It was a full house in Munson Chapel during the final competition for ZuVenturez on Tuesday, Nov.18. The winners of the evening were the men of Perspectives clothing company, who took away the grand prize of $15,000 to help make their startup business grow. The business competition started back in September, and out of the 21 students who initially competed only seven made it to the final competition.
The program started with an opening statement from Executive Vice President David Bixby before handing it off to the head of ZuVenturez and the vice president in the Office of Alumni, Vocation, and Innovation, Annie Tsai.
“The mission of ZuVenturez is to activate entrepreneurial excellence,” Tsai said to the audience.
During this stage of competition, the finalists had three minutes to deliver their pitches to the five judges in attendance. They then had to answer any questions the judges had about their business plan and received feedback from them as well.
Junior business major Trenton Smith started off the night with his clothing-line business, Suburba. His startup aims to bring customers quality clothing at affordable prices.
Senior business management major Zachariah Wolfe followed by pitching Emergency App. The Emergency App will walk the everyday person through the step-by-step process of navigating through emergencies.
This app would guide people step-by-step if they were ever to get into a car accident, home burglary or any other type of emergency. It also has a feature for users to alert first responders and track their GPS location if they ever felt like they were in some sort of danger.
The third presenter was Instapropz, a photo booth company that provides services for any special occasion. Junior communications major Armani Graham is one of the founders of the company and said the idea came from his mother.
“I was already working for a photo booth company, and she said I could make more money doing it on my own,” Graham said.
Following Instapropz were senior business marketing major Jonathan Avalos and 2013 business economics graduate Nathan Froehlich of the Check !t app. It is designed for roommates to easily get their chores done. Each roommate pledges a certain amount of money in saying that they would get specific tasks finished. Roommates must take a picture of themselves doing the chore and send it through the app so the other roommates can approve it. If a roommate does not complete a task, then he or she must pay through Paypal whatever amount pledged.
After the first four contestants, there was a 10-minute break when guests were encouraged to enjoy refreshments outside as well as free Chick-fil-A.
Senior journalism major Hunter Foote was the sixth contestant to pitch, introducing her Christian women’s publication, Laurel Magazine. Foote’s vision for the magazine is to provide young Christian women a tangible resource and community in times of transition. Foote plans to launch the online edition of the magazine in summer 2015.
The men of Perspectives ended the list of finalists. They already had their merchandise in a fashion show in Portland, Oregon, and are planning on attending an invite-only trade show so that they can get their brand out to prospective buyers. The mission of the brand is to raise awareness of various mission organizations and connect people through their stories.
After the finalists were done, the judges had 30 minutes to deliberate and decide the top three winners. During that time, guests were able to participate in a poll in which they could text in their favorite business and the results would be shown on screen. The poll had Perspectives finishing first, followed by Laurel Magazine.
Before winners were announced, last year’s winner and the founder of Whip Rides, Robert Cardiff, honored all the contestants who did not make it to the final competition by giving them business plan certificates. Judge Fadi Cheikha proceeded with announcing the third place winner, artist Jeremie Riggleman, who won $2,000.
Second place was announced by judge Pam Mathias to the founder of Laurel Magazine, Hunter Foote, who won $3,000.
Judge Bryan Jacobs announced the first place winner and recipient of $15,000, which went to Perspectives.
“Ultimately, at the end of the day, we’re thanking God because our mission is to expand his kingdom and that is what he’s doing through this company,” said communication studies major and co-founder of Perspectives Devon DeJardin.
DeJardin said the company will use a majority of the money to fulfill manufacturing needs across the country and expand to other nations.
Tsai and Janice Orlando School of Business board member, closed the night by announcing the start of a national competition in which participants have a chance to compete against other prospective students from across the country to win a larger monetary prize.