This year’s annual School of Business U-Pitch event was held in the Melvin K. 西部美术中心礼堂. A panel of notable entrepreneurs judged the finalists, looking for a quality presentation, 全面的商业计划, 一个创新的想法. 在夜晚结束的时候, Purecomfort took home the first place prize for their functional and fashionable tank top option for mastectomy recovery patients.
The competition-like event provides a unique opportunity for students to collaborate with their professors and peers from across all departments. It is great practice for creating a strong, 全面的商业计划 and learning how to confidently present in front of a critical panel of knowledgeable judges. This year’s panel included six professionals: Eli Delgado and Mike Vizcarra, co-owners of The Mortgage Lenders; Donna Hargrett, senior product manager for Amazon; Kol Medina, president and CEO of Blue Mountain Community Foundation; Eric Denney, family advisor atBaker Boyer Bank; and Norma Hernandez, 书院广场市长.
Nyasha Pazvakawambwa, a senior accounting and finance major, competed in U-Pitch as a member of Purecomfort and Vault-X; he was in charge of the financial and logistic side of both groups. 对于Pazvakawambwa, the competition was an invaluable learning opportunity throughout each step—from the first stages of preparing and delivering the pitch, 进入决赛. “It is an experience I would highly recommend,” Pazvakawambwa says. “I hope to see more students participate next year.”
In order to be chosen as a finalist, Pazvakawambwa and the other groups of two or more students first entered a written submission introducing and defending their new and unique product or idea. Seven teams move on where they must identify a problem and describe how their product will solve it in a short video pitch. Three of those teams make it to the finals where they present a detailed, in-person pitch to a panel of judges; finalists must also be prepared to receive feedback and respond to questions about their product or presentation.
This year’s U-Pitch resulted in Vault-X receiving both second place and the People’s Choice award for winning over the evening’s attending audience—their product was designed to make X-Acto knife blade replacement, removal, and disposal safer and more user friendly. 第三名是WiseBites, an app that would scan food barcodes for immediate nutrition information—making healthy eating decisions more accessible.
For more about future U-Pitch competitions and other School of Business information visit sotanomc.net/business.
发布于2024年6月5日