The date was April 1, but there wasn’t a fool to be found in the Edith Kinney Gaylord Cornerstone Arts Center as The Big Idea pitch competition winners for 2014 were announced.

What’s The Big Idea? On paper, it’s a program designed to give students a launching pad for creating startups and pursuing funding for them. But that launching pad is based on year-round presentations, lectures, boot camps, and collaborations available to all students.

These activities are intended to foster three types of startups: ones that focus on dramatic innovations, typically backed by venture capital investment; smaller startups resulting in local businesses that may reap big pay-offs; and entrepreneurial, socially conscious businesses. Fourteen teams started the process this year, the competition’s second. Each team must have two to eight members, with at least 50 percent CC students. Seven teams presented their ideas on April 1.

In her introductory remarks, President Jill Tiefenthaler said, “If you take great students, provide them with the highest-quality liberal arts education, add some strong faculty, alumni, and community mentoring, and then get their competitive juices flowing with a public event and a big cash prize, I think you have a recipe for creativity.”

First place and $25,000 went to GetOutfitted. Team members Marcel Gremaud ’16 and Julian Flores presented their ideas for making outdoor activities more accessible and affordable. Customers can check the website for gear to rent or buy and GetOutfitted mails the clothing and accessories to them. The items are then mailed back — for free — in the same packaging after use. Second place and $15,000 went to Koldsnapp, which helps food businesses monitor their perishable supplies through automated refrigerator and freezer sensors and cloud software. Azeem Sola ’14 and Usaama Alnaji ’14 represented Koldsnapp.

Two third-place winners each received $5,000. Colorado Springs Food Rescue redistributes food that would otherwise go to waste (see April’s Bulletin). That team was represented by Sanjay Roberts ’16, Shane Lory ’16, and Meredith Bird ’16. Co-winner CC2 SEE will create a partnership between CC and the Catamount Center to launch off-campus semesters in environmental education. Presenters were Alena Ede ’14, Julia Van Raalte ’14, Sarah-Emma Graham ’14, and Barrett Donovan ’16.

The “all-star judges” were Karen Kerr, former director of an entrepreneurship program at the University of Southern California; Andrew Pyper, a best-selling Canadian author; Bob Selig ’61, trustee and president of Davis Instruments; Mike Slade ’79, P’17, trustee and a former executive at Microsoft, NeXT Computer, and Apple who now runs a venture capital firm; and Brenda Smith, a partner in the Garden of the Gods Club and trustee of El Pomar Foundation in Colorado Springs.

Next year’s competition will follow basically the same procedures and schedule, with applications due in early February and finalists announced in late March, according to Patrick Bultema, executive director of CC’s Innovation Institute. “We’ve recognized that it takes a community to create startups. They’re team endeavors, but startups really require mentorship from the outside,” he said.

If you’re interested in being a mentor/collaborator and are based at or near CC, contact Bultema at patrick.bultema@coloradocollege.edu or (719) 389-7084.