University of Iowa Venture School students pitch startup businesses

IOWA CITY - Entrepreneurial-minded students pitched their final ideas for startup businesses Thursday as part of a 10-week program called the Venture School Student Accelerator.

Venture School is a real-world entrepreneurship program that has been around since fall 2013. The Accelerator program is a new summer version of the Venture School, which started this year.

Ten teams - nine from the University of Iowa and one from Cornell College in Mount Vernon - have worked on creating original business ideas over the summer.

'This was the first one, so we're kind of experimenting,” said Katriece Ray, the events and marketing intern for the John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center. 'It's kind of our own startup. We're kind of inventing the wheel and still trying to figure out how to make it work.”

Ray said in the future, the UI hopes to attract students from other universities around the state. She said Cornell students came to the program because it was the only campus she and Jennifer Ort, the director of the Venture Program, visited in person.

'When you're talking face to face with someone you can learn so much more about the opportunity than just from a flier if you don't know what it is,” Ray said.

One team made a product called Swvl Shkr, which is a duo-seasoning container. During the team's final pitch, the group said 'the most valuable lesson we learned is you must physically get out of the building and talk to your potential customers in order to move forward.”

Another group. Old Capitol Food Co., implemented the same idea in Iowa City. The team pitched their product for fresh and locally made tofu to Hy-Vee.

Hannah Johnson, Old Capitol Food team member, said so far, Hy-Vee has been supportive of the idea.

She said their team was taken aback by the lack of communication between local producers and grocers, adding that Old Capitol Food plans to embrace the connection with Hy-Vee as a starting point for the business.

'The reaction we've seen is ‘We would have you in our stores tomorrow. We are so excited about what you're producing,'” Johnson said.