Applications Open!
Please visit the link below for more information on the application
Open Division | Collegiate Division
Entrepreneurial Challenge
The Entrepreneurial Challenge is an educational business pitch competition that helps participants acquire entrepreneurial skills and grow their innovative ideas.
Participants in the E-Challenge gain feedback from industry leaders, network with other entrepreneurs, and compete to win prize money. Our goal is to promote entrepreneurship in the community and provide students with the experiential learning they need to become career-ready leaders and effective entrepreneurs!
Our Mission is Your Education
We believe that people learn best through experiential learning.
The E-Challenge is built to facilitate your learning through training, practice, and feedback! You will learn how to write your idea proposal, how to prepare an engaging pitch, and how to present your business to investors. Throughout this process, you will gain expert feedback on your business idea and network with other entrepreneurs. On top of that, you will have a chance to win prize money to help get your idea off the ground!
"Developing entrepreneurial skills is valuable for everyone. The skills you learn in this event will help you be successful if you are an entrepreneur, own your own business, or are a member of a team working for a large corporation."
– Dr. Dallas Everhart, Director of the Entrepreneurial Challenge at UNC
Grow your ideas, build your skills, and gain expert feedback
Open Division
Are you a Colorado-based entrepreneur with a pre-launch or early-stage startup? If so, our Open Division is here to help you take your idea to the next level!
Collegiate Division
Are you a student at the University of Northern Colorado or attending a community college in Colorado? If so, our College Division was builtto help you grow your innovative ideas!
Not ready to apply? Attend our Events!
Our events are designed to help you learn entrepreneurship, even if you are not ready to pursue your idea yet.
Hear It From Us
“My experience with the Entrepreneurship Challenge was eye-opening. Competing last year was an insightful opportunity to practice pitching a business plan. I was able to refine my business strategies based on the feedback I received from the judges and create a tangible plan for executing my ideas. I also gained confidence in presenting to what could potentially be investors for my start-up in the future.”
– Emmy Scott, University of Northern Colorado Student
"The Monfort Entrepreneurial Challenge was an incredible event that helped validate my business model, Laborjack. Blake (my founder) and I participated in the event in 2019, and have since grown our business at a rapid pace we never thought was possible. Thank you to everyone involved and I highly recommend any aspiring entrepreneurs to validate their concept at the Monfort Entrepreneurial Challenge."
– Josh Moser, Cofounder at Laborjack LLC
“The Entrepreneurial Challenge has served me in countless ways. I get to build deep, meaningful connections with fellow students, work with MCB faculty and staff outside of the classroom, and network with business professionals in every industry across Colorado. I like to think of the Entrepreneurial Challenge as off-season conditioning before I graduate and enter the workforce. Here, I get to take the concepts and techniques I learn in class and immediately put them to practice in a real world environment."
– Halaki Gionet, Entrepreneurial Challenge Student Manager
Meet Our Team
Our student committee receives an equally valuable educational experience behind the
scenes of the Entrepreneurial Challenge. Between collaborating in a team environment,
coordinating our events, marketing, and being the point of contact for partners and
sponsors, we have plenty of work to do and little time.
Join The Team
Discover what it is to be a student manager for MCB's Entreprenurial Challenge for Fall 2021 and Spring 2022 semesters. The student manager position offers a variety of opportunity from professional experience redemption, to graduating a career ready bear. Be a part of the action and join the team who runs the program from behind the scenes.
Entrepreneurial Challenge 2023 Sponsors
Direct business inquiries to monfort.echallenge@unco.edu.
