How Two Students Achieved their Entrepreneurial Dreams at the NFL Draft
Thursday, May 1, 2025
BY ISABELLA MOLENAAR, '28 BSB
Jack Christensen, ‘25 BSB, came back from Thanksgiving break with an idea. The NFL draft would be happening in his hometown of Green Bay, WI at the end of April. He wanted to create a product to capitalize on the opportunity. Inspired by the bar crawls popular on college campuses, Christensen shared his own spin on the concept with his friend Luke Rexing, ‘25 BSB and together they created MyDraft.
The Entrepreneurial Journey
“I remember when we first committed to the idea,” said Rexing. “We were in the Maroon Lobby in Hanson Hall, and Jack shared his idea. We’ve thrown out a lot of random business ideas over the years, but this time we decided to really commit to doing this.’”
Together, they created MyDraft: a booklet featuring deals from local Green Bay businesses during the NFL Draft, which occurred April 24-26. The booklet included a variety of local businesses such as breweries, restaurants, coffee shops, and more.
The pair quickly got to work developing their pitch deck, creating a logo, and designing the booklet with the help of Joey Snippes, ‘24 BA.
Rexing and Christensen spent months driving between Minneapolis and Green Bay, pitching their idea to local businesses. While they hit a few roadblocks along the way, the support they received from many of the businesses and the community was overwhelmingly positive.
“When you get those yeses, it sparks a little bit more passion and drive every time,” said Christensen. “We were able to continue adding more and more businesses until we got to 32.”
Classroom Lessons in the Real World
Balancing the demands of being students and growing their business has been a challenge, but they have both found support and inspiration through the Carlson School.
“You walk into Carlson with the idea of, I'm going to succeed,” Christensen said. “It's something you drill into your mind, and you make sure it happens. Being around like-minded people who are passionate about success and making something happen, is really inspirational. I took a lot away from the people I sit around in class who are determined students and people who really put in the work. It makes you want to work harder.”
Lessons from their Carlson School classes have proved invaluable through their entrepreneurial journey. In particular, BA 3033: Business Communications provided them with essential skills to get business owners on board.
“A lot of inspiration came from the projects that we do for that class. It was interesting to see an overlap in classes like that,” said Rexing, “The power of face-to-face connection and public speaking that we learned in that class, especially, were helpful. In fact, that’s a big part of why we decided to regularly make the 4-hour drive to Green Bay, instead of just calling or sending emails. That class taught us that showing up in person would give us a higher chance of success.”
Giving Back
Christensen and Rexing knew early on that they wanted to ensure giving back was a core value of their brand.
Ten percent of their gross revenue will go to Curative Connections, a non-profit that helps adults and seniors with mental disabilities achieve their goals of independence. Christensen, who has a family connection with the program, said, “I've seen somebody go through their program and it's just incredible the work they do. So once Luke mentioned giving part of our revenue away, I said 'I've got the perfect place.'”
Entrepreneurial Success
The creators of MyDraft were met with overwhelmingly positive feedback from both their partners and customers at the NFL Draft over the weekend of April 24-26.
"Our partners were appreciative of two students willing to promote local businesses in the midst of a highly anticipated event,” Christensen said. “Customers, especially locals, thought it was a great idea to help spread people around the town to new places they had not heard of before, but deserved every bit of the attention.”
The pair found the process exhilarating.
“I’m proud of us for bringing it to life. From spending hours sitting in a room of a college house brainstorming, to securing 32 different partners in 2 months, to parking our vehicle directly outside of Lambeau Field with booklets displayed — we went from idea to product in less than 5 months,” Christensen said.
Lessons for the Future
Throughout their journey, Rexing and Christensen learned a lot by jumping in head first and embracing the bumpy ride of entrepreneurship.
“There's things that you can learn in principle, but actually executing them is something that you have to learn by going out and doing. When you get out into the real world, you have to trust that you know what you're talking about and just shoot your shot,” said Rexing.