On May 4th the Feliciano Center for Entrepreneurship at Montclair State University celebrated the end of its third academic year with an all-day event entitled “TeleBrands Inventors Day for Aspiring Entrepreneurs”. For the third year in a row, numerous students from all university disciplines participated in a business pitch competition culminating with presentations to a panel of highly accomplished business executives and entrepreneurs.
“We are really excited about our 3rd Telebrands Inventors Day. I’ve watched our teams grow and evolve over the last three years and I am very proud of what they’ve accomplished. Inventor’s Day is such a special day – to bask in the student’s excitement of participating and their anticipation of winning the $10,000 grand prize,” said Dennis Bone, founding Director of the Felicano Center.
Each team was given a full year of preparation for the competition, both in and out of class room, which helped them refine their product or service ideas and pitch presentations. Professor Ross Malaga and Jason Frasca teach advanced courses at the Felicano Center, “Creating Your Startup Business Model” and “Preparing to Pitch and Launch Your Startup” that are the capstone courses of the Center’s Certificate Program which provide the foundation for the competition.
“We want to create a platform to stimulate ideas and creativity, two essential ingredients for success in today’s competitive business world,” said AJ Khubani, Telebrands founder and event sponsor. “For the past three years, students participating in the program have dedicated time and effort into developing products, learning every step in the process from design to manufacturing, distribution to marketing. I am excited to help facilitate this experience, particularly at my alma mater where I received such valuable training.”
Each team received $1,000 to use in conceptualizing their product, creating a website, speaking with a patent lawyer, and other steps to move their product to market. The competition gives the students real-world problems and the opportunity and means to validate proposed solutions with potential customers. The seed capital provides a modest budget to accomplish the key steps of starting a business.
Karuda Skincare, a line of skincare products made from coconut oil, was the grand prize winner over the sixteen teams presenting that day. Three women students formed the team behind the skincare product idea: Larissa Elvers, Christiana Himiob, and Sacha Vincent.
While Telebrands CEO AJ Khubani, serial entrepreneur and MSU alum, has continued his sponsorship, prior judging panelist, Anthony “Sully” Sullivan is now Master of Ceremonies. Sullivan is a well-known National/International Television Advertising Pitchman who, with his wit and engaging product demonstrations, has sold over a billion dollars’ worth of merchandise.
Sullivan escorted the 16 semi-finalist teams on stage where he directed them to a full audience of students, family and guests, and the panel of judges. From the morning presentations three winning finalists were chosen and the ultimate grand prize awarded to the winning team.
The panel of judges was comprised of highly accomplished business executives and entrepreneurs: AJ Khubani, Rachel Braun Scherl, co-founder at SPARK Solutions for Growth; Krishnamurty Kambhampati, serial entrepreneur; Andrew Kangpan, associate at ff Venture Capital; Mukesh Patel, co-founder at JuiceTank; Majorie Perry, president and CEO of MZM Construction & Management Company, Inc.; and Andrew R. Gatto, founder of Andrew R. Gatto Consulting and former CEO of Russ Berrie & Co., Inc.
The Feliciano Center, founded just over three years ago, provides a hands-on, immersive entrepreneurial experience to students with a Certificate of Entrepreneurship curriculum which the pitch competition has become a cornerstone.
