Imagine it’s your first year of college and you get this assignment: create a data-backed, marketable business idea for a major global brand, build it with your team in 5 weeks, and pitch it directly to company executives. Oh, and you’ll be competing alongside and against 118 teams. 

Welcome to the First-Year Integrated Core at the Farmer School of Business at Miami University. Each year, more than 1100 Farmer School students take part in the FYIC, a semester-long experience where they take four classes: Foundations of Business, Foundations of Business Communications, Introduction to Computational Thinking for Business, and Creativity, Innovation, and Entrepreneurial Thinking. The experience culminates in the Client Challenge, where students are organized into teams and tasked with problem-solving a real-world business opportunity—from entering new markets, to developing new products, to positioning brands with a new audience.

This spring semester, FYIC students joined two executives of Nestlé Purina to learn more about the challenge: position Friskies cat food brand with a Gen Z audience. The executives then gave the students a crash course in the target audience, current brand and marketing efforts, emerging trends, and the company resources available to them.

One of this semester’s teams– Billy Collins, Hayden Fisher, Marty Peterson, Marissa Richards, and Maggi Trickett – quickly organized to tackle the challenge head-on.

“Honestly, we’re just really excited to have this hands-on experience as a freshman and work with a great company like Purina,” Trickett says as the students left the room.

“It’s going to be a great experience for us to put on our resume,” Richards adds.

The first step was to develop a mock presentation which FYIC professor, Jake Matig, asks his cohort to critique a week later. 

“You're going to take 60 seconds to identify the rose, bud and thorn from Tuesday's presentation. So, the rose is something that went really well. The bud is something that you're making progress on, but still need to improve, and the thorn is something that is a genuine challenge that you face and are struggling to improve upon,” he says.

“I feel like our thorn is that we weren’t as prepared as we should have been,” Trickett said.“We're working on making our slide deck look better, but the content has to be the right amount for us to present it well,” Fisher adds.

Heads nod around the table. “Alright, Team 4?” Matig calls out.

“Our rose was transitions within the content of the slide. Our bud was, I'd say, active listening. And then our thorn was preparation beforehand,” Fisher says.

After listening to all the responses, Matig told the groups that he felt that the students showed that they knew the material in their presentations, but that the presentations themselves were flat.

“I think I saw one person smile. I don't think I heard any vocal inflection. It was like you were sad to be presenting. You're talking about pets. How can pets be sad? I mean, it was really painful,” he says. “So, I really, really, really, want to see more enthusiasm, more engagement in your delivery.”

It’s now week two, and the team is making their first idea pitch to the “Shark Tank,” a group of four FYIC professors. They have two minutes to explain their idea and get feedback on it.

“The problem we want to attack today is how might Friskies reposition itself to be emotionally relevant, health conscious and trustworthy to Gen Z cat owners who may view their cats as family,” Collins says.

“The Meowstery Box is a one-stop shop product that has cat food, cat products and cat toys, all in the box for the owner and the cat. This provides a way for the Gen Z cat owner to get everything they need for the cat, to keep it happy and healthy, as well as provide a fun little adventure for it to explore it,” Peterson explains.

The two minutes fly by, and then the group gets feedback.

“Nice work overall with the pitch, I love that you gave me a very clear problem that you're trying to solve, and then I can understand how you got to your solution from your problem,” Matig says. “My number one question to you would be, let's say, hypothetically, there's 13 teams that present subscription boxes. Why is yours better? Why is yours different?”

“Ours is better because some people just don't like subscription boxes, so we're trying to play into that by letting Purina just sell these at places like Target or Petco,” Richards replies.

“This idea is cool. It has a higher vision than the actual tactics to get it done. And I really want all of us collectively to work on that for the next couple weeks,” Beth Troy, a professor in Entrepreneurship, says. “You are selling the Meowstery adventure. That's what you're selling.”

Week three, and the team has made a big change in their product idea.

“I do know it's a unique idea, and my biggest worry is [Nestlé Purina] having an immediate reaction of ‘That's not going to work,’ or ‘We're not doing that,’” Fisher says.

So first, they pitch the new idea to Troy.

“How can we turn a daily moment of cat care into a shareable wellness ritual that Gen Z owners actually want to participate in with their cats?” Trickett asks?

“This is why we created Friskies hemp oil CBD,” Richards answers.

“Right now, the pet CBD product market is actually growing at a 24.3% compound annual growth rate, and it's supposed to more than 6x from 2026 to 2035, which may seem ridiculous, but it is a very real and growing market,” Collins explains.

Troy is laughing, her head down on the desk. “What a pivot!” she exclaims when she looks up at the team.

“We came up with 18 ideas yesterday,” Fisher says.

“Oh, a lot more. 18 just got written down,” Trickett notes.

“We knew was either going to be a really good idea or you’d just totally trash it,” Richards says.

“I say do it. I think it's divergent. I mean, I think it's different than most of the ideas we're seeing,” Troy says. “Everything needs to be validated if we're going to go with something that's a little bit more divergent.”

The FYIC Client Challenge teams put in a lot of work outside the classroom. Teams meet in various spots in Farmer, in dorm rooms, in King Library, wherever they can find a quiet space. The team members exchange information about the research they’ve done, tweak, change, and rearrange their slide decks, and practice how they intend to pitch their ideas.

“I'm feeling good. I feel like our idea, though it's definitely in the early stages, for sure, but I feel like we're all excited about it, and we're all excited to research it and get more into it,” Richards says. “So, I'm excited to see where it goes and where it takes us.

The team returns to Matig’s classroom to make their new pitch. This time, they have six minutes to tell him about their idea.

“So, your new calming treat is a way to take your best-selling product, a lickable treat, and add health benefits such as derived CBD oil to relieve stress, anxiety, and both mental and physical pains,” Trickett says. “You simply open the treat, hand feed it to your cat and watch as your feline friend retreats into a calmer, more comfortable state.”

“According to the National Library of Medicine, 51.4% of Gen Z report they have used CBD before. 32% report they consistently use CBD,” Peterson says. “71% of Gen Z cat owners report they use calming cat products. This suggests that Gen Z is familiar with CBD and is comfortable with its consumption.”

Matig nods and takes notes. After the presentation is complete, he gives the team feedback about the structure of their presentation, pointing out that it takes the team a long time to get to their idea, and that they may want to restructure it to present their solution earlier.

“Maybe we just didn't articulate it well when we’re talking. Maybe we start with the background context. We preview the idea, meet the team, state the issue, and then we explain why the current solutions don't work, and then we bring up our solution and how it's different,” Peterson says after the team leaves the classroom.

“What if we move why current solutions don't work up, like way up. We talk about it right off the bat?” Trickett asks?

“Maybe we could bring it back again at the end of the presentation, so we touch base on it again so that it would be strongly reinforced again,” Peterson replies.

During the last week of classes, the competition begins. Each team is assigned a time slot on one of two days, and is given 8-9 minutes to present to a group of faculty members, who will ask questions, then grade their performances and ideas. The top 10 teams then present directly to the Purina representatives.

The team gathers in an FSB breakout room on day two and goes over the presentation one more time.

“Earlier this morning, and especially last night, I was definitely nervous, but I feel like now we put so much time and effort into it, I'm just ready to show them everything that we've done,” Trickett says

“I'm very excited to present. I feel well prepared, and probably the most prepared I've felt for any presentation I've ever given,” Fisher says.

“I'm really confident in this team and how we're going to do today. We put the work in so I'm super excited to see how it's going to go,” Collins says.

The team is fourth in line to present their idea to the judges.

“Without further ado, I would like to introduce Mellow Mix, a calming twist on your fastest growing favorite treat, Lil’ Lickables. It is the treat that helps to ease both mental and physical pain in a way that your cat already knows and loves,” Trickett says.

“This CBD shift isn't only occurring in the pet food market, it's occurring in multiple different industries across the world,” Collins says. “This proves that the CBD shift is only occurring in the pet food market but is occurring within billion-dollar companies across the world.

“We conducted a consumer survey and sent it to our Gen Z students and friends. In this survey, we explicitly stated the definition of CBD and also listed the potential side effects we showed you guys earlier in our presentation. With over 140 respondents, we found that 89.6% of Gen Z cat owners said they would feel safe giving their cat a CBD derived calming product,” Peterson says.

Within ten minutes, between presentation and questions, the team’s Client Challenge is complete.

The team gathers in the hallway with other teams that have finished their presentations.

“My heart was pounding. My mind was moving a mile a minute. It was racing. I'm excited to check my email tonight and see if we move on,” Collins says “I'm proud of our team. I'm walking away really satisfied with how we performed today.”

“It felt really satisfying to see that all the hard work we put in, everything, all the time we spent in Farmer, it really came together. And our hard work finally paid off,” Richards says.

“I'm super happy with the presentation and how it went. Our responses to the questions were great, and I'm honestly optimistic that we might we make it on to the next round,” Fisher says. “Our idea was out there. It was unique, and I thought we presented it in a nice way. It looks enticing for Purina to want to listen.”

Very late that evening, the email goes out announcing the finalists that will move on to present to Nestlé Purina.

Sadly, the team has not been chosen. 

But.

The email also states that an additional 10 teams have been selected to make shortened versions of their pitches to the Purina representatives later in the day, just before they leave campus.

The team does make this cut, and on Friday afternoon, presents their Mellow Mix idea to the CMO and Head of Sales for Purina.

“The FYIC has been exciting, challenging, rewarding, and honestly something I do not think any of us expected to become so meaningful when the semester first started,” Trickett said. “Somewhere between the early mornings in Farmer, meetings before and after class, last-minute ideas, shared stress, and countless laughs, LA4 became far more than just a project group. They became some of the most important people in my semester. What started as classmates working toward the same goal turned into genuine friendships, and I will always be grateful the FYIC brought us together.”

“I got to experience the rewarding feeling of seeing something I put so much blood, sweat, and tears into finally come to life, which made all of the hard work worth it. It showed me that successful projects take time, effort, and the ability to work through challenges together,” Richards said. “I have learned more about my strengths and weaknesses, especially when it comes to presenting and sharing ideas. I discovered which parts of the project I enjoyed the most and the least, and this experience has helped me grow as both a student and a teammate by becoming more confident, responsible, and open to others’ opinions. I have also learned how to be more patient and flexible when things do not go exactly as planned.”

“During all my classes in high school and first semester of college, I have never felt more engaged with my classes. It brought me some extremely close friends. I have grown as a presenter and public speaker. I'm a better teammate and have a better thought process when problem solving,” Fisher said. “This experience was amazing and truly puts Farmer apart from other business schools.”