Students will have a chance to win cash to fund their business ideas Thursday at the University of Memphis’s Crews Center for Entrepreneurship’s Fast Pitch Competition on the third floor of the University Center.
Three winners will be selected to receive cash prizes. First place winners will receive $2,500. Second place will win $1,500. Third place will get $1,000. Twenty participating teams of students will make a three to five minute pitch of their business model to a panel of judges.
The presentations must include an introduction to the team, a clear description of the problem being solved and the proposed solution. Ideas must be the original work of the students making the pitch.
They will be allowed to use props, prototypes or slideshows in their presentations. Although there is no limit on the amount of students on each team, only three students will be allowed to present.
The competition will begin at 5:30 p.m. and will be open to all students currently enrolled at the U of M.
Undergraduate students must be enrolled full time to enter the competition. Graduate students must be registered and active in a master’s or doctorate program.
There will be at least three judges, none of whom are employed by the U of M or the Crews Center. Criteria for the pitch competition will be provided to all teams submitting valid applications for the competition.
Judges may ask questions, but the students’ answers must be limited to one minute.
The top three teams will be invited to submit an application to Launch TN for consideration in a statewide pitch competition held at the 36|86 conference in Nashville.
The Crews Center provides resources, space, training, advising and mentoring to assist student entrepreneurs with business model developments.
Last May, Sankae Pathat, an entrepreneurship fellow at the Crews Center, received over $700,000 to fund SynapsePay, a payment network that allows companies and individuals to send and receive funds from their bank accounts.
In June, Morgan Steffy, another entrepreneurship fellow, received $135,000 for her startup company, Pickle, an app for competitive selfies and photo sharing.
