The BoZone MSU student entrepreneurs secure business funding at annual startup challenge January 2, 2021 From MSU News Service BOZEMAN — All four teams of Montana State University student entrepreneurs who competed at a startup competition held this fall earned awards and funding to support their ventures. The students were competing in the 31st annual John Ruffatto Business Startup Challenge, which was held virtually between Sept. 21 and Oct. 2. Competing teams pitched their best business ideas to a panel of judges for their share of awards and funding. A record 31 teams applied to the statewide competition. Nine teams then advanced to the next round, where they pitched their ideas and answered questions from different panels of judges over a weeklong period. The panels of judges then selected four teams to compete in a final event held Oct. 2. Four of the nine teams selected to participate in the competition were from MSU, and two of the four teams selected for the final event were from MSU.