  • Kanishk Singh, Dheeraj Aaditya, Srikar Kolla | teaching investment to beginners through micro-learning and gamified paper trading
  • Rodrigo Schmitt | helping students get to next-level learning through personalized skill maps
  • Best Customer Discovery ($1K): Kenneth Halls | helping schools and teachers seamlessly incorporate engaging learning experiences with 3D printing solutions
  • Most Creative Concept ($1K): Dalton Aaker | improving cognitive performance and focus for knowledge workers in noisy environments via neuromodulating headphones and volume adjustment
  • Most Innovative Concept ($1K): Khushi Choksi, Hannah Margulis, Elan Smyla | revolutionizing on the field early concussion detection for athletes driving accuracy via a software solution

Judge Panel

Our sincere gratitude to the following group of experts in early stage venture building who judged the 36th Competition’s Final Event:

  • Arpan Ajmera, Principal at VU Venture Partners
  • Landon Young, VP of Pre-Seed at Elevate Ventures
  • Mickey Swortzel, Operating Partner at Roll Tack Ventures
  • Minti Ray, Partner at McKinsey & Co
  • Ryan Larcom, Managing Director at High Alpha Innovation