The Office of Engaged Learning held its first Spring Big iDeas Pitch Competition on Friday, April 11, where 10 student teams pitched their new idea to a panel of judges in 90 seconds.
Congratulations to the four winners of the Spring 2025 Pitch Competition:
Caroline Edgerton, Amigo
Sophia Vasylyeva, FocusPass
Travis Pryor, Focus Path
Yaw Boateng: InfoSavvy
You might be wondering why the Office of Engaged Learning is hosting a Big iDeas Pitch Contest in the spring semester instead of the fall. We are excited to share what is changing and why!
As Big iDeas program continues to evolve, we’re expanding our collaboration across the SMU entrepreneurship ecosystem— including The SMU Impact Lab, The Spears Institute for Entrepreneurial Leadership, and others. These strategic partnerships are helping us refine our focus: supporting students at the earliest stages of ideation and positioning them to move forward with confidence. Our goal is to guide students in shaping bold new ideas and prepare them to pursue advanced funding and specialized coaching through these next-level programs.
We are also embracing a new model for our pitch competition cycle. Instead of offering only one opportunity per academic year to pitch an idea, students will now have the opportunity to pitch an idea once in the fall and once in the spring semester.
Additionally, we are moving the Big iDeas Business Plan Competition to SMU Family Weekend! This exciting new timing gives us a chance to showcase our most advanced student ventures to a wider audience — including families, alumni, and the full SMU community.
A special thanks to our judges for this competition: Jake Batsell, Justin Childress, Jennifer Ebinger, and Marissa Heyl and the SMU Impact Lab for sponsoring an additional $500 award to Focus Path for having a creative social impact edge on their idea.
To learn more about the Big iDeas Program, visit us at smu.edu/bigideas.