The Pitch Competitions

The pitch competitions have evolved from the first one in the Spring 2023 semester.  That year students were asked to ideate an entrepreneurial opportunity and pitch it.  The competition has since been broken up into two parts: stage 1, and stage 2.  Stage 1 is the ideate phase, but the grand prize is awarded after stage 2 where students must complete a business model canvas and financial projections.

Rules 

1. Entrepreneurial ideas must be compatible with the mission, vision, and values of the college.
2. Currently eligible contestants are any current student or recent graduate (within two years).
3. Contestants can be individuals or a team of up to four people, with at least half being current students or recent graduates.
4. Existing companies are eligible to compete.
5. Only competitors in stage 1 are eligible to compete in stage 2.

Winners are awarded 25% of the money up front and earn an additional 25% upon the completion of the following tasks: Completing entrepreneurial business training, creating their business with the WV Secretary of State, and signing up to work with a business mentor through the SBA or SCORE.  Starting with the 2024 pitch competition, winners are being asked to provide quarterly updates on their business progress.

Background

The Spring 2023 semester was the first pitch competition held at WVU Parkersburg.  There were three contestants, and Alex Life won that pitch competition with his Title Abstracting software application.  This competition involved students just pitching the opportunity, value proposition, and potential customers.

After  collaboration with Marietta College’s entrepreneurship program it was decided that additional rigor should be incorporated into our competition.  For the 2023-2024 academic year the pitch competition was split into two separate stages, in the fall and spring respectively.  Stage 1 kept the format of the spring 2023 pitch competition, where students identified the opportunity, the impact, their solution, existing alternatives, their value proposition, and the potential customers.  The stage 2 competition had students create financial projections and a business model canvas.  The intention is to prepare students for the reality of creating and running their business.  Two groups competed this year, and Elizabeth Perdue won with In a Flash Welding.  The second team was Destination Tech.

The stage 1 competitors have also been encouraged to compete in the statewide IgniteWV competition.  Entries are due by the middle of January 2025 and require a 90 second maximum video.  They are encouraged to work with our digital marketing students to create their video.

The Verizon Foundation offers a Digital Ready program for entrepreneurs and offers several $10,000 grants.  The Digital Ready program offers several self-paced online courses to help entrepreneurs learn about running a business.  These will be utilized instead of the SBA learning platform for pitch winners.

Students will be encouraged to utilize other areas of the college to prepare for stage 2.  They will be allowed to utilize their pitch idea for class projects.  Other opportunities will also be encouraged.  For instance, by having a marketing class help develop a marketing plan for instance, the educational opportunities will be spread among many more students.  The Innovation and Technology Campus will open in the Fall of 2025.  This will offer additional opportunities for the entrepreneurial initiatives to expand and grow in new ways.

Information sessions for the pitch competition will be held earlier and more frequently beginning in the fall of 2025.  A Google web form will be developed for students to submit their ideas from the digital marketing materials using a link, and print materials will utilize a QR code linking to the form.  This will provide an easy way to collect ideas and contact information from students for follow-up meetings and information sharing.  The marketing department will be asked to advertise the co-working space as well.

Based on collaboration with the Marietta College entrepreneurship program, we plan to form an Entrepreneurship Task force comprised of faculty and staff from across the campus to help build an entrepreneurial mindset throughout the campus community.  This task force will also seek to develop external partnerships to form a mentor network and provide additional funding for the program.  Creating a self-sustaining student membership for the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Club by students across the campus will also be a priority.