UNK junior Alexis Bernthal, left, is congratulated by Sara Bennett, director of the Center for Entrepreneurship and Rural Development, after winning Tuesday evening’s Big Idea Kearney competition. (Erika Pritchard, UNK Communications)
KEARNEY – Alexis Bernthal’s reaction spoke for itself.
She jumped up and down, waving an oversized check in the air before embracing her friends.
The only words she could get out were “Oh my God.”
“This shows me that this is something I can do and something I will do,” Bernthal said Tuesday evening after winning the 12th annual Big Idea Kearney event. “To have other people show enthusiasm for what I’m doing makes me want to do it more. And it makes me want to get even more involved with the Kearney entrepreneurship community.”
That’s the goal of Big Idea, a business pitch competition that gives University of Nebraska at Kearney students and local residents a chance to turn their dreams into reality. Modeled after the popular TV series “Shark Tank,” the event serves as a platform to promote innovation, celebrate the entrepreneurial spirit and inspire future business owners.
“We want our students to realize that entrepreneurship could be in their future, whether it’s something they’re thinking about now or after graduation,” said Sara Bennett, director of UNK’s Center for Entrepreneurship and Rural Development, which organizes the competition along with the Cultivate student organization.
A total of 31 entries were submitted for this year’s contest, with 10 finalists presenting Tuesday night during the live event at Legacy on the Bricks in downtown Kearney.
Bernthal’s pitch was the most popular among the judges and a crowd of nearly 80 people. She took first place, earning $2,000 in seed money, and added $250 more by winning the people’s choice award.
A UNK junior studying computer science and business, Bernthal started forming her idea last summer while participating in an entrepreneurship program at the University of Colorado Boulder, where her father Brad is an associate professor of law specializing in startups, entrepreneurial law and early stage finance. She worked with Bennett to fine-tune the details.
“She’s been amazing,” Bernthal said of Bennett. “I really can’t thank her enough. She’s really helped me develop my idea and she’s given me a ton of great insight.”
A member of the Loper women’s tennis team, Cultivate and UNK Cyber Club, Bernthal has always been interested in entrepreneurship as a way to try new things, solve problems and pave her own path. Her proposal, Physpeak, certainly checks those boxes.
“Raise your hand if you’ve ever been frustrated with medical bills,” Bernthal said to start her presentation. “ … Well, you’re not alone.”
“Medical billing errors alone cost $125 billion in the U.S. annually,” she continued. “This is especially painful for physical therapists.”
Physpeak is the name of the medical billing software she’s developing to address this issue.
Currently, physical therapists must manually enter specific codes for patient diagnoses and services performed before claims are submitted to insurance companies, she explained. They also keep their own notes for each patient on a separate system.
Using speech-to-text technology, Physpeak would allow providers to record these notes and generate the appropriate medical billing codes within a single system, saving them time and reducing the potential for errors.
Bernthal plans to further develop this software over the next few months, with a goal of launching the platform for physical therapists practicing in rural areas.
“Those physical therapists tend to own their own practices, so they’re the head businessperson and they’re the head physical therapist,” she said. “When they’re having to switch between a billing software and a physical therapy note-taking software, that’s really burdensome.”
Eventually, she’d like to see the software expand to other medical professions.
UNK student Zion Moyer took second place in Big Idea Kearney with Roaming Greens Mini-Golf Co., a portable miniature golf business he started with his wife, and UNK graduate Jessica Vettel was third with Create Wildly, a lifestyle brand that provides nature-inspired art classes, kits and resources. They received $1,000 and $500, respectively.
In addition to the cash prizes, the top five contestants will receive free or discounted business services provided by the event’s professional partners – Nebraska Enterprise Fund, GROW Nebraska, Jacobsen Orr, Farmers Insurance – Mark Porter, Murray Marketing Services, Contryman Associates and Kearney Area Chamber of Commerce.
The competition is sponsored by the UNK College of Business and Technology, Economic Development Council of Buffalo County, Invest Nebraska, Nebraska Enterprise Fund, NUtech Ventures and Allo Fiber.
“Big Idea Kearney is a great way to showcase innovative young minds and what they’re hoping to create for our area,” Bennett said. “Regardless of where they finished, each contestant will get a chance to meet with me and discuss ways to move their idea forward.”
Kearney Mayor Stan Clouse, one of the five judges, offered similar words of encouragement.
“Keep living your dream.”
