Four teams of University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) students competed for a $15,000 grand prize at the 38th annual New Venture Competition. The teams pitched their business plans to a panel of judges from the Nebraska entrepreneurship community on Tuesday at the Rococo Theatre in Lincoln. The annual competition is hosted by the Nebraska Center for Entrepreneurship.
Sophomore Jackson Donley won the grand prize for his window cleaning business, SomeGuys Services.
Nebraska Center for Entrepreneurship Director Samuel Nelson, Ph.D., said Donely’s confident pitch, strong financials, proof of scaling potential and filling a market need were all factors contributing to his win. While it’s not uncommon for participants in the New Venture Competition to be a mix of more traditional, service-oriented businesses and tech-based startups, Nelson said the more traditional businesses, like SomeGuys Services, saw success this year due to their ability to demonstrate traction.
“These teams are making real sales and growing their businesses. That always resonates with judges,” said Nelson. “The big surprise to me this year was the number of younger students competing.”
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The final results of the 2025 New Venture Competition were:
- 1st place winner of $15,000: Sophomore Jackson Donley, chief growth officer at SomeGuys Services
- 2nd place winner of $12,500: Sophomore Joseph Weinberger, co-founder and CEO of J&D Lake Services — a business that provides aquatic weed removal services for commercial and residential properties
- 3rd place winner of $10,000: Freshman Andreas Katsaounis, founder of Alpha Omega Pickleball — a business that designs and manufactures pickleball paddles
- 4th place with $7,500: Sophomore Brody Marr and Junior Patrick Stolinski, co-founders of a student organization, PROTO, which builds STEM learning kits and creates accessible robotics programming for educators and afterschool programs
The New Venture Competition is a two-day, bracket-style competition open to UNL undergraduate and graduate students, as well as alumni who graduated within a year of the competition. Winners benefit from receiving non-dilutive funding, plus an opportunity to practice their business pitch and get feedback from experienced founders and professionals. Sixty-four teams competed this year.
There was also a separate competition among three teams composed of previous New Venture Competition finalists. In the Advanced Traction Bracket judges determined how much of a total pool of $15,000 was awarded to each team. It was an opportunity for the participants to showcase their ventures’ progress, revenue and projections since they last shared.
The final standings for the 2025 Advanced Traction Bracket:
- 1st place winner of $8,000: Ph.D. candidate Brooke Parrish, founder of FutureHerd Solutions — an AgTech company focused on swine and creator of the Nursery Nanny robot for piglet pens
- 2nd place winner of $5,000: Senior Madison Kreifels, founder of InfoFilm — a media company that connects consumers to farmers’ stories
- 3rd place winner of $2,000: Juniors Lena Lankas and Nathan Ray, co-founders of TeachFront — an EdTech startup that supports alternative grading systems
Judges also awarded additional prizes, including to sophomores Kenny Morales and Wilson Overfield, who received the Thomas G. Guy Startup Team Award worth $2,500 for their college-matching app, FindU.
Donley with SomeGuys Services expressed his gratitude to university faculty and staff for their support and belief in him. He said the biggest hurdle was getting over his own doubts, and he encouraged other prospective entrepreneurs to just go out and do the work.
“We don’t have a fancy business. We just clean windows,” said Donley. “But we have a proven business model.”
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