The Salesforce IDEAthon 2025 at the David Eccles School of Business proved once again that innovation thrives where technology meets teamwork.

The competition kicked off on Sep. 18, when students gathered for a hands-on Salesforce workshop and the launch of this year’s business case. Teams then had one week to build and present a fully functional CRM solution to address a real-world challenge: transforming the University of Utah Athletics Department’s athlete recruiting workflow. Final presentations were held on Sep. 26, with faculty and industry professionals judging each team’s creativity, technical execution, and understanding of business needs.

The Challenge: Reimagining Athlete Recruitment

The Athletics Department’s recruiting system was fragmented: spreadsheets, email threads, and paper notes scattered across departments made it hard to track athlete progress, coordinate communication, or ensure NCAA compliance. Students were tasked with designing a Salesforce solution that could centralize information, streamline coordination, and bring data-driven insight to every stage of the recruiting lifecycle.

Their systems needed to:

• Create detailed Athlete Prospect Profiles with athletic stats, academic data, and evaluation ratings
• Build a five-stage recruiting pipeline from initial contact to commitment
• Track communications, automate reminders, and log social media outreach
• Manage campus visits with built-in compliance alerts
• Deliver reports and dashboards for real-time decision-making
• Implement role-based security to protect sensitive athlete data

In short, teams had to build a full-fledged recruiting CRM in just seven days. This included automation, dashboards, and compliance tracking.

The Go-Getters: From Newcomers to Champions

This year’s first-place team, the Go-Getters, embodied the competition’s spirit of persistence and collaboration. Made up of three students (Hitesh Balegar, Revanth Thoutam, and Dhari Alotaibi), the team met only weeks before the competition and came together through the TEK Club.

For Dhari, the IDEAthon was about resilience:

“I’ve done it for two years back-to-back. I kept on losing, but I gained a lot of experience, and this year, I finally won. Every competition teaches you something new.”

The Go-Getters faced a steep learning curve. Breaking down the complex business prompt into deliverable parts while learning Salesforce in real time meant long nights and little sleep.

“We had to structure it in a way that would be deliverable in a week,” Revanth explained. “There was a lot to learn and implement, but it was worth it.”

Their solution impressed judges with features that went beyond the prompt. They built enhanced use-case scenarios and automation that mirrored how coaches and recruiters actually operate.

“We built niche use cases that were outside the prompt,” said Hitesh. “We wanted to stand out by thinking from a real-life perspective, not just a competition one.”

When asked what advice they’d give to future participants, their answer reflected both humility and enthusiasm:

“Just go for it. Don’t overthink, just do it. You’ll learn so much and meet amazing people along the way.”

Why It Matters

Events like the Salesforce IDEAthon show the power of hands-on learning at Eccles. Students move beyond theory to solve real business problems with real technology while developing the teamwork and communication skills that set them apart in the job market.

Through their persistence, creativity, and technical execution, the Go-Getters proved that innovation doesn’t happen in isolation: it happens when great ideas meet great collaboration.

Congratulations to our 2025 Salesforce IDEAthon Challenge participants!

First Place | Go Getters

Team Interview Video
Dhari Alotaibi
Hitesh Balegar
Revanth Thoutam

Second Place | Salesforce 1

Prachi Aswani
Samuel Dutson
Jacob Erard

Third Place | Teebird3

Garret Christensen
Joshua Kawasaki

Honorable Mention | The Phantom Troupe

Mohamed Hamud
Khalid Moussa
Tracey Tran

Honorable Mention | The Dream Team

Ajith Alphonse
Ishita Choudhary
Astha K C