Honestly, I almost didn’t apply.
It was June 2025 when my business advisor and mentor, Ronald Zorrilla from the Midtown Manhattan SBDC, pulled up on me and basically said: you need to do this. He’d been guiding Flash Grüb since the idea stage in 2025, and he saw something in us that I needed a little push to believe myself. So I applied to the New York Public Library Business Plan Competition and wow, did that decision change everything.
The 10-Week Workshop Era 📝
Getting accepted wasn’t the finish line. It was the starting gun. As an applicant, I was enrolled in a 10-week business plan workshop and one of the biggest highlights was learning from speaker Rhonda Abrahams who broke down exactly how to write a proper business plan. Following her framework was a game changer. She made something that felt overwhelming actually feel doable.
The workshop pushed me to ask the hard question: is Flash Grub actually profitable?
Not “could be one day” profitable. Not “in theory” profitable. Like, show your work profitable. Each week I was digging deeper into revenue models, cost structures, and market research. There were sessions where I wanted to close my laptop and pretend I never signed up. But every single week, I walked away knowing more than I did before about business andabout myself as a founder.
Shoutout to Ronald for making me do this. He really saw the vision before I fully did. 🙏
Something Nobody Talks About: NYPL’s Free Resources 📚
Here’s a gem most people sleep on. The New York Public Library is not just a place to borrow books. Through this competition I discovered that NYPL has an incredible amount of resources that every entrepreneur and small business owner should be taking advantage of right now.
Need to research your market, your competitors, or your industry? A dedicated NYPL representative will actually sit down and help you search through resources with you one on one. And if you prefer to go in person, you can walk into any branch and get that same support. No appointment stress, no cost, just real help from real people who know how to find information.
Honestly this alone is worth knowing about even if you never enter the competition.
Making Finalist? That Hit Different 🎯
When I found out Flash Grüb made it to the finalist round I screamed (internally, professionally). But being a finalist came with a new challenge. I had to build a pitch deck and present live to a panel of judges on Zoom.
If you’ve never had a group of experienced business minds staring at your slides and asking pointed questions, it’s a whole experience. I had to take everything from those 10 weeks and compress it into a clear, confident story about what Flash Grub is, why it works, and why now is the time.
The prep was intense. The nerves were real. But stepping up to that moment? So worth it.
December 11th: The Honest Truth 📅
Winners were announced on December 11th and Flash Grub did not take home the prize. But I want to take a moment to shout out the people who did because they absolutely earned it.
🥇 First Place: Daniel Taylor Wittenberg, Gotham Literature
🥈 Second Place: Starlyte Harris, Starlyte Learning Center, LLC.
🥉 Third Place: Ashonda Cucleasure, Fix it With Piggy’s
🏅 Honorable Mention: Samantha King, Art to See NYC
Every single one of these founders put in the same 10 weeks of hard work, showed up, and delivered. Congratulations to all of them. The NYC entrepreneur community is built different and this competition proves it.
As for Flash Grüb? We didn’t take home the prize but we walked away with something better. A bulletproof business plan, a real financial model, and the clarity to know exactly where we are headed. I came in with an idea and left with a roadmap. That is not a loss. That is a foundation.
Most people talk about starting a business. We did the work to prove ours can actually work. That means everything.
Should You Apply? Lowkey, Yes. 💯
If you’re a NYC entrepreneur sitting on an idea or an early stage business, this competition is genuinely one of the best free resources available to you. And if you’re lucky enough to have a mentor like Ronald in your corner pushing you to bet on yourself, listen to them.
Flash Grüb is better because of this experience. Full stop.
Stay tuned for more updates on our journey. If you’ve gone through the NYPL competition too, drop your experience in the comments. Let’s build together. 🔥