Winners Announced for Business Entrepreneurial Pitch Competitions
More than 80 high school and college students participated in the Bulldog B.I.T.E. competition and Bulldog Pitch Day.
The top six pitches in each competition advanced to the finals that took place on campus, Nov. 14. Finalists pitched their concept or idea for a product or service to a panel of judges for the chance to win a portion of the $7,000 in financial awards that were available. Pitches were limited to two minutes with a question-and-answer session of four minutes.
Bulldog B.I.T.E. was open to students from Truman and Moberly Area Community College. There were 22 pitches submitted from a total of 40 students.
Senior Dane Winterboer won first place in the Bulldog B.I.T.E. competition for his app, “Mock Interview Companion,” which provides job seekers with highly customized and specifically-tailored practice interview questions. As the winner, he received the Amanda Gioia Excellence in Entrepreneurship Award and earned an award prize of $3,000.
Sophomores Saron Gebremichael and Nahom Jember placed second and received an award of $2,000 for their business concept “Value College Prep,” a business designed to assist students with the college application and placement process.
Freshmen Victor Hoang and Jobe Weber placed third for their concept “Cooked,” an app designed to bring ingredients for recipes found on the web to an individual’s doorstep in just two clicks.
Bulldog Pitch Day had 23 pitches submitted from a total of 42 students that were from six local high schools; Brunswick, Kirksville Area Technical Center, Knox County, North Callaway, Paris and Schuyler.
Ella Seedorf and Meia Shahan from Kirksville Area Technical Center won first place and received a $500 award for their pitch for a product called Hot-2-Go Cup, a container with a portable heating pad designed to keep meals warm for people on the go.
Hollie Windmer from Brunswick placed second and received a $300 award for her business concept “Doc’s Ranch,” a business designed to provide high-quality, comfortable and affordable horse masks.
Baylee Gashwiler from Kirksville Area Technical Center placed third and received a $200 award for her concept Free Book Fair, designed to make book fairs accessible to grade school students.
These competitions were made possible through the generosity of Truman alumni Doug (’94) and Diane (’95) Villhard and Stella Chakiris (’73) as well as donors to the Villhard Innovation Fund and the Lt. Gen. Shien Min Ku and Shih Chin Ku Entrepreneurship Fund at Truman.
For more information about this year’s competition visit bulldogbite.truman.edu/winners.
