HPU Student Entrepreneurs Earn $30,000 in Business Plan Competition
High Point University students presented their business plans to a panel of judges and received a combined $30,000 in start-up funds at the 16th annual HPU Business Plan Competition on April 8. Pictured from left with their award checks were first-place winners Evan Taylor and Brianna Stinespring, third-place winner Eva Thorn, second-place winner Mason Wolford, fourth-place winning team Brett Sykes, Ashley Phelps and Connor Dearman, and fourth-place winner William Rossi.
HIGH POINT, N.C., April 16, 2026 – High Point University students presented their business plans to a panel of judges and received a combined $30,000 in start-up funds at the 16th annual HPU Business Plan Competition on April 8.
Students pitched their ideas as they competed at the Callicutt Life Skills Theater for funding to launch or develop their business plans. They were each given five minutes to explain their business plans, then answered questions from the judges for another five minutes during their presentations.
Nearly 125 HPU alumni have launched their own businesses over the years since the competition started, said host Elijah Sommer, a 2024 alumnus who is founder and CEO of Forthright Homes.
Sean Suggs, former president of Toyota Battery Manufacturing North Carolina and HPU’s Technology Executive in Residence, congratulated all the finalists as he announced the winners. He was one of several highly accomplished business leaders who served as judges for the competition.
“We were blown away with what you have put together,” he said. “There were some difficult decisions we had to make. Just know you’re all winners. You have heard that before, but this is true. You all have done a phenomenal job.”
First-Place Winning Team Awarded $12,000
Two student entrepreneurs who co-founded Parkevo, a business designed to make campus parking lot searches easier for drivers, were awarded $12,000 to develop their business plan.
Parkevo (Parking Evolution) is a real-time parking visibility platform built for campuses, using artificial intelligence cameras and computer vision to show drivers exactly where open spaces are before they arrive. The business could later expand to parking areas at other campuses, hospitals or airports.
Evan Taylor, a finance major and entrepreneurship minor, had an overall vision for Parkevo and leads its business strategy, investor relations and marketing. The concept grew from his frustration finding a place to park, a problem demonstrated dramatically as Taylor appeared to arrive late for the presentation because of difficulty parking while his co-presenter Brianna Stinespring anxiously waited on stage.
“It means the world to us to be around this network of opportunity and talk to not only the other competitors but the judges as well to learn from them,” said Taylor, who is from Atlanta, Georgia. “We look forward to moving forward with Parkevo and having our pilot deployed this fall. We’re excited to have this opportunity to be in the High Point University Business Plan Competition.”
Stinespring, a social media and digital communication major from Bel Air, Maryland, leads product development, outreach, growth, brand and digital efforts for Parkevo. A pilot program is planned for the Caffey Residence Hall parking lot on campus.
“We’re very appreciative and grateful to have this opportunity,” Stinespring said. “To look forward, we’re excited to be able to purchase our cameras and get this running in the next couple of weeks.”
Second-Place Winner for $8,000
Mason Wolford, a junior entrepreneurship major and an HPU lacrosse player from Plain City, Ohio, was awarded $8,000 for his business, PlayFast Motion. His business was awarded $10,000 last semester when he earned first place in the HPU Elevator Pitch Competition.
PlayFast is a lacrosse performance platform that uses an on-stick sensor and mobile app to track training reps, intensity and workload to help players and coaches train smarter. Wolford said the start-up funds will help his product become a reality.
“This money is going to help me a ton,” Wolford said. “Launch is expected to be this summer, so these funds will go to getting on the road, traveling and marketing as well as finalizing the product itself. I’m very appreciative of this opportunity.”
Third-Place Winner for $6,000
Third place and $6,000 went to Eva Thorn, a junior finance major from Herber City, Utah.
Her product, a personal care startup to reinvent dry shampoo in a sheet format, is named Oh Sheet!
Thorn said her product is the first dry shampoo in sheet form, designed to remove oil and refresh hair any time without spray, mess, residue or build-up. Her business earned second place in the Elevator Pitch Competition in the fall and was awarded $6,000, which helped her apply for patents.
Additional Awards
The judges’ panel declared a tie for fourth place and awarded $2,000 to the two finalists.
One of those finalists was Dock Eye, a system designed for docking boats that are under 35 feet. Dock Eye uses compact sensors and intuitive visual cues to provide a real-time bird’s eye view of the boat’s position as it approaches the trailer to make it safer and stress-free. The system was developed and presented by three HPU senior engineering majors from North Carolina – Connor Dearman of Apex, Ashley Phelps from Cornelius and Brett Sykes of Pinehurst.
The other fourth-place finalist was William Rossi, a junior entrepreneurship major from Oakwood, Ohio. His business, Aerith Inc., is designed to help farmers protect crops from wildlife damage through an autonomous drone-based system called Scaercrow.
Judges and Sponsors
In addition to Suggs, the four-member judges’ panel included Ben Fischer, founder and CEO of Sonscope Capital, Christine Cottrell, founder and owner of RetailData LLC, and Sue Downes, CEO and co-founder of MyEyeDr. and HPU’s Health Expert in Residence.
Cottrell and Downes also participated in an entrepreneurship panel before the competition with Lou Anne Flanders-Stec, founding dean of HPU’s David S. Congdon School of Entrepreneurship. They answered questions about why they launched a business to solve a problem and how they built those firms into multimillion dollar enterprises.
Cottrell and her husband David are long-term supporters of HPU and recently gave a $6 million gift to HPU to support the Women’s Entrepreneurship Program and new Japanese Garden being built near Cottrell Hall, which is a hub of professional development named in honor of the family. Their daughter, Leah Sult, graduated from HPU.
Flanders-Stec said audience members could consider the session as a precursor to the five business plans presented during the student competition.
Support for the competition was provided by Truist Financial Corporation, Steve and Jackie Bell with The Bell Foundation and Simon Jewelers.