CEDARVILLE — The Cedarville University Beyond Entrepreneurship Accelerator program will host its second pitch event of the year when students will present their entrepreneurial ideas on Saturday, Jan. 11, in the DeVries Theatre.
The pitch competition, similar to ABC’s “Shark Tank,” will be from 6 to 8 p.m.
Cedarville students can pitch their innovative business ideas to a panel of judges for a chance to win cash prizes. First prize is $1,000, second is $500 and third and fourth split $500.
Each contestant will be given five minutes to present their business idea and how it will generate revenue, followed by five minutes of questions from the judges. Their presentation must be accompanied by a pitch deck, a brief presentation used to provide an audience with a quick overview of a business plan and a powerpoint presentation that addresses the questions investors normally have.
“The Pitch is a fun event that gives budding entrepreneurs an opportunity to share their vision for innovative products and services,” said Kyle Peterson, deputy director of Entrepreneurship Accelerator. “Students get to stand in front of an audience, tell a story and experience what it might feel like pitching their idea to investors. Instead of securing funding from a venture capitalist, they will compete for prize money, which they can use to bootstrap their creation or use toward tuition.”
Judges will include venture capitalists, private equity leaders, angel investors and current business owners. These will not be mock scenarios, but real pitches where pitch competition guests who are impact investors will invest capital in the best student-founded startup companies.
The pitch event is part of the new Beyond Entrepreneurship Accelerator, a program that allows future entrepreneurs to learn skills and gain experience to launch independent startup companies or lead a startup function in existing companies by creating new products or pursuing new markets.
Participants in the program can earn college credit while founding, funding and scaling a startup company. Alumni are encouraged to participate and Cedarville students may enroll in the Accelerator as a one-to three-credit course.
