College students pitch businesses

By Marcus Whitman, Staff Writer

Photo by Marcus Whitman/ The Towerlight

This Wednesday students will have the opportunity to pitch their business ideas to a panel of investors during the Business Model Competition.

Hosted from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the West Village Commons, the competition will give students hands on experience outside the classroom to work on creating a working business model.

Jan Baum, a professor in the College of Business and Economics, will be running the competition. According to her, the competition has grown to have more student participation over its three years of existence.  

“It gives [students] an opportunity to expand their business ideas, [and the] opportunity to present their ideas publicly to a panel of judges,” Baum said. “The other benefits [are] they get experience answering questions from judges, the opportunity to build networks, and the opportunity to win prize money, and consulting packages at local businesses.”

Jacob Medina, a senior majoring in leadership and management, plans to enter the competition.  

“I believe in my ideas, and I have entrepreneurial aspirations, and I want to see my idea grow, and want to create value and show the value of my ideas,” Medina said.

Medina also feels that the competition will help him be himself, and work on ideas he believes are unique.

“I feel I can fail forward, and I get [to] learn in safer environment,” he said. “And I think the Student Launch Pad is helping me, especially with my soft skills.”

Rick Leimbach, the Principal and CFO Advisor of Carrollton Partners, LLC., will be a judge for the Business Model Competition. Leimbach feels that the competition is a great opportunity for professionals to see the students and the ideas they come up with, especially with the was industries are changing due to things like cloud computing.

“The professionals are exposed to new ideas,” Leimbach said. “As for the students they get exposed to different ideas from the professionals. They get critics from others of different industries that helps them with their ideas.”

Matthew Lowinger, Student Launch Pad Lead Associate, feels that the hands on experience students get from the competition is essential.

“[Students] also get to really learn and practice,” Lowinger said. “We have individualized competitions that focus on different parts of the entrepreneurship experience and helps students connect to different needs… the big takeaway is they get these opportunities.”