Quick Pitch Competition awards six student entrepreneurs $1,000

Half a dozen entrepreneurial hopefuls walked away $1,000 each after being declared the winners of the 2010 Make it Happen – Student Quick Pitch Competition last Thursday, February 25. The competition, sponsored by the Nebraska Center for Entrepreneurship, Southeast Community College Entrepreneurship Center, Lincoln Public Schools’ Entrepreneurship Focus Program and the…

Memorial Stadium’s field provided a dramatic backdrop for the the first-ever Make it Happen – Student Quick Pitch Competition, which was held in the sports complex’s West Stadium Club. Photo by Matt Sherman of Three Pillars Media.

Half a dozen entrepreneurial hopefuls walked away $1,000 each after being declared the winners of the 2010 Make it Happen – Student Quick Pitch Competition last Thursday, February 25. The competition, sponsored by the Nebraska Center for Entrepreneurship, Southeast Community College Entrepreneurship Center, Lincoln Public Schools’ Entrepreneurship Focus Program and the University of Nebraska–Lincoln chapter of Students in Free Enterprise, featured students from high schools, community colleges and universities across the state, challenging them to convince judges – hand-picked from Lincoln’s business community – that they had an idea worth investing in.

Called a quick pitch or elevator pitch, each student had three minutes to give their spiel, roughly the same amount of time they’d be afforded if they ran into a potential investor during an elevator ride. Photo by Matt Sherman of Three Pillars Media.

Some 50 competitors duked it out in six divisions – two high school, three university and one community college slot – culminating in victory and a $1,000 cash prize for the winner of each. Photo by Matt Sherman of Three Pillars Media.

Check out the video below to hear some of the winners discuss their ideas and what’s next for their burgeoning business plans.

List of winners

High School

  • Tanner O’Dell of Chef’s Table, a daring restaurant where patrons don’t know what surprise dinner they’ll be served
  • Devante King of U-Band, a purveyor of customizable silicon wristbands popular among athletes

Community College

  • Kim King of Tara Belle’s Bakery, a cake-centric baked good enterprise

University

  • Landon Bailey of Morelity, a company that picks, packages and sells naturally occuring morel mushrooms
  • Brittany Benson of F.A.B. Fitness, a multipurpose dance, fitness and sports center to be opened in Glendale, Arizona
  • Morgan Allen of an as-of-yet unnamed line of wet wipes dispensers

This story is part of the AIM Archive

This story is part of the AIM Institute Archive on Silicon Prairie News. AIM gifted SPN to the Nebraska Journalism Trust in January 2023. Learn more about SPN’s origin »

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