But that's what was at stake for participating UNC business students when they pitched their ideas for startup companies to local business and industry leaders who served as judges March 7.
Roughly eight of the 25 groups of students that presented business ideas as part of the entrepreneurial course will be invited to continue to the second half of the course, which is taught by Kenan- Flagler Business School Dean Robert Sullivan. The groups will then refine their business strategies and, they hope, raise enough money to turn their ideas into real enterprises.
"Tonight is where the rubber meets the road," Sullivan said before the seven-minute "elevator pitches" began.
Proposals ranged from a new delivery device for inhaled medication to an ethnic travel Web site.
The unusual weight of a dean's involvement with the course is one of its biggest advantages, says graduate student participant Sjaun Woods. "His name brings a level of credibility."
Asked why the dean would teach the course himself instead of assigning it to a professor, assistant instructor Ted Zoller said, "He loves starting companies. It's in his blood."
Sullivan has run similar programs at the University of Texas and Carnegie-Mellon University.
Zoller believes that the access to the resources of the business school and the dean's connections in the business and investment community are crucial advantages of the course.
Although success is never guaranteed, the one-year-old program at UNC has already launched several successful businesses, including Brightpod, a mobile Internet service provider that was started by UNC graduate student Mohit Bhatnagr last year and was recently named one of the top four emerging companies in its field by Forrester's Research.