Lessons I Learned From Being A Judge in a Global Entrepreneurship Competition for High Schoolers

What could I possibly learn from people half my age who have no prior, or, extremely limited business experience?

Well, apparently, a lot! I recently had the opportunity to serve as a judge for the Diamond Challenge , a competition that was created by the University of Delaware Horn Entrepreneurship. The competition centers around exciting high schoolers from around the globe to 'unleash creativity, encourage a mindset of abundance and self-determination, and promote purposeful entrepreneurial action'. Students are asked to submit ideas to one of two tracks: business and social innovation. For the business innovation concepts, my responsibility was to review a pitch deck, a summary document, and responses to specific questions. For the social innovation concepts I reviewed them on the basis of only their recorded pitch entries.

Here's what I learned :

1) No idea is off limits.

14-18 year-olds have limited filters and preconceived notions about how something can or should be. You won't overhear them crowded around a table saying 'well this is the way we've always done it' or 'that will never work'. As adults, we often limit ourselves with self-doubt or conservatism because of fear for what others will think. With the Diamond Challenge group the sky is the limit.

2) Ideas can be multi-faceted without being overly complicated.

Somehow, some way, without the use of business jargon or startup slang the ideas that I reviewed often had multiple benefits and problems solved with just a single solution. The ideas were simple, and irrefutable by including no language that one may get lost in or distracted by. Often, the high-level overview was so crisp and clear that the rest of what was presented seemed like icing on the cake. This is not always how I feel when consulting with potential clients and as an audience member during pitch competitions or presentations. Sometimes, startups feel an overwhelming sense of urgency to explain their idea by giving you a buzzword-laced pitch on their feature set but neglect to really ever tell you about the problem they're trying solve.

3) Passion can easily outshine technical expertise.

While some innovations and approaches were not what some would consider the most technically buttoned-up and teams did not always include a subject matter expert, there was no shortage of something else critical in bringing a new innovation to life: passion. Each team had a quality about them that you could instantly align with and get excited by. Technical components can be taught and teams can learn principles to help solidify their business's operating model, but, it's worth arguing that you cannot as easily teach passion.

Final thoughts...

While only time will tell which teams will ultimately be successful, I would venture to say many of them will because of their expanded appetite for creativity, keeping things simple, and bringing passion to the things they are working on. I find now that I am thinking about how I can leverage my own success a little more with these teachings. I am grateful for the opportunity to have learned from these talented young people.