Gillespie Business Plan Competition

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Marquee Event for the Academic Year

The marquee event for the academic year is the Edwin C. Gillespie Business Plan Competition, held at the end of the spring semester. Applications are due March 28, 2021. Check out the rules to learn more! The season’s marque event is virtual on April 9, 2021.

The initial deadline for the Gillespie Business Plan requires you to enter with the simple online application form. Give us all the details you have. Tell the judges if you know how you will make money, how you will produce, why your customers will love your product.

Once your entries are submitted, we will connect you with our Entrepreneur-in-Residence and invite you to workshops, so that you have an opportunity to develop your idea and presentation. Everyone who enters has the opportunity to pitch.

Entry into the Gillespie is also the gateway for the following awards:

W. Thomas Colbert-Community Bank Innovation Award – a $5,000 prize awarded to the outstanding Gillespie team driven by innovation in a product, process or service through the application or development of a technological change;

Lynn and Ron Samuels Student Entrepreneur Award – a $5,000 prize awarded to a student entrepreneur team who exemplifies the entrepreneurial spirit through a venture driven by innovation in a product, process or service;

Stephen E. Rowell Entrepreneur Award – a $5,000 prize awarded to a student entrepreneur venture team or individual, who exemplifies the entrepreneurial spirit through a venture driven by innovation in a product, process or service.

The judging panel for the annual Gillespie Business Plan Competition will determine the winner.

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Past Gillespie Winners

2020 DaisNotes – Nicholas Neilson-Slabach & Kyle Herbert
2019 Move Fitness – Jake Harrison & Tyler Moore
2018 ShortWork – Will Tribble & Sam Harres
2017 Collegiate Tutoring – Lee Ingram
2016 Curtsy – Sara Kiparizoska & William Ault
2015 Nippy Pumps – Tameka Wilson
2014 Cotton’s Café Dog Treat Bakery – Janet McCarty
2013 Isabel Thomas Designs – Taylor Isabel Thomas
2012 Utah Raptor Games – Ryan Rigney
2011 EOS – Ryan Andrews
2010 HRinnovations.com – Jack Smothers
2009 Fantastic Flatware – Jennifer Harjes
2008 AussieDealz.com – Joshua Stelzer
2007 Middle Tennessee Times – Parul Bajaj, Mary Grace Bratschi, Erin Dickey, Anjali Pahwa, Karah Shelly
2006 SoberCycles – Brent McHenry, Ashley Sullivan, Monica Evans, Courtney Gregory
2005 CTS Consulting – David Shields & Virginia Turnage

Past W. Thomas Colbert-Community Bank Innovators

2020 DataBrace – Tereza Janatova & Matthew Currie
2019 Crystal Game Works – Kaylin Brassfield

Past Lynn and Samuels Student Entrepreneurs

2020 Vaught It – Maverick McSparin & Kathryn Bickerstaff

The endowment for the competition was provided in honor of Edwin C. Gillespie in 2006, a 1943 business administration graduate. His widow, Jean Gillespie, and brother, Joe Gillespie, a 1950 liberal arts graduate, helped establish the endowment to assist students in promoting concepts in entrepreneurship.

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