College students from across Colorado competed in the first all-virtual series for CU Denver’s business plan competition after last year’s COVID-19 hiatus. On Thursday, April 29, more than 150 attendees joined the online event platform Socio to witness aspiring collegiate entrepreneurs compete for cash prizes. Hosted by the Jake Jabs Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Colorado Denver (CU Denver) Business School, THE CLIMB | Virtual Pitch Night showcased six finalists, four People’s Choice Award contenders, and their business ideas as they pitched to audience members and a live panel of judges.  Read more

Kamiya Willoughby is a current CU Denver Business School student majoring in Business Administration with an emphasis in Entrepreneurship. She built a strong catering business, SoulNia, while utilizing her networks that were established at the Business School and the Commons on Champa. Inspired by her grandmother and father, Kamiya strives to carry on her family legacy.  Read more

On Wednesday, the University of Colorado Denver Business School and the Jake Jabs Center for Entrepreneurship celebrated the grand opening of the new Jake Jabs Event Center, Innovation Suite, and classrooms. Spanning the first three floors of the 1475 Lawrence Street building, these new spaces will help accommodate the growing demand for entrepreneurial and collaborative programming, events, and extracurriculars on the CU Denver campus.  Read more

Denver Startup Week is almost here, and the Jake Jabs Center for Entrepreneurship is hosting several sessions at the Business School! Drop by Wednesday morning on your way to a session and chat over coffee with some of our successful alum:

• Josh Churlik (MBA ’06) – Founder, Denver Startup Week; CEO & Co-Founder, Well Data Labs
• Karen Hertz (MBA ’05) – Chief Brewista and Founder at Holidaily Brewing Company
• PLUS more alumni peers, BSAN Committee members, and current students.

Follow these business students as they grow their global footprint.  Read more

Although she didn’t present, Karissa Rund left this year’s Pitch Night as a winner. At the final event for THE CLIMB, a collegiate business plan competition put on by CU Denver’s Jake Jabs for Entrepreneurship, Karissa took home the Social Impact Award for 8 Percent. Her idea wasn’t a product or service though, like those pitched by the other finalists. Instead, it laid out her plan to launch her own book and speaking tour.  Read more

Whitney Setterberg and Peter Boardman, both students in the CU Denver Business School Professional MBA program, won the 2019 CLIMB Business Plan Competition on April 25 when they pitched their peer-to-peer storage service called STOWED. THE CLIMB, an annual event put on by Jake Jabs Center for Entrepreneurship, is designed to help student entrepreneurs transform their ideas into viable businesses through education, mentorship, networking, and financial support.  Read more