On Friday, April 17, Talon Simulations took home $10,000 cash, as well as essential business services, as the winners of this year’s Joust New Venture Competition, presented by the Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership. Approximately 500 UCF College of Business Administration (#UCFBusiness) students gathered in Business Administration 1 to watch the finals of the Joust, and another 200 watched the first-ever web livestream of the event.

View photos from the event.

The Joust, part of Orlando Tech Week, is #UCFBusiness’ take on the popular television show Shark Tank. Students from all disciplines are invited to present their business venture proposals and compete to win startup funding and services.

  • Brandon Naids, Justin Brooks, Jordan Griffin, and Maurice Roberts took first place with Talon Simulations, a company that seeks to bring affordable simulation training solutions to various industries to aid in saving lives and changing lives.
  • Jon Wachob, Brandon Carpenter, and Jayan Thomas finished in second place with Feynman Nano, which provides cost-efficient nanostructures through an innovative manufacturing process, increasing the efficiency of Solar Panel (PV) energy generation.
  • Ashley Miller won both the fan favorite award and third place overall with Ze-Bra, an online-based bra subscription service that delivers personalized bra selections to customers quarterly
  • Glenn Wagner, Cameron Johnson, Kelvin Ly, David Rubiano, Chris Stevens, and Roman Williams were awarded fourth place with W.A.G.N.E.R. Industries Corp., dedicated rapid launching & responsive space services.

    • “We are very grateful to take home first place, and it’s going to open a lot of doors for us to deliver our first products,” said Brandon Naids, ’14, a UCF Mechanical Engineering alumnus who is pursuing a Master of Science in Industrial Engineering.

    In addition to winning the Joust, Talon Simulations won the Business Model Competition earlier this semester, where the team was awarded a $1,000 cash prize and an invitation to the International Business Model Competition at Brigham Young University.

    Presenting sponsors for The Joust were Golden Knight Capital (Steven Felkowitz, ’79, and Ken Cox) and DigiThinkIT, Inc. Additional sponsors included Accenture, Burr+Forman, LLP, CohnReznick, LLP, CoLab and Nperspective, LLC.

    About the College of Business Administration:

    Established in 1968, the UCF College of Business Administration offers degrees at the bachelor’s, master’s, doctoral, and executive levels. All programs, as well as the Kenneth G. Dixon School of Accounting are accredited by AACSB International – the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business.

    The college provides high-quality academic programs designed to give students a competitive advantage in the world of business now and in the future. As such, the college establishes partnerships with some of the nation’s most innovative leaders to model new and best practices that harness evolving technology. In addition, the college promotes a unique culture of engagement, risk-taking, cross-disciplinary collaboration and data-driven decision making in an effort to ensure students are well prepared to enter a dynamic marketplace.

    America’s Partnership University:
    The University of Central Florida, the nation’s second-largest university with nearly 60,000 students, has grown in size, quality, diversity and reputation in its first 50 years. Today, the university offers more than 200 degree programs at its main campus in Orlando and more than a dozen other locations. UCF is an economic engine attracting and supporting industries vital to the region’s future while providing students with real-world experiences that help them succeed after graduation. For more information, visit https://www.ucf.edu/news/.