Stephen Greer pitches his winning idea during the Landshark Tank event. DM Photo | Logan Kirkland
The Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship hosted its second pitch competition last night called Landshark Tank. The competition allows students to practice public speaking skills and effectively communicating ideas in a short amount of time.
Richard Gentry, director of the center, said one of the problems they have with people graduating or participating in competitions is people do not feel comfortable presenting in front of a group.
Gentry said a lot of the time when students have to give presentations, it is in a group setting and are given the opportunity to hide behind another member, or they have a very rehearsed part that is poorly presented.
“Here, we’re going to try and create a little more pressure,” Gentry said. “But also, it’s entirely about their own idea, and it’s entirely them on their own and by themselves.”
The winner of the competition was Stephen Greer, a senior mechanical engineering major. His idea was based on exchanging skills for payment. For example if you could tutor and do physical labor, someone could hire you for either tutoring or mowing a lawn for money.
Greer said being a part of the competition like this is great because it gathers people who have the same mindsets and who are constantly thinking of new ideas.
“Eventually, we’re going to have 100 ideas, and 100 of them might fail, but then we might have a 101st idea that takes off,” Greer said. “Winning is great, but seeing the people and being around people who have the business ideas and have the same interests, that’s really what it’s more about for me.”
William Ault, a senior computer science major who came in second place said, he came up with the idea of a campus valet after brainstorming with a couple of friends who valet and felt it was an interesting business model.
Ault said he wanted to take this idea and bring it to be used at the university and knew parking was a major issue. He said as long as the service is cheaper than a parking ticket, then people will pay.
Ault said he had done this competition before, and it helps build confidence in both drafting the idea and in the presentation.
“I’m honored, and I feel like my idea is validated, and I definitely want to do it again,” Ault said.
Baba Tunde, a senior finance major who won third place, came up with the idea of “Crowd Playlist” while hanging out with friends. This app is where everyone is connected to a device or speaker at a bar or party where they can rate a song playing, and then the songs would later play according to rank.
Tunde did not want to pitch his idea, but then noticed everyone else having the courage to present their own pitches.
“I got encouraged right after I went through it,” Tunde said. “It was not as hard as it looked. It was a learning experience.”
Gentry said this is why the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship created the pitch competition: to create an experience that helps students grow in confidence and strategy.
“The intent for something like this is to make people feel comfortable,” he said. “There’s no magic to it. There’s nothing special about it. It’s just a skill you have to practice.”
