A Pitch and a Win

Danny Oh ’18 isn’t a stranger to the will to succeed—some may even say it’s in his DNA. “My parents immigrated to this country with $400 in their pockets,” Oh began, but he wasn’t given the chance to finish before the crowd interrupted with loud applause. Driven by his past toward a brighter future, Oh found an outlet for his motivation in Trinity’s Stumberg New Venture Competition, where he emerged as the grand prize winner last November.

The Stumberg Competition is a campus-wide, Shark Tank-style showcase in which Trinity students who have built real businesses compete in front of judges, fellow students, alumni, and the San Antonio community. The grand prize? A hefty sum of seed funding: $25,000.

The competition, which began in 2015, consists of three rounds: a business canvas round, from which 10 to 14 teams are chosen to pitch their ideas to a panel of judges;  a pitch round, from which five finalists are awarded $5,000 each in seed money and dedicated mentorship; and the final pitch round, where one team shines victorious—and takes home the big check.

Oh’s grand prize will bolster his startup, the Country Club Collection, an online shop that liquidates golf apparel and gear typically sold exclusively at pro shops, on tours, or through other private retail. As one of the five Stumberg finalists for 2016, the Country Club Collection competed alongside other student startups, including the Women’s Ambassador Forum, Good Looking Out (GLO), The Contemporary, and Cloud Therapy.

The competition honors the legacy of the late San Antonio businessman, civic leader, and Trinity Trustee Louis H. Stumberg. Trinity Trustee Herb Stumberg ’81 and his brother Eric established the initial endowment at Trinity that supports the Stumberg Prize, and he cannot think of a better way to honor his father’s memory than to push these student startups to succeed. “This would have been the biggest thrill for my father—to see Trinity students strive to create businesses in the city he loved and worked tirelessly to promote,” Herb Stumberg said. “He loved the creative process, young people, especially entrepreneurs, and gave generously of his time and treasure.”

As the grand prize winners, Oh and the Country Club Collective team received $25,000 in seed money.

Special Thanks to Our Donors

Driven by increasing student demand, the entrepreneurship program at Trinity University has shown tremendous growth in a very short time, thanks in large part to alumni, community, and foundation donors including Barbara ’78 and V. Douglas Pierce Jr. ’78, Bert Jones ’78, Herb Stumberg ’81, Pat Condon ’96 and the 80/20 Foundation.

Trinity Trustee Emeritus Barbara Pierce and her husband were among the earliest major donors to the program when they created the F. W. Olin Scholarship for Entrepreneurship in 2008 in memory of her entrepreneurial great grandfather. Bert Jones has underwritten many program components, including a new program coordinator. Pat Condon and his wife, Luz Cristal Glangchai, have been visionary supporters for several years, and Trustee Herb Stumberg, with his brother Eric, created the Louis Herbert Stumberg Entrepreneurship Venture Fund in memory of their father, an entrepreneur and former Trinity Trustee.

Liz Metzger ’19 and Bria Woods ’16 entered their app, Good Looking Out (GLO), in the 2016 Stumberg Competition.