The Family Business and Entrepreneurship (FBE) program at Elizabethtown College recently announced their five-minute pitch competition. In this effort, the program hopes to encourage the wider community to engage in business-minded thinking through a competitive effort.
“The mission behind it is fostering entrepreneurial spirit here at Etown college,” sophomore ambassador of FBE Ava Barton said.“We wanted to have an event that supports those kinds of ideas and it not only supports existing ideas, but incentivizes people to take that next step in their entrepreneurial endeavors,”
Barton is a Family Business and Entrepreneurship minor and sophomore political science and business administration major.
During this competition, students are encouraged to give their pitches about a product, service or even larger business idea that they have. While the options for what a pitch can look like vary greatly, a lot of the considerations for what makes a good pitch are the same.
“It’s pretty broad on what you can present on as long as it’s a profitable business model or something you’re passionate about,” Barton said. “We’re focused on the feasibility of the business idea. Some of the considerations are whether or not it is scalable, would it actually work, if they understand their target market or not, do they understand the industry. One of the biggest things is, is it solving a problem? And is that solution viable? We don’t want it to just be a product that just exists for the sake of being a product, it has to fulfill a need.”
While this opportunity directly appeals to those who are in the business field or related majors as they may already have business-related ideas, all students are encouraged to be a part of this opportunity. Having a wider range of majors makes the pitches more varied and appeals to a wider audience. Students can also choose to give their pitches alone or in teams.
The competition is timed, so students have to know what point they want to make and make it succinctly. This requires a lot of skill and practice in giving a pitch. For those more inexperienced in giving pitches and who would like to understand the process before committing, Professor of Entrepreneurship and Management and Director of the FBE program Dr. Petru Sandu is offering information sessions with tips on how to organize and deliver pitches. Even those unsure about competing can benefit from these sessions by learning how to give a pitch in general.
For those interested, the finals of the competition will take place April 4 in the FBE Lab in Hoover where students or teams of students will present to a panel of judges. This opportunity offers students experience outside of the traditional classroom, which makes it an opportunity to test public-speaking skills and pitch-giving abilities to trained professionals. The panel, while not finalized, will be made up of local entrepreneurs and professors in the Elizabethtown area.
Outside of getting feedback on the pitch that the student has, from a professional field, students can gain personal rewards and further opportunities. For first place, the prize is $500, the second place prize is $300 and the third place prize is $200. Outside of the monetary benefit for those that obtain a place, winning students will also be invited to attend the National Collegiate Entrepreneurs Organization in Tampa, Florida next year.
“I think it’s a great opportunity for business students to try and formulate a pitch that has an incentive to do well while also not being super high stakes,” sophomore business administration major Cam Mooney said. “It seems like it would be helpful to have an actual reward that’s not just passing an assignment, and it’s great practice giving the pitch to someone who isn’t your professor.”Students have until March 10 to express their interest in giving a pitch or even just attending the pitch workshop by emailing fbe@etown.edu.
