Start Doing Business From Day One
You won't wait until your junior or senior year to put your skills to work. In Introduction to Business (MNGT 101), you'll explore different areas of business and then explore a real challenge from a corporate partner—all in your first semester.
Through the Business Battle, you'll team up with classmates, learn from upper-class peer coaches and business professionals, and compete to develop and present the strongest recommendations. It's your first chance to discover what you can do at Nebraska Business, and it's only the beginning.
What is the Business Battle?
The Business Battle is the signature experience of the Introduction to Business class. Teams take on the same real challenge from a corporate partner, then compete to see who can develop the strongest recommendations.
For example, recent teams worked with MotoAmerica, North America's premier motorcycle road-racing series, to tackle challenges related to ticket sales and the fan experience. They researched the industry, explored ideas across business disciplines and developed and pitched their recommendations to the company.
There isn't one right answer or a single path to the finish line. How your team approaches the challenge is up to you.
Build Your Team and Find Your People
You may be new to college, but you won't take on the Business Battle alone.
Upper-level peer coaches, called 101 coaches, help you work through the challenge while sharing what they've learned from their own Nebraska Business experience. Volunteer alumni and business professionals serve as business consultants, asking questions, offering feedback and helping your team strengthen its ideas. This network of mentors can help you launch into bigger things from the very beginning of your college career.
Together with your classmates, you'll test ideas and prepare to compete. Along the way, you'll build connections with people invested in helping you succeed.
See What You Can Do
You don't need years of business experience to start thinking like a business professional. The Business Battle gives you the opportunity to:
- Work effectively on cross-functional teams
- Conduct research and analyze business opportunities
- Develop strategic recommendations
- Present ideas to business professionals
- Receive and apply professional feedback
- Complete for the title of Business Battle champion
These experiences help build the confidence and career-ready skills you'll continue to develop throughout your time at Nebraska Business.
Why Students Love This Experience
Students consistently describe the Business Battle as one of the most rewarding parts of the Introduction to Business (MNGT 101) course because it allows them to apply their skills to a real business challenge.
This experience showed me I'm in the right place. It proved we could take an idea, collaborate and apply what we learned to create something that could actually work in the business world.
– Zoey Norris, Business Administration Major From Omaha, Nebraska
One of the best things about this experience is the people we got to work with. Our peer mentors were a big help throughout the experience. They gave us time to work through our ideas, answered our questions and supported us along the way. Our alum business consultant helped us build on those ideas and move our project forward. I’m proud of our team and how we brought our individual strengths together. While it was a lot of seriousness, we had fun as a team and working together.
– Michael Jones, Finance and Management Major From Omaha, Nebraska
Corporate Partners
At Nebraska Business, you won't wait until your junior or senior year to connect with industry leaders. As part of the Business Battle in the Introduction to Business course, you'll work on a real business challenge presented by a corporate partner who wants to help Huskers succeed in business.
2026-27
2025-26
Interested in becoming a corporate partner? We seek one organization each academic year to bring a real business challenge into the classroom, introduce it to our students and attend the final round of the Business Battle in December and April.
Alumni, Professionals: Bring Your Experience to the Battle
Help first-year students build confidence and get excited about their future in business by serving as a volunteer Business Battle consultant. You don't need to be an expert in finance or business strategy. For just one hour a week over four weeks, you'll help a student team strengthen their teamwork, communication and analysis by asking questions, sharing your perspective and encouraging them as they develop their ideas.
Business Battle Champions
Imagine winning this collegiate business competition in your first semester. These teams rose to the challenge, earning the title of Business Battle champion through their ideas, teamwork and presentation skills.
| Semester | Champions (Teams Listed by Class Section) |
|---|---|
| Spring 2026 | Lauren Bienz, Regan Graeve, Zoey Norris and Sienna Thurman |
| Fall 2026 | - Rainer Bretz, Rory Cropp, Michael Jones, Austen Mykhaylyshyn, Milton Rivera and Colton Wells - Darwin Devers-Hertz, Kylan Fantin, Daniel Florom, Elijah Harris, Kayden Robins, Fred Sample and Isaac Winkler - Trey Abara, Kendall Bohling, Noelle Dadian, Gus Neary, Aeden Underwood and Alexa Wackel |
