St. Olaf to host 10th annual Ole Cup entrepreneurial competition
St. Olaf College student entrepreneurs will pitch their business plans to a team of judges on April 27 as part of the 10th annual Ole Cup competition.
Hosted each year by the St. Olaf Piper Center for Vocation and Career, the entrepreneurial competition awards thousands of dollars in prize money to the winning pitches. The 10-year anniversary of the Ole Cup celebrates a decade of growth, change, and inspiration.
To honor and commemorate the entrepreneurial spirit of the past and the vision for the future, this year’s Ole Cup weekend will kick off on Friday, April 26 at 3 p.m. with a kick-off celebration in Buntrock Commons. That will be followed by an alumni reception at 5 p.m. at Reunion Restaurant.
The Ole Cup competition will be held on Saturday in Viking Theater in Buntrock Commons. All students, faculty, staff, alumni, and community members are welcome to attend the Ole Cup presentations and award ceremony. The day will begin with a continental breakfast at 8 a.m., followed by a welcome address by St. Olaf President Susan Rundell Singer at 9 a.m. Pitches will begin at 9:30 a.m.
At noon Michelle Magat Williams ’92 will deliver the Ole Cup keynote address, sharing how her entrepreneurial spirit shaped a 25-year career in communications and marketing. Williams co-founded the global communications firm Current, ran her own consulting business, co-founded a school communications software startup, and advised Fortune 500 companies while working at two of the world’s leading communications agencies — Weber Shandwick and Edelman. Today she is the Director of Communications and Innovation at La Cocina, an award-winning nonprofit food business incubator in San Francisco. With a personal passion for community service, she has volunteered hundreds of hours over the last decade at schools, cultural institutions, and nonprofit organizations.
Following the keynote address, Ole Cup winners will be announced. The day will conclude with lunch on campus.
The Ole Cup was conceived by the late Brad Cleveland ’82, CEO of Proto Labs, who wanted St. Olaf students to realize how much fun it can be to be an entrepreneur. Since its inception in 2014, more than 150 students have participated in the Ole Cup, and the college has awarded more than $250,000 in prize money to teams to help fund their ventures.