On April 15th aspiring student entrepreneurs put their business ideas to the test at UPitchNJ, a new and innovative business model competition sponsored by the New Jersey Collegiate Entrepreneurship Consortium. Taking place at Rutgers Business School, the UPitchNJ competition finals was open to the general public who viewed student pitches representing the entrepreneurship education programs at New Jersey’s four-year colleges and universities.
The Princeton University team of Angelo Campus and Aaron Schwartz was awarded the first prize of $2500 and a coaching luncheon with judge Greg Olsen, founder of GHO Ventures for their startup, BoxPower, a self-contained hybrid renewable energy system and telecommunication station.
Second prize of $1,000 plus a coaching breakfast with Mario Casabona, Founder and Managing Director, TechLaunch, the state’s technology accelerator, was awarded to Ryan Skolnick of Seton Hall University for his startup, AVEHO.
Montclair State University’s team of Larissa Elvers, Christiana Himiob and Sacha Vincent was awarded the $500 third prize plus a coaching session with the New Jersey Innovation Acceleration Center at NJIT for their business, Karuda Skincare.
Student teams were judged both on their written executive summary and oral presentations, as well as how innovative and original their business idea was. The judges also considered the student teams’ abilities to think creatively about markets, products and services. The aim of the competition is to recognize the ingenuity of college entrepreneurs who launch businesses despite tight schedules and limited resources.
Judges included Greg Olsen, astronaut and serial entrepreneur, Caren Franzini, former CEO of the New Jersey Economic Development Authority, Argent Associate’s Betty Manetta, Anthony Frazier of the Phat Startup and Marty Johnson of Isles, Inc.
“Given the combination of universities, financial institutions and successful startups, New Jersey is one of the best places in the nation for entrepreneurship to flourish,” said competition judge, Greg Olsen.
The participating universities were: Rider University, Rutgers University, Princeton University, William Paterson University, Fairleigh Dickinson University, Drew University, Montclair State University, Saint Peter’s University, Seton Hall University, the New Jersey Institute of Technology and Steven’s Institute of Technology. Each university was represented by a student team that had developed an innovative startup idea.
