Students from five colleges and universities across northeast Wisconsin will compete for $50,000 in prize money in a startup business pitch competition to be held April 24 in The Fox Club at Fox Cities Stadium., according to a press release from Lawrence University.
An annual event, The Pitch is organized by Fox Connection, a collaboration of premier colleges and universities in northeast Wisconsin to enhance entrepreneurial education and opportunity. It will feature students from Lawrence University, St. Norbert College, UW-Green Bay, UW-Oshkosh, and UW-Stevens Point.
The shark-tank-style contest begins at 4 p.m., with doors opening at 3:30 p.m. It is free and open to the public.
The 10 students competing are finalists from earlier competitions held at each school. Those who have advanced will pitch their business startup ideas to a panel of judges and an audience of area students, community members, business leaders, entrepreneurs, and investors. The business pitches are fast-paced and held to a four-minute time limit.
The top three finishers will split cash and in-kind prizes valued at $50,000. First place will receive $10,000 plus in-kind prizes; second place $7,500 plus in-kind prizes; and third place $5,000 plus in-kind prizes.
Lawrence students advancing to The Pitch include Safiya Grant, a senior biology major, with the startup Muse, an all-natural skin-care line that creates body care products targeted toward women of Caribbean heritage, and Nathaniel Smith, a business & entrepreneurship and film studies double major, with the startup Thrive in Humility, a Christian apparel brand that sells high-end clothing with built-in technology. Grant placed first in Lawrence’s LU Launch competition and Smith placed second, both advancing to The Pitch.
Nicolet Bank is the premier sponsor for The Pitch.
