Teams compete in entrepreneurship start-up challenge

By Kaia Thomson | June 4, 2025

At the end of the spring semester, entrepreneurship students competed in the semiannual entrepreneurship start-up challenge. The students were part of a semester-long course, BUSU 225 – Innovation and Entrepreneurship, where they worked in teams to create both a for-profit business plan and a social impact project idea.

Numerous companies, including the KLH Group, EastPort Financial Group, FRSTeam, and many more sponsored prizes such as gift cards, office space, tea, merch, body scans, and most importantly advice about how to successfully run a business.

Five teams competed this semester. The winning team, Splashzone Putt-Putt, proposed a business that creates purchasable minigolf units that combine the classic obstacles seen in popular putt-putt courses with water features to introduce new, exciting holes that will cool off customers on hot sunny days.

Landen Barnes shared key takeaways from the class, “I learned that pain points create purpose, and they are what drives the business. The class helped open my eyes to seeing opportunities and real-world problems worth solving. It also helped empower us that we could be the ones to solve these problems.” He also emphasized how the class taught him the importance of feedback. As an entrepreneur, feedback from other people, especially business professionals with years of experience, leads to stronger ideas and an overall clearer vision.

Next semester two sections of BUSI 225 will be offered. Each student will compete in the S.C. Innovates competition with 16 participating schools. The CSU competition will be open campuswide and is scheduled for December 1, 2025.

If you are interested in taking this course or learning more about entrepreneurship, please reach out to lwray@csuniv.edu.