BYU’s Next Unicorn? Student Startup Scores $905K
One of BYU’s student startups earned $905k in prize money at a major collegiate business plan competition.
Tackling Challenges on and off the Field
February 2019
For Adam Pulsipher, coming to BYU to play football was the fulfillment of a dream, and when Bronco Mendenhall offered him a scholarship, Pulsipher committed the very next day.
“It still shocks me, running out of the tunnel at LaVell Edwards Stadium with thousands of fans cheering,” he says. “It doesn’t feel real sometimes.”
Pulsipher isn’t just succeeding on the football field. Before he completed his finance degree, he and a few other students formed BYU Marriott’s first undergraduate Private Equity and Venture Capital Club. They also lobbied the school to create a venture capital class, and Pulsipher even put together a team for the University of North Carolina’s undergraduate Venture Capital Investment Competition—which they won outright.
“As one of the co-presidents of the club, I was looking for ways BYU could make a splash on the national stage,” Pulsipher says. “I just love to compete.”
Now working on an MPA during his final season with the Cougars, Pulsipher is filled with gratitude for the opportunities BYU Athletics has given him. “If I didn’t have my athletic scholarship,” he says, “there’s no way I could’ve juggled all of those things.”
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