UVM student’s painting business startup wins $215K prize

BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – A group of University of Vermont students Thursday received accolades for creating a local start-up company.

“We started from an idea where we wanted to not only help the community with a business but we found that the trades are at a major shortage,” said Zach Dunn, who started Painting with Purpose back in 2022 with the help of UVM’s Catamount Innovation Fund.

Two years later, his team won the Joy and Jerry Meyers Cup a new competition launched by UVM’s Grossman School of Business.

Three undergraduate teams introduced their ideas to a panel of judges, with Dunn’s group winning the $215,500 grand prize.

Dunn says the money will go right back into the business. He admits trying to start a business can be a challenge. “It’s tough to navigate pricing when you have things like inflation moving at a certain rate. Start small, start simple, start with yourself. Find people that you know, that can assist,” he said.

Painting with Purpose specializes in residential and commercial jobs but also offers lead abatement, lead inspections, power washing, and minor carpentry. They donate a portion of profits to Tim’s House, a shelter in St. Albans.

Erik Monsen, a UVM business professor, says programs like this are essential for Vermont’s workforce. “He can clearly demonstrate revenues. He mentioned last night that this year, he’s very close to crossing or about to cross the $1 million revenue mark. Colleges sometimes forget it’s almost as important — if not more so than teaching skills — is teaching confidence. Teaching that, you can control the outcome as something as even as crazy as a start-up in entrepreneurship,” he said.

Dunn says he and his team are grateful for the shout-out. “Surreal. It feels like it hasn’t set in yet. You know, it’s last night, and here we are on a job site today. Time to get back to it, time to get back to work,” he said.

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