From bows to buttons, the journey to entrepreneurship for Loren Ferretti and Alexandra Gramatikas started at Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝.

Both women were on the hunt for clothing accessories that didn’t exist, so they decided to create a market for themselves with and ALTR button covers, respectively.

After struggling to find affordable options to wear to each of Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝â€™s home games, Ferretti developed Gameday Bows, a website that sells bows in school colors that can be worn at football games or anywhere. The bows were an affordable way to ramp up the school spirit of black, gold and white outfits she already owned.

“The bow creates an accent piece that can be worn on a number of dresses and adds the perfect pop of color to represent your school’s colors,” said Ferretti, a 2009 marketing graduate who launched Gameday Bows’ web store this fall after receiving compliments on her bows and requests to buy them.

Now, she sews the bows herself and ships them across the country.

For Gramatikas, the concept for ALTR’s slip-on button covers came from a trying to find the perfect outfit for a themed party. She was in search of a traditional, preppy blazer with gold buttons. A jacket she already had worked, but the buttons weren’t quite what she wanted.

“In passing, I made a comment about wanting to change out buttons more efficiently, and from there, ALTR was born,” Gramatikas said. “It’s been an unexpected surprise, getting into an industry I never thought I’d be involved with.”

Gramatikas earned her undergraduate degree from Florida State University before enrolling in Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝â€™s MBA program and graduating in spring 2012.

During her last semester, Gramatikas won the College of Business Administration’s annual Joust competition, which challenges entrepreneurial students from Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝ to develop business proposals and compete against one another in the hopes of being judged as having the most promising idea.

The business plan behind Gramatikas’ Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝-themed button covers won her the competition’s $10,000 prize and a year of support from the Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝ Incubator.

Experience inside the classroom and from internships also helped Ferretti get her company on track.

“As a marketing major, I was placed in classes that allowed me to participate in creating business plans and marketing plans—truly hands on planning that I have utilized and continue to utilize with Gameday Bows,” she said.

But starting your own company doesn’t come without small stumbles, both women said.

For Ferretti, she’s had to balance the responsibilities of operating Gameday Bows with her full-time marketing job. With ALTR, it took Gramatikas several months to get licensing approval for the logos on her Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝ and UF button covers.

Ultimately, the women encourage other self-starters to be bold and chase their dreams.

“My advice to anyone thinking of starting their own business is get out there and go for it. With proper education and planning, it’s possible to do,” said Ferretti. “Also, ask for help. I’m surrounded by marketing professionals daily that have encouraged me and enlightened me to things I never knew possible.”

Gramatikas also encourages aspiring entrepreneurs to recruit mentors and ask for feedback.

“If you don’t talk about your idea, you won’t find the resources or get the feedback you need,” said Gramatikas. With a product, you need to not get caught up in the fact that it’s your baby. It’s your business, and it’s important to be open to constructive criticism.”

Malic Dekkar, a doctoral student in Modeling & Simulation, came in second place and won $1,000 for developing Light Cloud which provides subscribers with a cloud-based 3D repository database of dense, millimeter accurate 3D data. Student James Davis won $750 and third place for At Your Side Laboratory Services, which provides onsite clinical laboratory testing with immediate results. The other five semi-finalists included: Adventure Fix (James Ceparano/Travis Sherman); Automated Cytometry Solutions (Antoniay Petkova); Chore Credit (Justin Castillo); KIDDS (Todd Stephenson) and Legleze (Terry Warren).

Judges for the event included: Biff Godfrey, local attorney; Jan Conrad, the 2012 recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor for the Success in Entrepreneurship program; Adora English, award-winning television executive; Carol Ann Dykes, site manager, Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝ Business Incubator; Kai Isaac and Eddie Bradley, the founders of Filmscape Productions; Isabel Perry, president of TheSafetyDoctor.com; Michael Judith, engineer; Ron Ben Zeev, international economist and business expert; and Robin Phelps, startup strategist and team leader for Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝â€™s statewide program for second-stage business growth, GrowFL.

The inaugural event was hosted by the Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝ Blackstone Launchpad, an initiative of the Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership, located in the College of Business Administration. Rather than focusing on developing a robust business plan, complete with financials and slick presentations, the business model competition focuses on identifying and precisely defining the assumptions of the new venture, testing those assumptions in the field, and then changing (pivoting) based on the lessons learned. Students must demonstrate how they tested their assumptions rather than gathered data and how they validated their learning rather than merely wrote a business plan.

Visit the to learn more about other upcoming competitions.

If you have an idea for a business or product, you can compete by presenting your business plan to our judges featuring prominent members of the local business community.

The competition goal is to train young entrepreneurs in the proper aspects of creating a company.

The BMC is for all current Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝ students, regardless of major. The four finalists will share a cash prize pool of $5,000, with the BMC Champion winning $3,000 and an invitation to participate in the International Business Model Competition held at Harvard University May 3-4, 2013, for the grand prize of $25,000.

Proposals are due on Wednesday, Feb. 13.

The final competition in which the winners are announced will be on Friday, Feb. 22 in BA-1 room 238. Apply today or follow updates on https://cel.ucf.edu/events-and-competitions/joust/.

Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝ Vice President of Research and Commercialization (ORC) M.J. Soileau, Ph.D., was the keynote speaker and Brandon Lojewski, president of Mesdi Systems, Inc. served as the moderator. Other speakers:

°Őłó±đĚý hosts numerous workshops, speakers and competitions throughout the academic year.  from the event.

Sixteen teams participated in the semi-finals of the 9th Annual Joust Business Plan Competition, but just four of them were selected to compete in the final round in April.

The competition, hosted by the Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝ Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (CEI), located in the College of Business Administration, is Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝â€™s premier celebration of students’ entrepreneurial aspirations, creativity and achievements. The event has grown each year, and has become more competitive.

“Approximately 500 students have been energized and enriched by this event over the years and they have enriched us as well,” said Cameron Ford, director of the CEI.

The final four teams will compete for $25,000 in awards, and include:

ALTR LLC, led by Alexandra Gramatikas, is dedicated to providing easy and affordable alternatives to existing everyday apparel. The company has created a way to “ALTR” your existing blazer, polo, cardigan, or anything else with buttons, by adorning it with an innovative button cover which can transform a plain blazer into a trendy Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝ sporting jacket.

Greek Guide, led by Michael Irene, is a mobile application implementing cognitive learning techniques that uses push notification technology. The app enables new fraternity and sorority members to learn the entire history of a fraternity or sorority with ease.

PHIDIAS3D, led by Malic Dekkar, is an emerging construction intelligence company that specializes in providing engineering-grade, millimeter-accurate 3D data of any existing building structure. By leveraging their expertise in algorithm design, they effectively increase construction fidelity and efficiency and cost of ownership while providing permanent accurate 3D records— considerably lowering risk and costs.

PlatForm, led by Tyler Salem, allows businesses to create custom electronic signable forms to be used by the business’ clients. The software can be used by front-end users on tablet computers such as the Apple iPad, Kindle Fire and Samsung Galaxy.

The Joust is sponsored by Steven Felkowitz, ’79, chief executive officer of Atico International. Incoming CBA Dean Paul Jarley served as a judge, along with N. Lois Adams, ’85;ĚýDebbie Balaschak, ’88;ĚýJim Balaschak, ’86;ĚýJeff Borysiewicz, ’95;ĚýMark Brewer;ĚýHoward Brunet, ’75;ĚýLes Eiserman, ’81;ĚýAndy Fore, ’76;ĚýGeorge Gramatikas, ’04;ĚýRob Hearn, ’00;ĚýKeith Ingersoll, ’01;ĚýBill Kehoe, ’91;ĚýMitch Less, ’86; Joe Losch, and Rick Parks, ’76.

The finals will be held on April 6 at 2 p.m. in the FAIRWINDS Alumni Center. Visit the CEI website for more information on the Joust.

Hosted by the Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation located in the College of Business Administration, the competition featured 16 entries that presented their business ideas to a panel of six judges.

The King of the Court competition is comprised of two rounds of competition. In both rounds, participants are given 90 seconds to present their business concept and another 90 seconds to address questions raised by the panel of judges. The top four finalists win cash prizes totaling $3000.

Other top entries included:

The following students also participated in the competition:

Judges included:

Please visit the to learn more about the center and the competitions they sponsor throughout the year. The Joust is scheduled for Friday, April 6, 2012.

Nearly 150 aspiring entrepreneurs attended Invention to Venture (I2V), a one-day workshop hosted by the College of Business Administration’s Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation and the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance.

Scott Gerber, founder of the Young Entrepreneur Council and author of the book Never Get a “Real” Job: How to Dump Your Boss, Build a Business and Not Go Broke, was the keynote speaker. Gerber promotes entrepreneurship to students and young professionals interested in starting their own business in support of Startup America Partnership, an initiative from President Barack Obama focused on supporting entrepreneurs. Prior to his presentation, Kirstie Chadwick, managing partner of Growth Innovators, announced the formation of Startup Florida, an offshoot of the national program. KnightLaunch, a new web-based resource for young entrepreneurs at Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝ was also introduced at the workshop.

The event, which was held in the ąó´ˇ±ő¸é°Â±ő±·¶Ůł§ĚýAlumni Center, featured workshops on technology entrepreneurship, legal issues, marketing and sales and financing.

The Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝â€™s Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation and (CEI) and the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance will hold the event from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday, Nov. 18, at the FAIRWINDS Alumni Center on Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝â€™s main campus. I2V is a program of the NCIIA with sponsorship from the Lemelson Foundation and the Kauffman Foundation.

Invention to Venture is designed to help students, faculty members and industry leaders tap into the untouched entrepreneurial resources. The Orlando workshop allows attendees to gain information on business formation, networking, service providers, and financing sources.

This year’s workshop features an elite group of national and statewide business leaders who will share their knowledge and insight with attendees.  A complete detailed biography can be found online.

Scott Gerber – CEO, Gerber Enterprises

Pete McAlindon – CEO & Director, Blue Orb, Inc.

Michael O’Donnell – Executive in Residence, Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝ College of Business Administration

Ted Murphy  – Founder & CEO, Chairman of the Board, IZEA

Thomas O’Neal – Associate Vice President of Research and Commercialization at Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝ & Executive Director of the Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝ Business Incubation Program (Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝BIP)

Gordon Hogan – Director, Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝ Business Incubation Program

Andrea Wesser – President/CTO, PharmAcute, LLC

Al Ducharme  – Assistant Dean, CECS & President/CEO Hoverfly

Carol Ann Dykes – Site Manager, Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝ Business Incubation – Central Florida Research Park

Ace Glenn – Founder & CEO, CourseMob

Herb Gingold – Technical Sales Representative, Texas Instruments

Scott Wall – RBC Bank

Ed Alexander – Founder, Entrepreneurship Law Firm

Svetlana Shtrom – Director, Technology Commercialization

Cameron Ford – Founding Director, Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝ Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation

According to Cameron Ford, director of the CEI, “Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝ is celebrating Global Entrepreneurship Week by offering our annual premier technology entrepreneurship educational event for both the campus and regional business community.  Attendees will learn unique insights and skills from both local and national business leaders, that lead to success and high-growth, innovation-based ventures.”

I2V connects students with real entrepreneurs and investors to teach them how to create successful business around their technology. Approximately 150 to 250 aspiring entrepreneurs attend the Orlando workshop each year. Attendees will experience hands-on workshop activities that they can apply to their entrepreneurial ideas immediately. These workshops include topics ranging from opportunity assessment, sales and marketing, intellectual property, and the management team to presenting the business plan and financing your venture.

I2V has been conducted at top colleges and universities such as the University of Maryland, the University of Florida, Illinois Institute of Technology, the University of California San Diego, Worcester Polytechnic Institute and the University of Southern Mississippi.

Admission is $8 for all students, $15 for Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝ Faculty/Staff/Alumni, and $25 for others.

To register, please visit http://www.invention2venture.org/ucf2011/register/ or call Brittany McCracken at 407-823-3683 or via email at cei@bus.ucf.edu.