From November 13-17, 2025, UW–Madison’s StartUp Learning Community — together with University Housing and the Wisconsin School of Business — hosted its annual 100-Hour Challenge, a campus favorite that draws student innovators from across the university. This fully virtual competition celebrates a simple truth: big ideas can grow from the most ordinary beginnings, and innovation doesn’t always require cutting-edge tools or specialized know-how.
The Challenge encourages an entrepreneurial mindset, emphasizing that storytelling, flexibility, and curiosity matter just as much as technical skills. Students quickly learn that inspiration can strike anywhere — even while digging through a sock drawer or scavenging a bathroom caddy.
On Thursday, the event kicked off with a curated list of “approved items” released on the Challenge website. Everyday college housing staples — cardboard, socks, light bulbs, scrunchies, and more — became the raw materials for rapid invention. Over the next 100 hours, students, working individually or in teams, transformed these humble items into imaginative prototypes.
By Monday, participants submitted their creations — via video or slide deck — to a panel of judges connected to UW–Madison’s innovation ecosystem. Entries were evaluated in three categories: most potential revenue value, most potential social value, and overall creativity.
The 100-Hour Challenge is far more than a competition — it’s a spark for fresh thinking, confidence building, and creative problem-solving. For every participant, it’s a reminder that with curiosity and determination, even the most everyday objects can ignite breakthrough ideas. Here’s to another year of invention — and to the simple materials that made it all possible.
2025 Winners
Most Potential Social Value: SafeStep by Srishti Lodha
Most Potential Revenue Value: Aeroflow by Hyunwook Baek and Siwon Chae
Most Creative: KeyLauncher by Audric Busilim, Ben Tirtawiguna, Edbert Ang
Congratulations to our winners!