Governor's Cup, entrepreneurship helps bring students into business

“We have had a crash course over the last 10 months” Brandhorst said. “If you would have asked me anything about patent filing, disclosures or intellectual property contracts before, I would have sounded pretty clueless. Our team learned by doing.”

Brandhorst's journey from graduate student to entrepreneur began when she, Rachel Mui and Cory Perkins were randomly assigned to a business plan project at OSU. They decided to compete in the Governor's Cup, and Jay Omanson, an MBA candidate at OSU, joined the team.

“We are big believers that hard work pays off,” Brandhorst says. “I am finding more and more that people love our story — that we want to work hard and how random it was that we came together. We have the skills to make something happen and the dedication to follow through. We know that opportunities like this don't come around often. PristineCal is our chance, and we're taking it.”

Once entrepreneurship clicks, it clicks hard. That is the magic of the Oklahoma Governor's Cup.

Tom Walker is president and CEO of i2E Inc., a nonprofit corporation that mentors many of the state's technology-based startup companies. i2E receives state appropriations from the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology. Contact him at i2E_Comments@i2E.org.