{"id":13468,"date":"2026-03-10T09:49:02","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T14:49:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/?post_type=campus_story&p=13468"},"modified":"2026-03-10T09:49:02","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T14:49:02","slug":"uwrf-students-pitch-original-business-ideas-at-spark-tank-innovation-challenge","status":"publish","type":"campus_story","link":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/story\/uwrf-students-pitch-original-business-ideas-at-spark-tank-innovation-challenge\/","title":{"rendered":"UWRF students pitch original business ideas at Spark Tank! Innovation Challenge\u00a0\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Photo:<\/a>
UW-River Falls student Bradley Arndorfer discusses his team\u2019s plan for a cleaning business with industry judges during the networking portion at the 2026 Spark Tank! Innovation Challenge held Feb. 25. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne thing that people are scared of is their mom, their grandma, maybe their close family members showing up to a totally dirty house.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That was the opening line of the winning business pitch presented by University of Wisconsin-River Falls students at the 11th Spark Tank! Innovation Challenge hosted at the university by the St. Croix Valley Business Innovation Center (SCVBIC) on Wednesday, Feb. 25.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tanner Kaufman, a junior sociology and criminology major from Maple, joined his teammates Bradley Arndorfer, a junior sales major from Eau Claire, and Ethan Perkins, a junior management major from Chaska, Minn., in pitching an on-demand house-cleaning service called mopp Cleaning. The trio, all members of UWRF\u2019s NCAA Division III champion football team, won $2,000 to help develop their business. They will also receive a one-year membership to the SCVBIC and will compete in the WiSys Big Idea State Competition in April. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Limited to\u00a0six minutes to make their presentation, the\u00a0mopp\u00a0team\u00a0began by\u00a0describing\u00a0the market research they did, surveying area residents to see if they would hire an on-demand, same-day cleaning service using an app similar to rideshare or\u00a0food\u00a0delivery.\u00a0They also asked participants if they would appreciate a customizable service that would allow them to have either part or\u00a0all of\u00a0their house cleaned, whether they would be willing to provide the cleaning supplies\u00a0and what\u00a0would make them comfortable allowing a cleaner they didn\u2019t know into their home. The team\u00a0got positive feedback on the concept and\u00a0learned that customers would want cleaners to undergo screening and background checks and be well trained.\u00a0The importance of doing that kind of customer discovery before investing in a business is exactly what SCVBIC Director Sheri Marnell hopes students will learn from participating in the competition. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOften, entrepreneurs start because they’re passionate about a product or a service and they forget to validate the desirability of that idea with their customers,\u201d Marnell said. \u201cSo that’s something that we work through.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marnell began meeting with the participants in October to help them identify the business problems they wanted to solve and ideate solutions. She then partnered with the Small Business Development Center at UW-River Falls consultant Maren Valentine to lead a class on using the Lean Business Model Canvas to develop a concise one-page business plan. Marnell continued to meet with the students weekly for feedback and then to practice their presentations as the competition drew near. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A panel of judges made up of area business leaders ranging from a patent attorney to U.S. Bank executives to serial entrepreneurs, judged the presentations and spent time giving feedback and networking with the students. Mara Deboe is a patent attorney who has helped judge the competition for the last four years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI definitely enjoy it,\u201d Deboe said. \u201cI like speaking with the students in this casual networking environment, giving my advice.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Deboe\u00a0has even\u00a0met with\u00a0students\u00a0post-competition\u00a0to talk about how they might go about pursuing a patent for their product.\u00a0The judges also asked\u00a0students\u00a0questions about their plans and\u00a0suggested\u00a0other\u00a0ideas\u00a0they might consider.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe challenge pushed us to step outside our comfort zone and take the idea seriously,\u201d said Perkins of the mopp Cleaning team. \u201cWe received feedback, asked questions and learned from networking opportunities that helped us turn a big, unrealistic idea into something more possible.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The mopp team has already launched a website<\/a> and begun serving clients. With the prize money, they plan to develop their app, launch a social media marketing campaign and expand their business across western Wisconsin.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cash awards were presented to the top three finishers. Second place was awarded to Spencer Anderson, a senior finance and management major from Hugo, Minn. He received $1,000 to help develop a service educating financial advisors about investment insurance options. The $500 third place award went to Delani Dow, a junior elementary education major from Eugene, Ore., for a plan to develop educational materials for parents to prevent self-harm among youth.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marnell estimates that around 25 percent of the students she has worked with have ended up actually launching their businesses.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next up for the winning mopp Cleaning team is the WiSys Big Idea State Competition, which will be held April 17 at SCVBIC. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is the first year we\u2019re hosting it in River Falls,\u201d Marnell said. \u201cI\u2019m excited for that.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To learn more about the UWRF Spark Tank! Innovation Challenge or the SCVBIC, email sheri.marnell@uwrf.edu<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Written by UW-River Falls<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Link to original story: https:\/\/www.uwrf.edu\/newsroom\/2026\/02\/students-pitch-original-business-ideas-spark-tank-innovation-challenge<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cOne thing that people are scared of is their mom, their grandma, maybe their close family members showing up to a totally dirty house.\u201d   That was the opening line of the winning business pitch presented by University of Wisconsin-River Falls students at the 11th Spark Tank! Innovation Challenge hosted at the university by the St. Croix Valley Business Innovation Center (SCVBIC) on Wednesday, Feb. 25.   Tanner […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":13469,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","institution":[100],"story_category":[146],"class_list":["post-13468","campus_story","type-campus_story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","institution-uw-river-falls","story_category-research-innovation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/campus_story\/13468","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/campus_story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/campus_story"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13468"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13469"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"institution","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/institution?post=13468"},{"taxonomy":"story_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/story_category?post=13468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}