Powder Baby Dry Shampoo, a student startup from Brigham Young University that sells healthy and non-aerosol dry shampoo in five colors, won the $30,000 Simon Gibson Grand Prize and first place in the 2024 Utah Entrepreneur Challenge at a final awards and showcase event at University of Utah today.

The statewide business-model competition is managed by the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute, an interdisciplinary division of the David Eccles School of Business at the University of Utah, and sponsored by Zions Bank. The final event featured the best collegiate entrepreneurs in Utah competing for more than $100,000 in cash and prizes.

Powder Baby Dry Shampoo creator and founder Kylee Black was grateful for winning the grand prize and excited for what the money will help her accomplish in the near future.

“When they called my name, and I won the grand prize, that means so much to me because we need this money to advertise this summer,” Black said. “We need this grant to really keep growing. We have the best product. We just need to get it in front of people, and this competition gives us the legs to do that.”

Her idea for Powder Baby Dry Shampoo came from her experience using other products.

“I just really hated my dry shampoo, so we really went for it,” Black said. “It took about a year to come up with the right bottle and the right ingredients. Now, you can find us on our website. We are also selling on Amazon.”

Other top winners at the Utah Entrepreneur Challenge final event included: Iso Retractor, a team from Ensign College with a dental retractor with suction slots, won second place and $10,000; and Spot Parking, a team from Brigham Young University and University of Utah that automates and streamlines parking enforcement, won third place and $7,500. Find a complete listing of prizes and descriptions of all the finalist teams below.

Professionals with diverse industry expertise judged the student startup teams through multiple competition rounds. The top teams advanced to the final event, where they pitched their ideas in person and participated in a public showcase at the University of Utah.

“We saw an amazing group of student entrepreneurs from around the state at the Utah Entrepreneur Challenge this year,” said Anne Bastien, program director at the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute. “The competition allows these teams to compete for cash and prizes, and it also gives them a great opportunity to practice their pitch and make great connections that will help them build their companies. We look forward to seeing what these teams and individuals accomplish in the years go come.”

Learn more about the Utah Entrepreneur Challenge at lassonde.utah.edu/uec. Learn about the high school division of this competition at lassonde.utah.edu/hsuec.

Utah Entrepreneur Challenge 2024 Results

  • Simon Gibson Grand Prize Award, $30,000 (award sponsored by Zions Bank) – Powder Baby Dry Shampoo
  • Second place, $10,000 (Zions Bank) – Iso Retractor
  • Third place, $7,500 (Zions Bank) – Spot Parking
  • Bootstrap, $2,000 (Actium Partners) - Bigman Outdoor Seasonings
  • Judge Awards $4,000 (Zions Bank): Velocity Boards ($2,000); The Port Studio ($2,000); Brokie Studios ($4,000); Mystery Escape Studio ($1,500); Minnow ($1,500); Stelle ($1,000); Iso Retractor ($1,500); Gourmet Grazing ($1,500); Honey Haven )$1,000)
  • People’s Choice Award Speed Pitch, $1,000 (Zions Bank) – Powder Baby Dry Shampoo
  • People’s Choice Online Vote, $1,000 (Zions Bank) – Bleeped
  • Finalist Team Awards, $500 (Zions Bank) – All finalist teams
  • Master of Business Creation Scholarships, $1,000 (David Eccles School of Business) – All the finalist teams

Utah Entrepreneur Challenge 2024 Finalist Teams

  • Alchemy Herbal Tea (Salt Lake Community College) – Where ancient herbal wisdom meets modern innovation to create a transformative tea experience.
  • Bigman Outdoors Seasonings (Snow College) – Seasonings to help make wild game more appealing to the average person.
  • Bleeped (Utah State University) – A Google Chrome extension that censors online videos.
  • Brokie Studios (Neumont College of Computer Science) – Works with new and improving technologies to develop fun and captivating games that will leave long-lasting memories.
  • Conscious! (University of Utah) – A mobile app and Google Chrome extension that gives consumers immediate information on holistic sustainability metrics while also providing vetted low-carbon alternatives for products as consumers shop.
  • GeoTechnical Rock Lab (University of Utah) – A technology company specializing in the analysis of rock materials.
  • Gourmet Grazing (Salt Lake Community College) – A charcuterie-board catering service, crafting visually stunning and flavorful spreads for all occasions.
  • Hannah Camille Events (Weber State University) – High-end silk floral rentals that give couples the look of an expensive and beautiful wedding without high costs.
  • Honey Haven (Utah Valley University) – A beekeeping supply company focusing on making beekeeping a more successful and fulfilling hobby for beekeepers.
  • Iso Retractor (Ensign College) – A dental retractor with suction slots to efficiently eliminate over 90% of fluid from the oral cavity. 
  • Minnow (Utah Valley University) – A platform for e-commerce companies that aggregates data from different platforms and provides easy-to-understand metrics about your business.
  • Mystery Escape City (Southern Utah University) – An innovative outdoor escape room game with an online platform, where players access clues and puzzles on their phones in real-world locations like parks or college campuses.
  • NexHub (Southern Utah University) – A digital marketplace for party games accessible via web browsers on any smart device.
  • Noda (Ensign College) – Produces and sells flavored nitrogenated water, a beverage similar to flavored sparkling water, except it’s infused with nitrogen instead of carbon dioxide.
  • Powder Baby Dry Shampoo (Brigham Young University) – Healthy and non-aerosol dry shampoo that comes in five colors.
  • Red Rock Consulting: NIL Advertisement (Utah Tech) – A consulting and advising business that educates and helps Utah Tech student athletes with name-image-and-likeness deals.
  • Spot Parking (Brigham Young University, University of Utah) – Automates and streamlines parking enforcement processes, providing reliable, consistent and fair enforcement of parking policies through machine learning and computer vision.
  • Smarter Cattle (Utah Tech) – Cattle-management technology that provides real-time insights into animal health, location and genetics, empowering ranchers to make informed decisions that optimize their operations.
  • Stelle (Neumont College of Computer Science) – An AI-powered code teacher and assistant that integrates directly into the user’s development environment and helps with reviewing and debugging code.
  • The Port Studio (Snow College) – A brand selling products that inspire connection, hope and a new way of living for young cancer patients and their supporters.
  • Velocity Boards (Utah State University) – An electric longboard that is sold online directly to consumers and solves the problems of speed wobble, agility and portability.

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