Native wins CSU Blue Ocean Enterprises Challenge Collegiate Competition
Note to Reporters: A photo of Native co-founder Devon Tivona is available with this release at news.colostate.edu
FORT COLLINS — Native, founded by students from the University of Colorado in Boulder, won the second annual CSU Blue Ocean Enterprises Challenge Collegiate business pitch competition May 27, earning a grand prize of $20,000 in cash, an automatic entry in the CSU Blue Ocean Enterprises Challenge Enterprise Competition on May 29-30, and a chance to compete for $250,000. Native’s prize package also includes business mentoring from Blue Ocean Enterprises, software tools,and professional services to support its growth.
Native offers personal travel assistants for as little as $25 a month who plan, book, and handle travel details from a phone app. Native’s travel assistants coordinate flights, lodging, dining, and rentals cars by texting travel arrangements to customers’ phones.
Co-founders Devon Tivona, Sam Felsenthal and Lianne Haug started the company in February 2014, competed in CU’s New Venture Challenge, and went on to be mentored by Techstars, a startup accelerator program that assists entrepreneurs to bring new technologies to market. Native is now a member of Galvanize in Boulder.
“This has been an overwhelming experience. It’s a huge validation to us that others believe in us,” said Tivona, 23, who graduated from the University of Colorado last year. “The $20,000 will buy us another month of runway. The other prizes—the space, the PR support, the legal and marketing support—will allow us to do the startup thing."
The second place prize of $5,000 was awarded to Change Composites, founded by Nate Saam, a graduate student at Colorado State University. Change Composites developed a composite material that incorporates shock absorption technology and designed a protective cycling helmet using this technology to protect the brain in the case of an accident.
“What an honor to be part of this group. The competition was very high, and the head-to-head competition was tough,” said Saam. “We are grateful for the Northern Colorado entrepreneurial community.”
Prizes were awarded by Curt Richardson, co-founder of Blue Ocean Enterprises and founder and chairman of Otter Products; Kurt Hoeven, CEO of Blue Ocean Holdings; Dr. Alan Rudolph, Vice President for Research for CSU; Jim Parke, CEO and president of Blue Ocean Enterprises Inc.; and Christine Chin, co-director of the Challenge and interim director of the Institute for Entrepreneurship in the CSU College of Business, after an intense day of competition at the Lory Student Center on CSU’s campus.
“We congratulate Native and Change Composites and are very proud of all of the Collegiate competitors, who spent months refining their pitches and preparing to compete,” said Chin. “We are grateful to our panels of honored judges and sponsorship partners for working with us to create an event that celebrates collegiate entrepreneurs across Colorado.”
Native outpitched 12 collegiate teams from three other Colorado universities, receiving the highest marks from judges Libby Cook, Philanthropiece Foundation; Daniel Epstein, Unreasonable Group; John Greff, Sequel Venture Partners; Sanjay Mehta, Trend Micro; and Alex Welch, Lasso Media.
Native goes on to compete with 15 established startups in the Enterprise Competition of the CSU Blue Ocean Enterprises Challenge on May 29-30 in Fort Collins. Change Composites will pitch again with other Collegiate competitors on May 29 aboard the historic Fort Collins trolley car for a chance to win additional cash during the Trolley Pitch competition.
“We were impressed with the quality of the ideas pitched during the Collegiate Competition and the unmistakable passion expressed by the Collegiate team founders,” said Hoeven, co-director of the Challenge. “We look forward to mentoring Native as they grow their company.”
A collaboration of Blue Ocean Enterprises and Colorado State University, with major support from HP, Growth Curve Institute, ViaWest, and OtterBox, the Challenge was created to ignite entrepreneurial spirit, attract and recognize the best new business ideas, and celebrate the Fort Collins and Colorado entrepreneurial ecosystem.
The CSU Blue Ocean Enterprises Challenge is presented in conjunction with Fort Collins Startup Week. For a complete schedule of FCSW events, go to ftcstartupweek.co
For more information and to register to attend the CSU Blue Ocean Enterprises Challenge’s free events this weekend, visit www.blueoceanchallenge.com
ABOUT THE CSU BLUE OCEAN ENTERPRISES CHALLENGE
The CSU Blue Ocean Enterprises Challenge is one of the richest business pitch competitions in the nation, as measured by its grand prize of $250,000. Presented by Colorado State University and Blue Ocean Enterprises, the competition is a celebration of innovation, leadership development, and job creation. The CSU Blue Ocean Enterprises Challenge is open to collegiate entrepreneurs throughout Colorado, startups, and existing companies seeking funding and business mentoring. More information is available at www.blueoceanchallenge.com.
ABOUT BLUE OCEAN ENTERPRISES
Headquartered in Fort Collins, Colo., Blue Ocean Enterprises is a management company established in 2011 by OtterBox Founder and Chairman Curt Richardson and his wife, Nancy Richardson, to provide business mentoring, accounting, legal, information technology, real estate, and human relations services to its affiliated companies. Visit www.blueocean-inc.com for more information.
ABOUT COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY
Founded in 1870 as the Colorado Agricultural College, Colorado State University is now among the nation’s leading research universities. Located in Fort Collins, CSU currently enrolls about 22,000 undergraduate students, 3,100 graduate students and 500 Professional Veterinary Medicine students, and has more than 1,700 faculty members working in eight colleges. More information is available at www.colostate.edu.
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