Students from five colleges and universities in northeast Wisconsin will compete for $50,000 in prize money in a startup business pitch competition to be held April 24 in The Fox Club at Fox Cities Stadium.
An annual event, The Pitch is organized by Fox Connection, a collaboration of premier colleges and universities in northeast Wisconsin to enhance entrepreneurial education and opportunity. It will feature students from Lawrence University, St. Norbert College, UW-Green Bay, UW-Oshkosh, and UW-Stevens Point.
The shark-tank-style contest begins at 4 p.m., with doors opening at 3:30 p.m. It is free and open to the public.
The 10 students competing are finalists from earlier competitions held at each school. Those who have advanced will pitch their business startup ideas to a panel of judges and an audience of area students, community members, business leaders, entrepreneurs, and investors. The business pitches are fast-paced and held to a four-minute time limit.
The top three finishers will split cash and in-kind prizes valued at $50,000. First place will receive $10,000 plus in-kind prizes; second place $7,500 plus in-kind prizes; and third place $5,000 plus in-kind prizes.
Lawrence students advancing to The Pitch include Safiya Grant, a senior biology major, with the startup Muse, an all-natural skin-care line that creates body care products targeted toward women of Caribbean heritage, and Nathaniel Smith, a business & entrepreneurship and film studies double major, with the startup Thrive in Humility, a Christian apparel brand that sells high-end clothing with built-in technology. Grant placed first in Lawrence's LU Launch competition and Smith placed second, both advancing to The Pitch.
Nicolet Bank is the premier sponsor for The Pitch.
For more information, see here.
Ed Berthiaume
Ed Berthiaume is director of public information at Lawrence University.