Students pitch business ideas during Entrepreneurship and Innovation Center’s 2024 Student Concept Competition – UMSL Daily

Students pitch business ideas during Entrepreneurship and Innovation Center’s 2024 Student Concept Competition

Scott Morris, director of the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Center at the University of Missouri–St. Louis, succinctly summed up the goal of last week’s 2024 Student Concept Competition.

“We keep telling the students, ‘This is the sizzle, not the steak,’” he said. “What we want to see is that they’re comfortable presenting in front of a crowd.”

The competition, sponsored by the EIC and held Wednesday in Century Room B of the Millennium Student Center, brought together 30 students from across campus to pitch their business ideas to a panel of judges made up of members of the local business community and UMSL faculty and staff.

Students from any college or major were free to participate in the pitch contest, as long as they were part of the Student Entrepreneur Club. Morris noted that he had initially expected about 10 students to compete but was excited to see so much interest in the event. The students vied for one top prize of $1,000, two second-place prizes of $500 and four third-place prizes of $250.

Morris said the judges were primarily looking for confidence, stage presence and the ability to tell a compelling story from the competitors. The students weren’t on their own when it came to crafting their presentations, though. Ahead of the competition, they were paired with local entrepreneurship mentors.

“They’ve been coached by mentors throughout this process, and now they’re ready to take that next step forward,” Morris said. “But we really just want them to hatch an idea and see if they can run with it.”

Morris views the competition as an entry point into St. Louis’ entrepreneurship community. He envisions students using prize money from the event as seed capital to invest in their idea and build a more in-depth business pitch. The EIC plans to host another competition in the spring, with a top prize of $5,000.

“This is stage one – pitch your idea,” he said. “In the spring, they pitch the business. How is the business doing? What have they done with it? It’s a little bit more serious, and then they can graduate to the UMSL Anchor Accelerator. They can get into the bigger money prizes and start to meet some of the people in the ecosystem that could support them if they want to push forward with the business idea.”

Brandon Partain delivers his presentation on Make or Break It Rage Room, where customers let off steam by breaking everyday objects in a safe space.

The students were plenty eager to pitch their ideas. The energy in the room was palpable Wednesday as students, dressed to impress, rehearsed their talking points before stepping on stage to sell their businesses.

The afternoon’s presentations included concepts for an array of unique products and services, from a “rage room” where customers let off steam by breaking everyday objects in a safe space to sustainable, subscription-based beauty products to an app to find the best prices on groceries near you.

Ultimately, Jesse Frey, a senior business administration major, took home the top prize for Headlok, a heavy-duty hat retention clip for motorcycle riders. The Student Concept Competition wasn’t Frey’s first rodeo, though. In April, he placed second at the St. Louis Regional Entrepreneurship Educator Poster Competition, held at the Cortex Innovation Community.

“I didn’t really have any idea I was going to win,” he said. “I just wanted to practice my pitch, refine it. Get more comfortable with talking with people and being able to display my product in the best light as possible.”

Frey came up with the idea for his patent-pending product after losing his favorite hat, one he bought from a corner store in Hawaii, while riding his motorcycle on the Pacific Coast Highway.

Headlok is simple, but effective. The clip uses a spring, slope and the button on the top of the hat as an anchor. It’s locked and opened with a wrist twist. One version includes a magnet to attach to a motorcycle’s upper fuel tank, and the other features a clip to throw on a backpack or belt loop.

Frey worked with his mentor to hone his presentation before the competition and repeatedly practiced his pitch so he wouldn’t have to use notes. Despite his diligent preparation, Frey was still a bit surprised to find himself in first place.

“It feels great,” he said. “I wasn’t expecting to win. There’s a lot of great ideas today, and any of them could have taken it.”

The runners up and winners of $500 prizes included Sedny Sorm and Kaine Koehler for EcoRadiance, a line of sustainable, subscription-based beauty products; and Anthony Garavaglia and Michael Sherblom for Agent Accelerator, an app to help realtors jump start their careers. Honorable mentions and winners of $250 prizes included Nayesha Sullivan, Brent Moss and Vasilya Kadymova for Aisle 4, an app to find the best prices on groceries; Rebekah Vail for StickScript, a prescription pill bottle recycling service; Nick Eberhardt for Swap Meet, a subscription service to swap typical household snacks for plant-based alternatives; and Christy Clough for My Care Companion, a portable device to help seniors remember to take their medicine.

Garavaglia and Sherblom met as freshmen and then reconnected recently in a class on strategic management. Garavaglia works part-time as a realtor, while Sherblom works part-time as a digital consultant. The pair saw a lack of young real estate agents in the field and few low-priced professional development options to help them enter the industry, so they combined their respective talents to develop Agent Accelerator.

Participants gather on stage to celebrate after the competition.

They were both grateful for the experience, especially connecting with a mentor in the St. Louis business community, and saw firsthand the value of going through the process to create a pitch.

“I think the biggest thing I learned was over preparing is essential, never do anything last minute,” Garavaglia said. “I think that we over prepared and were months out in preparation with creating the slides and creating everything. I think that was the ultimate thing that helped push us over the edge.”

The members of Aisle 4 were eager to get some real-world experience crafting a business idea and beginning the process to bring it to fruition. Like Garavaglia and Sherblom, they practiced relentlessly before the event.

“It was a little nerve wracking, but actually being up there was very rewarding,” Sullivan said. “It was very rewarding to be up there and to be able to see all that practice we put in, all that work we put in, and to be able to speak to people and share our idea.”

Moss encouraged people to check out the Entrepreneurship Club and take advantage of opportunities like the Student Concept Competition. Sherblom concurred.

“I was just grateful for the opportunity,” Sherblom said. “I would recommend students get involved. There are so many cool opportunities here on campus – pitching opportunities, networking opportunities, career opportunities. The mentors and the staff here are so involved and are so considerate, so they’re really there to help.”