March 20, 2013 – The Entrepreneurs Pitch Contest
The Entrepreneur’s Pitch Contest took place at the Capitol Theatre Ballroom in Wheeling, Thursday evening March 20. It was an event sponsored by the Gary E. West College of Business and the Center for Entrepreneurship at West Liberty University. The event began with a cocktail hour with hors d’oevres and then a keynote speaker Eric Corl, founder and president of Fundable.com explaining the opportunities of crowdfunding . The audience members engaged in an active Q & A session with Eric and many later stated that they learned so much about a relatively new entrepreneurship funding opportunity such as crowdfunding.
The pitch contest began at 7:00 and was similar to the SHARK TANK television program, although instead of designated investors, the entire audience could ask follow-up questions. Local entrepreneurs and small business owners were given 5 minutes to pitch their business to the audience. The audience was given an opportunity to ask questions about the business and then the audience voted for the best concept. The entrepreneur with the most votes was awarded a $2,550 cash award from sponsors including The Forever Hilltoppers, the Regional Economic Development Partners, Vision Shared and the Weirton Rotary Club. At the end of the event, attendees could also contribute to any entrepreneur if they so wished. All financial assistance provided is administered by the West Liberty University Foundation account for Entrepreneurship.
The participants in the Pitch contest included: Matthew Moon, Trey Santorine, Kathy Glover, Hugo Andreini, David Seum and Alexandra Mendoza. David Seum took home the grand prize to help with his local small business, Sunset Recycling Consultants.
The event was a wonderful way to promote and support startup businesses and entrepreneurs and will become a series of pitch contests in the future!
