This program is currently paused.

Please visit eship.unc.edu for updates

The Carolina Challenge–UNC’s premiere entrepreneurship competition– engages approximately 500 students at Carolina, representing 145 teams across more than 40 fields of study. Through our annual competitions, we award over $25,000 annually to winning students to help them start to build their ideas into a business or social venture. The Carolina Challenge kicks off each fall with the Pitch Party followed by the Makeathon in early spring. The Carolina Challenge’s competitions and workshops welcome and encourage all UNC students to participate, with no prior experience required.

Learn more about our fall campus-wide Carolina Challenge Pitch Party competition, where you only need an idea to participate! Learn more about the event from this year’s info session.

Find out more about our spring semester Carolina Challenge Makeathon, UNC’s two-week creative, cross-campus competition designed to accelerate innovative ideas into physical and digital prototypes that promote positive social impact.

Past events:

Failing Fast: How to talk to potential customers early to save time & money

Wednesday, September 2, 2020 • Online

Get out of your comfort zone and put your idea to action! We’ll walk you through the first steps of identifying & testing your target market!

Discover how being okay with failure and failing fast can help you. We’ll also learn how to properly identify your problem and customer in an interactive session. How to *socially distanced* talk to customers during covid (cold calls, emails, Instagram polls & dms, facebook groups, etc.) Come fail with us!

Did you miss the live event? Catch up on the content with our recording here! Please email eship@kenan-flagler.unc.edu with any questions.

Pitch Party Info Session & Pitch Tips

Monday, October 19, 2020 • 6:00-7:00pm Online

Learn how to perfect your pitch! We’ll will teach you about the elements of a good pitch and techniques for public speaking.This workshop will help you shine at the Carolina Challenge Pitch Party! See the Pitch Party tab above to learn more about the requirements and structure of the event. Watch this session here.

Pitch Party Practice Pitches

Monday, November 2, 2020 • Online

Practice your pitch in a tech run and get feedback before the actual Pitch Party. This chill session will give you practice with the platform before you are in front of the judges.

2020 Carolina Challenge Pitch Party

Thursday, November 5, 2020 • Online

Rapid fire pitching of ideas for the chance to win up to $5,000 in seed funding! RSVP to attend here: https://go.unc.edu/PitchParty