The Elevator Pitch Competition is an annual event at Grove City College. Students from all majors participate and pitch their own original business ideas. There are two categories in this competition: social and commercial enterprises. The event starts with a preliminary round to narrow the candidates to 10 finalists from each category. This year we had 102 students from all majors and years participate!
The judges question Foodini, one of many contestants, in the preliminary round of the Elevator Pitch Competition. Foodini must have had the right answers, as they advanced to the final round!
I took the opportunity to participate this year as a senior for the first time. As a marketing major, I have always been interested in entrepreneurship. This year I decided to take Entrepreneurship 101 and a requirement in the class is to participate in the Elevator Pitch Competition. To be honest, I was nervous. My marketing and business classes have been focused on strategy and marketing of existing companies and products. Now I was given the challenge of creating a unique business idea and the task to pitch the idea in 2 minutes to a panel of judges. I brainstormed, worked with my professor and finally developed an original idea. It was a great experience that pushed me out of my comfort zone.
My introductory entrepreneurship class is full of students from all majors so the ideas discussed are diverse. Grove City College gives you the opportunity to explore different disciplines which helps develop us into well-rounded students. The Elevator Pitch Competition is the perfect example of the collaboration of different majors on business ideas. In the finals, there was everything from an engineer major pitching a photography equipment idea to a political science major pitching a news aggregate website for millennials. All years were represented in the finals. It is a really unique opportunity at Grove City for freshman to compete with seniors. Although I am not an entrepreneurship major and do not plan on starting my own company, I appreciate the opportunity to learn new ways of thinking and the chance to develop my own business idea.
This year’s winners pose with their “big checks.” The first place winners took home $500, second place scored $400, and third place took $300.
The Elevator Pitch Competition occurs every fall at Grove City and it gets better every year! To learn more about entrepreneurship at Grove City College, check out their page!
