Break the Barricade

As part of the Marketing Management course, students have to develop an original idea for a consumer facing business and then create a Marketing Plan for the launch of the product or service. A group of three students thought of the idea for a fantasy wrestling application and online community. Break the Barricade was a novel idea of tapping into the exponential growth of the fantasy sports world and the superfan wrestling community.

Following the development of the marketing plan, the three students, Justin Doyle, Gary Pevlin and Jeremy Rasch got excited about the idea and were encouraged to pursue it through the New Brunswick Innovation Foundation's Break Thru business plan competition. They submitted their video pitch (WATCH HERE) and were accepted into the program. They soon began work on their business plan after attending a 2-day bootcamp on business plan writing.

While they didn't make it through to the next round, I think they all would agree it was a worthwhile

learning experience! And, they are not done yet! The Break The Barricade team attended the Yes Atlantic student entrepreneurship conference hosted by the Pond-Deshpande Centre in Fredericton on March 3rd and presented their pitch to a live audience and panel of judges.

It was a nerve-wracking experience, one in which the students definitely stepped outside their comfort zone. The students, now graduates, continue to work on building their superfan community through twitter and are working with a graduate of the IT program to work on the app.