Central Michigan University Athletics
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Student-Athletes Win University's New Ventures Competition
6/5/2024 6:15:00 AM | Baseball, Football, General, Our Stories, Student-Athlete Leadership & Development
Football player Lawai'a Brown and baseball player AJ Kostic each claim prize money; Brown earns $20,000 for his venture Dominator Cleats, Kostic takes home $5,000 toward his venture, oil-based personal care products, specifically soaps.
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – In athletic competition, all the preparation is geared toward a game-day peak.
Two Central Michigan student-athletes delivered when it mattered the most – on game day, so to speak – during the recent New Venture Challenge (NVC), a competition in which Central Michigan University students put their entrepreneurial ideas on the line to earn start-up funding from a panel of judges.
CMU football player Lawai'a Brown and baseball player AJ Kostic were among the student entrepreneurs to claim prize money that will help each as they launch their respective projects.
The NVC is a year-long process in which students hatch a business idea and then are provided multiple opportunities through CMU's Isabella Bank Institute for Entrepreneurship to connect with experienced entrepreneurs, alumni, business professionals, venture capital experts, investors, faculty and community leaders to hone their product and, eventually, their presentation.
Brown earned the top prize of $20,000 for his venture, a hinge mechanism to make football cleats more flexible. Brand name: Dominator Cleats.
"Out of the box, cleats are stiff and there is a break-in process that can lead to injuries such as turf toe and ankle sprains," said Brown, a redshirt junior linebacker from Honolulu.
Kostic earned $5,000 toward his venture, oil-based personal care products, specifically soaps.
Like all of the students who participated, Brown and Kostic spent a substantial amount of time on the development of their respective products while getting hands-on experience through the institute with regard to financials, the raising of capital, pitch preparation, and the development of a product prototype.
"Our goals are to teach practical skills and inspire innovative thinking and connect students with mentors and other resources," said Kaye Reimers, the Isabella Bank Entrepreneurship program and event manager. "In class they're learning hypothetical situations; at the New Venture Challenge, they're actually building their own venture and they put to the test those skills that they're learning in the classroom.
"All of it builds their confidence level. It's their own business. They know it inside and out and they're able to put it in practice and start selling their product or getting investors interested in their business so they're ready to launch when they graduate."
Both Brown and Kostic said they relied on their athletic background not only for the pragmatism and discipline that it took to prepare, but also to handle the pressure of the "game day" when it came time to make their respective presentations in French Auditorium.
"Going onto that stage it was like an unreal moment, being able to pitch your idea to these successful people," said Brown, who added that he relied heavily on Chippewa football equipment manager Nate Mason, athletic trainer Christina Payton, and entrepreneurship professor John Gustincic throughout his preparation. "Big shoutout to my team. Without them I wouldn't have been able to be successful.
"It was just like a (football) game-day experience; like coming out of the tunnel and seeing the people out there" at Kelly/Shorts Stadium.
Said Kostic, a pitcher on the Chippewa baseball team: "I was a little nervous about presenting it, but Professor Gustincic said, 'You've pitched on the mound, you've been out there, you've been booed.'
"I felt like it was a little different than baseball because (in baseball) you can hide in the dugout between innings and there's other people out there on the field with you. But this, you're (alone) in front of a hundred people there.
"I think once I got my first couple of (power-point) slides in I was on a roll because I realized, I know this, I'll deliver and just engage with the judges."
Two Central Michigan student-athletes delivered when it mattered the most – on game day, so to speak – during the recent New Venture Challenge (NVC), a competition in which Central Michigan University students put their entrepreneurial ideas on the line to earn start-up funding from a panel of judges.
CMU football player Lawai'a Brown and baseball player AJ Kostic were among the student entrepreneurs to claim prize money that will help each as they launch their respective projects.
The NVC is a year-long process in which students hatch a business idea and then are provided multiple opportunities through CMU's Isabella Bank Institute for Entrepreneurship to connect with experienced entrepreneurs, alumni, business professionals, venture capital experts, investors, faculty and community leaders to hone their product and, eventually, their presentation.
Brown earned the top prize of $20,000 for his venture, a hinge mechanism to make football cleats more flexible. Brand name: Dominator Cleats.
"Out of the box, cleats are stiff and there is a break-in process that can lead to injuries such as turf toe and ankle sprains," said Brown, a redshirt junior linebacker from Honolulu.
Kostic earned $5,000 toward his venture, oil-based personal care products, specifically soaps.
Like all of the students who participated, Brown and Kostic spent a substantial amount of time on the development of their respective products while getting hands-on experience through the institute with regard to financials, the raising of capital, pitch preparation, and the development of a product prototype.
"Our goals are to teach practical skills and inspire innovative thinking and connect students with mentors and other resources," said Kaye Reimers, the Isabella Bank Entrepreneurship program and event manager. "In class they're learning hypothetical situations; at the New Venture Challenge, they're actually building their own venture and they put to the test those skills that they're learning in the classroom.
"All of it builds their confidence level. It's their own business. They know it inside and out and they're able to put it in practice and start selling their product or getting investors interested in their business so they're ready to launch when they graduate."
Both Brown and Kostic said they relied on their athletic background not only for the pragmatism and discipline that it took to prepare, but also to handle the pressure of the "game day" when it came time to make their respective presentations in French Auditorium.
"Going onto that stage it was like an unreal moment, being able to pitch your idea to these successful people," said Brown, who added that he relied heavily on Chippewa football equipment manager Nate Mason, athletic trainer Christina Payton, and entrepreneurship professor John Gustincic throughout his preparation. "Big shoutout to my team. Without them I wouldn't have been able to be successful.
"It was just like a (football) game-day experience; like coming out of the tunnel and seeing the people out there" at Kelly/Shorts Stadium.
Said Kostic, a pitcher on the Chippewa baseball team: "I was a little nervous about presenting it, but Professor Gustincic said, 'You've pitched on the mound, you've been out there, you've been booed.'
"I felt like it was a little different than baseball because (in baseball) you can hide in the dugout between innings and there's other people out there on the field with you. But this, you're (alone) in front of a hundred people there.
"I think once I got my first couple of (power-point) slides in I was on a roll because I realized, I know this, I'll deliver and just engage with the judges."
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