The Rollins Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology held a Big Idea Competition for student entrepreneurs, culminating in a final event on Nov. 1, in the Varsity Theater at BYU.
Dawson Taylor, president of the Rollins Center’s Creators Club, acted as host at the event and explained the competition process. Participants were required to submit a 90-second video explaining their business idea. Of the hundreds of submissions in 2024, 20 competitors were invited to the final event to pitch their ideas to judges and a live audience.
The center's donors judged the competition, ranking ideas based on their validated problem, creative solution and scalable market, Taylor said.
Devon Wolsleger, Lucas Sullivan and Tyler Lenning presented their team’s idea for a company called Varroa Tech. They won first place, taking home $1,000 to expand their idea.
The problem Varroa Tech addressed is that beekeepers treat their hives with harmful chemicals to prevent mite infestations. Such treatments are often unnecessary if a hive does not have mites and kills a lot of bees, Sullivan said.
“This is costing the U.S. $600 million in honey and $1.2 billion in unpollinated crops on a yearly basis, and there really is no good solution to treat them,” Lenning said in the pitch.
As a solution, Varroa Tech created technology to detect mite infestations in beehives. The team explained that this allows beekeepers to target where they give treatments and keep as many bees alive as possible.
Sullivan said that they felt confident going into the competition and had worked hard on their pitch. However, as they watched the other pitches, Sullivan was reminded that they were up against good competition — creative BYU students who also had great ideas.
“That was a scary refresher when we started the competition,” Sullivan said. “But, I mean, it was awesome to win. I wasn't expecting to win, especially with some of, like some of those pitches were so incredible.”
Every participant at the final event was given $200, and five honorable mentions were given $300. Fifth, fourth, third and second place contestants were awarded $400, $500, $600 and $800 respectively, according to Taylor.
Bidi won second place for their online bidding platform where customers request services that businesses bid on. Weston Burnett pitched the idea and posted about the experience on LinkedIn.
“The day of the competition, I was crazy nervous,” Burnett posted. “I hadn't done something like this in a while and the anxiety was getting to me. I was shaking a little bit and was weak in the knees. But I did it and we got second place!”
T-Grid Tools, a company selling wall-mounting storage, took third place. Peace of Mind took fourth with a product providing a solution to women’s safety: a necklace with a hidden emergency contact button. Coming in fifth, Loom Bio pitched an idea to facilitate DNA synthesis.
Addressing the audience at the final event, Taylor said he thinks BYU is one of the best schools for entrepreneurship. Knowing that many start-ups come out of BYU, he emphasized how important the Big Idea Competition is.
“You should know that this is a big event, this is a big deal. This could be the launchpad for BYU’s next big startup,” Taylor said.
Before the winners were announced, Taylor explained the resources, clubs and events available to students through the Rollins Center. Speaking from personal experience, he shared how helpful these can be for student entrepreneurs, regardless of major.
“I get emotional while saying this, the Rollins Center changed my life,” Taylor said. “Seriously, it’s given me the opportunity to do what I love to do, and there’s so many great and amazing people. I never thought in a million years that I would be able to actually pay rent with a business that I started.”