I had the honor of serving as a judge for InVenture Prize last week.

InVenture Prize (self-proclaimed “American Idol for Nerds”) is a entrepreneurial competition at Georgia Tech on live TV with $35,000 up for grabs.

Over 72 teams enter the competition with the best 6 in the final televised competition.

THESE STUDENTS ARE AMAZING!!!!!!

(Recap here, full show here, team overviews here!)

Here’s what I was doing in college: planning and attending parties.

Here’s what they’re doing in college: building businesses and competing on live TV to fund their company.

What makes these “kids” special? What are they doing that we can learn from?

Here’s what I saw last Wednesday night.

1. They really want to be founders.

The longer I’m in this world of entrepreneurship, the more I’ve come to believe that the most important quality of an entrepreneur is…

They really, really want to be an entrepreneur.

You don’t need to be the smartest, the best at sales or (vibe)coding, or have the deepest network.

You DO have to want it so bad that you are willing to do what others are not.

Like I mentioned before, these students are doing different things than many college students (myself included 😜).

They:

• spend hours outside of school and extracurriculars on their company

• pitch on live TV (with practice, practice, and more practice to get it right!)

• talk to everyone and anyone - customers, experts, enterprise companies

• pass up fancy internships and big name jobs

• care more about their company than their GPA

• wear capes, talk about vaginas, ask for business

Simply put — they want it enough to do whatever it takes.

They bring the energy and it’s contagious!

2. They show up for help and take advice.

These students brought their A game.

The pitches were as good or better than any I’ve seen.

Did that happen automagically?

No way!

Hours of prep and coaching goes into the 6 minutes we see on stage.

These founders:

1. showed up for practice sessions

2. got critiqued by many people

3. took the advice

4. practiced

5. repeated 1-4 over and over

SO many people and organizations are available to support founders.

(Shout out to the many professors, administrators, and mentors at Georgia Tech who gave hours of their time to help entrepreneurial students! 🐝 )

These students did what many do not — utilized (and listened to) the experts available to them!

3. They are getting the reps in.

Think you want to start a company some day?

Do it now!

Don’t get related experience.

Get the actual experience.

Because there’s so much that you can only learn by being the actual, real, full-on founder of a company.

(You’re going to suck at first, might as well get that part over with!)

Regardless of the business outcome, everyone on the stage (reminder: in their teens or early twenties!) has already learned invaluable entrepreneurship lessons that you can only get from doing.

Maybe they learned they didn’t like it 😂

Many of the companies on stage have already iterated their business multiple times based on market feedback.

“Market feedback” is code for: no one liked or bought it, someone else already built it, they got a cease and desist, you know, the startup usual!

Whenever I talk to an amazing young founder, I find out they have been building businesses for years. Did neighborhood errands, jewelry making, lawncare, online selling, or all of the above.

(True for engineers too — many great college-age engineers have been building for 10 years already.)

It takes time and experience to be great.

Every rep — regardless of the outcome — provides invaluable learning.

These students are getting the reps in!

4. They’re on the forefront of innovation.

You know who’s using AI?

College kids.

Just like they have always done the cool and innovative things first.

(Facebook — aka social media — started in colleges, I was there 👵)

They are time-rich, asset-poor, and immersed in a high-density social environment which leads to tons of creativity!

AI specifically is amaaaaaazing if you are tight on resources.

One startup was delivering their software for $30/mo!?! It was very niche (software for muralists) but if costs are low, you can go after a niche market that wouldn’t have made sense before!

These students are AI-native and will be building successful businesses faster with fewer humans than ever before.

Today it’s AI. Last decade it was mobile. Before that, Internet.

What’s next? Who knows?

I do know that great founders will be innovating around it.

Because every great founder — young or old — is curious, thinking outside the box, testing the new thing, and looking towards the future!

What trends or lessons have you learned from student entrepreneurs? Did you catch InVenture Prize? What are your fave pitch competitions??

MORE PHOTOS 👇👇