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Win $50,000 for Your Business Idea!

BIB Winners

WashU Olin’s third annual BIG IdeaBounce® powered by Poet&Quants is back.

This is an incredible opportunity to start or grow your business. Win or lose, you’ll hone your idea, get valuable exposure, and receive great input from our panel of expert judges. 
Round 1 Submit your idea to enter Jan 16 2024
Round 2 Top 20 teams submit a 2-minute pitch video Feb 6 2024
Round 3 Top 3 teams present to judges on WashU Olin’s campus Mar 28 2024

Open to all current undergraduate and graduate school students or prospective students interested in a graduate business degree.

If you have any questions, please contact us.

Big IdeaBounce® Virtual Events

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How Good Is My Startup Idea?

Join WashU Olin’s professor Doug Villard in December for a brief webinar. Doug will walk you through his 5-point litmus test to help you evaluate your idea’s chances and learn how to tweak it for a successful business pitch.

Where are they Now?

2023 Big IdeaBounce® winner shares the impact of the exposure and prize money on their business. 

2023 Winner: Keye

Do Entrepreneurs Need An MBA? 

In January, join Poets&Quants Editor-in-Chief, John A. Byrne and WashU Olin Business School Dean, Mike Mazzeo for an insightful conversation of the value of an MBA for entrepreneurs.

The Skinny

Open to all current undergraduate and graduate school students or prospective students interested in a graduate business degree. 

Come up with an original business idea (either “for profit”, “nonprofit” and/or with “social/environmental/sustainable impact).

Follow the judging methodology (below) when organizing your pitch.

Entries will be screened by a panel of initial judges. Entries selected to continue will go before a panel of final judges.

All ideas that advance to the final presentation will receive personalized feedback from a panel of experienced judges and mentors.

The final three teams will present to judges on WashU Olin’s campus in person. A team stipend will be provided for travel and accommodations.

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Check out highlights from last year's competition.

Previous BIG IdeaBounce® Pitches

2023 WashU Olin's BIG IdeaBounce® Powered By Poets&Quants: Pitch Competition

2022 WashU Olin BIG IdeaBounce® Powered By Poets&Quants — Pitch Competition

Past Winners: Where Are They Now

A year later, the team reports that PedalCell has made solid progress, increasing sales and expanding overseas so that more customers can take advantage of the startup’s bicycle power source that mounts in minutes on nearly all bike designs. 2022 Winner: PedalCell
After winning the 2nd annual Big IdeaBounce, Keye deployed the funds to launch its proprietary platform allowing users to purchase 1-day passes to popular subscription services. Keye partnered with over 20 services, including news publishers such as The Economist, blogging platforms like Medium and financial data tools such as CB Insights to bring bite-sized content to independent professionals.....continued.... 2023 Winner: Keye
After growing its member base to over 50,000 users by the end of September, Keye was seeing most revenue growth coming from customers in consulting and financial services who used knowledge from Keye to advise clients and evaluate potential investments. With growing opportunities in the space, the Keye team decided to pivot fully into using data and AI to help those customers access, organize, and make sense of market intelligence. 2023 Winner: Keye
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Want more info?

Contact us directly if you have any questions.

About IdeaBounce®

IdeaBounce® is a registered trademark of Washington University’s Skandalaris Center and has been made available to university and community partners working to expand entrepreneurship and inclusivity in innovation for everyone. IdeaBounce® is a platform for sharing ideas at all stages and a network of users who want to support each other and the entrepreneurial ambitions of our community members.

Entrepreneurship and WashU Olin Business School

#1 in Entrepreneurship
For the fifth consecutive year, WashU Olin placed #1 on the Poets&Quants ranking of MBA entrepreneurship programs. Read more about the ranking.

WashU Olin Graduate Programs
WashU Olin offers many graduate programs, including three MBA programs and several specialized master’s programs. If this is not the right time for you to return to school full-time, we offer two part-time MBAs: FlexMBA, and Executive MBA. Learn more.

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