The college’s popular Launch It student entrepreneur competition -- with a $2,500 grand prize -- continues this year in a virtual setting, with a pair of upcoming pitch sessions for students to impress the campus community with their ideas.
This year’s event will feature two pitch sessions: on 3 p.m. both Friday, Sept. 25, and Wednesday, Sept. 30. Each student receives up to three minutes to pitch their entrepreneurial idea to a live Zoom audience of students, faculty, alumni and idea coaches. At the pitch session, students watching can offer to join an idea team (bringing their own expertise to the project) or digitally “cheer” for ideas.
To register to pitch an idea, or to attend the exciting pitch event, sign up via Oswego’s virtual Engage platform.
After the pitch event, students can form teams for their entrepreneurial business. They will receive alumni and faculty mentoring throughout October to fine tune their idea to present at the Launch It competition finals, which will take place at 4 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 30.
First prize for the winning idea and team is $2,500, sponsored by Wired. In addition, students vie for a second-place prize of $1,500, sponsored by Wegmans Food Markets, with third place taking $1,000.
For the first time this year, students can get basic coaching for their idea prior to the pitch event from faculty and alumni. To receive coaching before the event, students should join the Engage platform and post their idea.
Students who participated in the Oswego Innovation Challenge over the summer are automatically entered into the pitch event and the Launch It competition.
“For students not making a pitch at the event, we need you,” said Irene Scruton, assistant dean of the School of Business and director of the college’s MBA program. “You can cheer or vote on the ideas posted, be an audience member for the live events, or take a class at engage.oswego.edu to get a digital badge and build your resume.”
Scruton said that while this year's Launch It process is new and different, the online nature of the event and work over the summer will result in better support for students, whether their ideas win the competition or progress along toward a finished product.