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In a green suit, an orange bow tie and cowboy hat, Maximus Mattuchio ’26 is hard to miss.

The flashy wardrobe matches the young entrepreneur’s personality and is the foundation of his award-winning laundry detergent company, Dirty Bastard. The clothes and the equally colorful moniker scream, “Don’t take yourself too seriously,” a mantra the entrepreneurship major takes to heart.

This past weekend, Mattuchio and his line of cologne-infused laundry detergent sheets were awarded “Best Business Concept” at the Governor’s Cup, a statewide college entrepreneurship competition.

It was the second time in four years that a UTampa student won the prestigious title, against ventures from schools like the University of Florida, University of South Florida, Stetson University and more.

Rebecca White, director of the Lowth Entrepreneurship Center on campus, was not surprised.

"Max is coachable, full of energy and willing to identify opportunities, take action and execute past failure, the competencies most often seen in successful entrepreneurs," she said.

Mattuchio applied what he called an “unconventional approach” to the competition. With 110 slides in his pitch deck and only 15 minutes to win over the judges, he leaned into entertaining animations and occasionally cracked jokes.

“Our company's name is Dirty Bastard, and I think part of the reason we won is because we didn’t take ourselves too seriously,” he said. “At the end of the day, we’re trying to make laundry fun, and, you know, that’s not necessarily an easy thing to do.”

Mattuchio spent last summer traveling with a hygiene company for men as a member of its creative team. Through this experience, he realized the opportunity and demand for a masculine-scented laundry detergent product.

Then, early this academic year, a marketing class assignment required him to remarket an existing product to a new audience. The Dirty Bastard idea was a natural fit. After developing the concept and branding with this assignment, Mattuchio, an entrepreneurship major, carried the company through to his other entrepreneurship classes, continuing to develop the idea.

In one class, Dirty Bastard’s concept was one of five selected by the professor (out of 25 student pitches) to “hire” the other 20 students in the class to work with that company in an experiential learning project.

One classmate, Sean Murray ’26, said he is interested in being retained by Dirty Bastard and Mattuchio after commencement. Mattuchio is glad for the interest.

“He’s done a lot of good work for me,” Mattuchio said of Murray. “I’m very marketing- and attention-driven; that’s my specialty. He’s more operationally minded, more financially minded, and I think that that's a good balance.”

The Governor’s Cup was not the first competition where Dirty Bastard has cleaned up. At last month’s New Venture Expo in the Lowth Entrepreneurship Center, Mattuchio’s company won in the “launch” category, taking home $4,500. Mattuchio said he plans to use his contest winnings on operational infrastructure, like pallet jacks, industrial storage racks, storage bins, printers and label makers.

A graduating senior, Mattuchio was offered a job to work full-time as a creative director for popular YouTuber MrBeast in Greenville, North Carolina, but he declined to instead focus on his own venture.

Commencement is May 9, which is also Dirty Bastard’s official launch day.