{"id":1710,"date":"2026-03-02T22:02:40","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T22:02:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.troy.edu\/podcasts\/uncategorized\/building-businesses-by-taking-chances-s5ep4\/"},"modified":"2026-03-02T22:02:40","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T22:02:40","slug":"building-businesses-by-taking-chances-s5ep4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.troy.edu\/podcasts\/uncategorized\/building-businesses-by-taking-chances-s5ep4\/","title":{"rendered":"Building Businesses by Taking Chances S5EP4"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"flex flex-col text-sm pb-25\">\n<div class=\"text-base my-auto mx-auto pb-10 [--thread-content-margin:--spacing(4)] @w-sm\/main:[--thread-content-margin:--spacing(6)] @w-lg\/main:[--thread-content-margin:--spacing(16)] px-(--thread-content-margin)\">\n<div class=\"[--thread-content-max-width:40rem] @w-lg\/main:[--thread-content-max-width:48rem] mx-auto max-w-(--thread-content-max-width) flex-1 group\/turn-messages focus-visible:outline-hidden relative flex w-full min-w-0 flex-col agent-turn\">\n<div class=\"flex max-w-full flex-col grow\">\n<div class=\"min-h-8 text-message relative flex w-full flex-col items-end gap-2 text-start break-words whitespace-normal [.text-message+&amp;]:mt-1\">\n<div class=\"flex w-full flex-col gap-1 empty:hidden first:pt-[1px]\">\n<div class=\"markdown prose dark:prose-invert w-full wrap-break-word light markdown-new-styling\">\n<p>In Season 5, Episode 4, <strong>\u201cBuilding Businesses by Taking Chances,\u201d<\/strong> we sit down with two of the three winners of the 2025 Business Idea Pitch Competition Program at The IDEA Bank to talk about what happens when you step up and share your vision. Wesley Tilghman pitched <strong>\u201cTrojan Tailgate,\u201d<\/strong> a full-service tailgate experience designed to elevate game days at Troy University. While Emma Rollins brought her already operating business, <strong>\u201cDrone Sharks,\u201d<\/strong> to the stage with a bold next step, securing funding for a thermal drone that will expand her services and unlock an entirely new client base. What started as a pitch became a launchpad, opening doors neither of them expected.<\/p>\n<p>In this episode, you\u2019ll hear how the competition became more than a contest, it became a catalyst. From building meaningful connections to meeting mentors and supporters who will help scale their businesses, both Wesley and Emma share how taking a chance changed their trajectory. Emma even received a job offer from the competition sponsors, MAX Credit Union, after setting herself apart during the program. Their stories highlight the true power of opportunities like this: you don\u2019t need a perfectly polished idea to begin. Sometimes it\u2019s the brainstorming, feedback, networking, and unexpected doors that make the biggest impact. If you\u2019ve ever considered pitching an idea, or even just exploring one, this conversation will inspire you to take the leap. And keep an eye out for details about this year\u2019s Business Idea Pitch Competition coming in Fall 2026.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"z-0 flex min-h-[46px] justify-start\">\u00a0<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"pointer-events-none h-px w-px absolute bottom-0\">\n<p><strong>Connect with the Idea Vault Podcast &amp; IDEA Bank:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ideabank.podbean.com\/\">https:\/\/ideabank.podbean.com\/<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.troy.edu\/ideabank\">www.troy.edu\/ideabank<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ideabank.substack.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Subscribe to our Newsletter<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>Follow us:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/ideavaultpodcast\/?hl=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Idea Vault Podcast on Instagram<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TROYIDEABank\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">IDEA Bank on Facebook<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/troyideabank\/?hl=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">IDEA Bank on Instagram<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In Season 5, Episode 4, \u201cBuilding Businesses by Taking Chances,\u201d we sit down with two of the three winners of the 2025 Business Idea Pitch Competition Program at The IDEA Bank to talk about what happens when you step up and share your vision. Wesley Tilghman pitched \u201cTrojan Tailgate,\u201d a full-service tailgate experience designed to&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"a-button\" href=\"https:\/\/today.troy.edu\/podcasts\/uncategorized\/building-businesses-by-taking-chances-s5ep4\/\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"topics":[],"class_list":["post-1710","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Building Businesses by Taking Chances S5EP4 - Troy University Podcast Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/today.troy.edu\/podcasts\/uncategorized\/building-businesses-by-taking-chances-s5ep4\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Building Businesses by Taking Chances S5EP4 - Troy University Podcast Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In Season 5, Episode 4, \u201cBuilding Businesses by Taking Chances,\u201d we sit down with two of the three winners of the 2025 Business Idea Pitch Competition Program at The IDEA Bank to talk about what happens when you step up and share your vision. Wesley Tilghman pitched \u201cTrojan Tailgate,\u201d a full-service tailgate experience designed to...Read More\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/today.troy.edu\/podcasts\/uncategorized\/building-businesses-by-taking-chances-s5ep4\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Troy University Podcast Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-03-02T22:02:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Tom Benstein\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Tom Benstein\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/today.troy.edu\\\/podcasts\\\/uncategorized\\\/building-businesses-by-taking-chances-s5ep4\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/today.troy.edu\\\/podcasts\\\/uncategorized\\\/building-businesses-by-taking-chances-s5ep4\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Tom Benstein\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/today.troy.edu\\\/podcasts\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/bbc5875dc34ef49867f1197f1d17a28b\"},\"headline\":\"Building Businesses by Taking Chances S5EP4\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-02T22:02:40+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/today.troy.edu\\\/podcasts\\\/uncategorized\\\/building-businesses-by-taking-chances-s5ep4\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":291,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/today.troy.edu\\\/podcasts\\\/#organization\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/today.troy.edu\\\/podcasts\\\/uncategorized\\\/building-businesses-by-taking-chances-s5ep4\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/today.troy.edu\\\/podcasts\\\/uncategorized\\\/building-businesses-by-taking-chances-s5ep4\\\/\",\"name\":\"Building Businesses by Taking Chances S5EP4 - 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