{"id":7664,"date":"2025-02-03T10:56:10","date_gmt":"2025-02-03T16:56:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/?p=7664"},"modified":"2025-02-03T10:56:15","modified_gmt":"2025-02-03T16:56:15","slug":"lets-get-down-to-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/03\/lets-get-down-to-business\/","title":{"rendered":"Let&#8217;s get down to Business"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/e1857316-ff83-4ed8-9c85-05ac5cc75fed-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-7665\" srcset=\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/e1857316-ff83-4ed8-9c85-05ac5cc75fed-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/e1857316-ff83-4ed8-9c85-05ac5cc75fed-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/e1857316-ff83-4ed8-9c85-05ac5cc75fed-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/e1857316-ff83-4ed8-9c85-05ac5cc75fed-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/e1857316-ff83-4ed8-9c85-05ac5cc75fed.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">\u00a0\u00a0Robert C. Vackar College of Business and Entrepreneurship building.<br>Celeste Cruz \/ Vaquero Radio<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/buisness-compp.mp3\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap\">The UTRGV Center for Innovation and Commercialization will kick off its annual Business Plan Competition, where student entrepreneurs can pitch their ideas for a chance to win money.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Manager for the Center for Innovation and Commercialization Stephanie Mendez said for students who are struggling financially to get their business started, the competition is a way to do it at no cost.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\"><blockquote><p>\u201cThe No. one problem that they have is, well, there is no money to get started,\u201d Mendez said. \u201cSo, we hope that through the competition, by them winning and placing, they, of course, get the money, and even if they don\u2019t place, they at least feel to have the confidence to feel like they are entrepreneurs.\u201d\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Program Coordinator for Center for Innovation and Commercialization Natalia De La Garza mentions there have been success stories in the past from the competition.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\"><blockquote><p>\u201cWe had a student, [Jennifer Olivo], she was one of our student employees, participated in the big idea competition, won and then she was eligible to participate in our Blackstones Idea, like a national competition,\u201d De La Garza said. \u201cShe won there, and then from there she applied to the Texas Business Hall of Fame and then was selected as last year\u2019s awardee.\u201d\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The business competition requires students to create their business in the Rio Grande Valley. They are eligible to join as long as the business is not commercialized or a franchise.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>De La Garza gave examples of other ideas that can also work for the competition.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\"><blockquote><p>\u201cIt could be, like, if students are working on projects in the lab, let&#8217;s say, like, engineers that they are working [on] their capstone project for like their graduation,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd let&#8217;s say they\u2019re inventing this really cool product as a class project, they can enter the competition.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Mendez said the competition is a door to success and opportunity.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\"><blockquote><p>\u201cIt helps the students in different ways,\u201d she said. \u201cYou have the skills building \u2026 being able to pitch correctly, they get to understand what the audience are looking for.. In terms of competition, it gives some credibility. \u2026 After they win the first competition, it gives them the opportunity to try other similar competitions.\u201d\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Laurie Simmons serves as the director of Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Commercialization for Center for Innovation and Commercialization. She said participants receive help throughout the competition via workshops.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\"><blockquote><p>\u201cWe have informational workshops to provide the information of what the competition is all about and what to expect,\u201d Simmons said. \u201cSome of the tools that we provide, we provide [a] live plan, which is an online platform, business plan platform, which allows the participants to be able to create a business plan, as well as provide a template for the pitch competition itself.\u201d\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>In addition to the live plan, the participants also have mentors. Competitors can meet with mentors to gain confidence in pitching in their business plan to the judges.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Applications are still open to students who are interested in joining the Business Plan Competition. To apply, visit <a href=\"https:\/\/utrgv.startuptree.co\/event\/s\/oRR2DZRNMPtdGFS6iSZvjq\/UTRGV-Business-Plan-Competition-2025\">utrgv.startuptree.co<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Applications close at noon March 3.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This Celeste Cruz for Vaquero Radio.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The UTRGV Center for Innovation and Commercialization will kick off its annual Business Plan Competition, where student entrepreneurs<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":7665,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[404,726,26],"class_list":["post-7664","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-edinburg","tag-business","tag-spring-2025","tag-utrgv"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Let&#039;s get down to Business - The Valley&#039;s Student Station<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The UTRGV Center for Innovation and Commercialization will kick off its annual Business Plan Competition\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/03\/lets-get-down-to-business\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Let&#039;s get down to Business - The Valley&#039;s Student Station\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The UTRGV Center for Innovation and Commercialization will kick off its annual Business Plan Competition\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/03\/lets-get-down-to-business\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Valley&#039;s Student Station\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-02-03T16:56:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-02-03T16:56:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/e1857316-ff83-4ed8-9c85-05ac5cc75fed.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2048\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1536\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Celeste Cruz\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Celeste Cruz\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/03\/lets-get-down-to-business\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/03\/lets-get-down-to-business\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Celeste Cruz\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ce12080ddca22f212bcf23b10df938c2\"},\"headline\":\"Let&#8217;s get down to Business\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-02-03T16:56:10+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-02-03T16:56:15+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/03\/lets-get-down-to-business\/\"},\"wordCount\":546,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/03\/lets-get-down-to-business\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/e1857316-ff83-4ed8-9c85-05ac5cc75fed.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Business\",\"Spring 2025\",\"UTRGV\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Edinburg\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/03\/lets-get-down-to-business\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/03\/lets-get-down-to-business\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/03\/lets-get-down-to-business\/\",\"name\":\"Let's get down to Business - The Valley&#039;s Student Station\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/03\/lets-get-down-to-business\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/03\/lets-get-down-to-business\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/e1857316-ff83-4ed8-9c85-05ac5cc75fed.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-02-03T16:56:10+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-02-03T16:56:15+00:00\",\"description\":\"The UTRGV Center for Innovation and Commercialization will kick off its annual Business Plan Competition\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/03\/lets-get-down-to-business\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/03\/lets-get-down-to-business\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/03\/lets-get-down-to-business\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Let&#8217;s get down to Business\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/\",\"name\":\"The Valley&#039;s Student Station\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The Valley&#039;s Student Station\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/output-onlinepngtools-scaled.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/output-onlinepngtools-scaled.png\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":946,\"caption\":\"The Valley&#039;s Student Station\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ce12080ddca22f212bcf23b10df938c2\",\"name\":\"Celeste Cruz\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c8018ece5e21d97faf5f2b492428fa7d6cefc1ab37b06b3b16673f463ca858fa?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c8018ece5e21d97faf5f2b492428fa7d6cefc1ab37b06b3b16673f463ca858fa?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Celeste Cruz\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/author\/celeste-cruz\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Let's get down to Business - The Valley&#039;s Student Station","description":"The UTRGV Center for Innovation and Commercialization will kick off its annual Business Plan Competition","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/03\/lets-get-down-to-business\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Let's get down to Business - The Valley&#039;s Student Station","og_description":"The UTRGV Center for Innovation and Commercialization will kick off its annual Business Plan Competition","og_url":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/03\/lets-get-down-to-business\/","og_site_name":"The Valley&#039;s Student Station","article_published_time":"2025-02-03T16:56:10+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-02-03T16:56:15+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2048,"height":1536,"url":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/e1857316-ff83-4ed8-9c85-05ac5cc75fed.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Celeste Cruz","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Celeste Cruz","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/03\/lets-get-down-to-business\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/03\/lets-get-down-to-business\/"},"author":{"name":"Celeste Cruz","@id":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ce12080ddca22f212bcf23b10df938c2"},"headline":"Let&#8217;s get down to Business","datePublished":"2025-02-03T16:56:10+00:00","dateModified":"2025-02-03T16:56:15+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/03\/lets-get-down-to-business\/"},"wordCount":546,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/03\/lets-get-down-to-business\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/e1857316-ff83-4ed8-9c85-05ac5cc75fed.jpg","keywords":["Business","Spring 2025","UTRGV"],"articleSection":["Edinburg"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/03\/lets-get-down-to-business\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/03\/lets-get-down-to-business\/","url":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/03\/lets-get-down-to-business\/","name":"Let's get down to Business - The Valley&#039;s Student Station","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/03\/lets-get-down-to-business\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/03\/lets-get-down-to-business\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/e1857316-ff83-4ed8-9c85-05ac5cc75fed.jpg","datePublished":"2025-02-03T16:56:10+00:00","dateModified":"2025-02-03T16:56:15+00:00","description":"The UTRGV Center for Innovation and Commercialization will kick off its annual Business Plan Competition","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/03\/lets-get-down-to-business\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/03\/lets-get-down-to-business\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/03\/lets-get-down-to-business\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Let&#8217;s get down to Business"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/","name":"The Valley&#039;s Student Station","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/#organization","name":"The Valley&#039;s Student Station","url":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/output-onlinepngtools-scaled.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/output-onlinepngtools-scaled.png","width":2560,"height":946,"caption":"The Valley&#039;s Student Station"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ce12080ddca22f212bcf23b10df938c2","name":"Celeste Cruz","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c8018ece5e21d97faf5f2b492428fa7d6cefc1ab37b06b3b16673f463ca858fa?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c8018ece5e21d97faf5f2b492428fa7d6cefc1ab37b06b3b16673f463ca858fa?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Celeste Cruz"},"url":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/author\/celeste-cruz\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7664","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/37"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7664"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7664\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7667,"href":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7664\/revisions\/7667"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7665"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}