The third Entrepreneurial Pitch Fest hosted by the Entrepreneurship Society at UCM (TESUM) brought together bright students to pitch new and working business ideas alike.
TESUM club president and founder Agustin Roldan organized the event with Professor Haner, the club’s advisor.
“It all starts with an idea,” notes Roldan.
Keynote speaker, Margo Souza, entrepreneur and UC Merced benefactor, spoke to the crowd about her past experiences that led to entrepreneurship, including the demanding responsibility of taking care of cows for a business. She emphasized the importance of delegating the workload when working with a team.
“Don’t be discouraged if you go through hard times,” Souza shared. “I would rather be an entrepreneur than work for someone else.”
The Pitch Fest competition also hosted seminar workshops titled “Concept Development and Ideation,” “Startup Pitches: Follow the Formula,” and “Value Statements and Rapid Concept Testing.” Seminars lasted between 30 minutes to one hour.
Trevor Cox, I.P. lawyer and start-up consultant, hosted a seminar called “Start-Up Pitches.” Cox presented on key content, which he called the 10 magic slides, necessary for a startup business presentation to every potential investor.
Cox’s presentation covered elevator pitches, saying that it needs to address a problem, address the solution, market size, marketing, a business model, technology, and competition. As a rule of thumb, Cox suggests asking yourself, “Would my grandmother understand the explanation of this business idea?” Simply put, a business pitch should be clear and efficient.
After the seminar, Cox explained the importance of understanding technology in regard to starting a business, “One thing I would say for young engineers is get to know the business side of technology. Within the engineering world, they come up with cool technology but there isn’t a lot of business application for it.”
“It’s great that UC Merced has taken such a strong interest in promoting entrepreneurship.”
The final round of business pitches were voted for by a panel of judges and consisted of seven promising business ideas, presented for three minutes each. The pitch evaluation rubric showed a score range from 1 to 10 based on stage presence, preparation and detail, persuasiveness and clarity, and appeal of concept.
Business ideas included a garbage bin cleaning service called Happy Trash, a radio broadcast system on campus for safety alerts, an ultimate virtual reality experience, and more.
UC Merced student Forrest Yeh came in first place and was awarded the Ruiz Prize in Entrepreneurial Communication. Yeh successfully pitched for a lighting conversion service called LED Alternative Energy.
“There are a lot of really good ideas out there. Whether this idea does or doesn’t take off, another one will,” said Yeh in response to his win.
“We hope to expand the Pitch Fest into a two day conference in the future,” concluded Roldan.
Professor Haner added, “We have exciting plans for next year’s Pitch Fest. So, get your pitches ready!”
Allie Teaze
Senior Staff Writer
ateaze@ucmerced.edu