On the afternoon of July 16, during an otherwise quiet summer, DePaul’s Holtschneider Performance Center is bustling. Expo tables line the halls; visitors, including business partners, community members, faculty, and students, mill about. And at each of the tables, student-entrepreneurs are ready with tightly honed elevator pitches.
This was the scene at seventh annual University Pitch Madness: an annual competition, hosted by DePaul’s Coleman Entrepreneurship Center, that brings together student-entrepreneurs from across the Midwest to compete for thousands of dollars in seed money.
The winning pitches: From high-tech to high-touch
This year, 32 businesses representing nine universities participated. Their pitches ran the gamut: from businesses newly launched to those years in the making; from large teams with products on the shelves to one-person operations; from high-tech to high-touch.
On the high-tech end of the spectrum were several of the evening’s winning teams. First-place winner BRCĒ, of Michigan State University, launched its performance wear business with stylish, specialized sneaker laces. Third-place winner Avea Robotics, from the University of Illinois system, is at work on a fully autonomous floor-cleaning system.
Other businesses reflected students’ experiences with the education system. SideShift, from the University of Wisconsin, won second place for its platform that pairs college students seeking part-time work with small businesses seeking employees. The audience favorite was Northwestern University’s WizLab: education software that makes it easier for K-12 educators to integrate active learning content and strategies into their classrooms.
Altogether, the Coleman Entrepreneurship Center distributed thousands of dollars in seed money on Tuesday night — much of it donated by entrepreneurship board members Dave Hale, Judy Hale and Allen Kutchins.
“Of course, the chance to compete against students from across the Midwest is a big draw,” said Bruce Leech, executive director of the Coleman Entrepreneurship Center. “But this is also a great chance for to students to network, get guidance — maybe even meet individual investors, regardless of how the voting goes.”
DePaul entrepreneurs uplift their communities
Valerie Sanchez, of Tequihua Self Defense, demonstrates how to escape a wrist grab with a little help from Dibs.
The Success Seekers team describes their programming, which helps teenage girls build confidence through public speaking, entrepreneurship and other valuable skills.
Gretchen Shuler describes her latest coffee concoctions to Dave Hale, a longtime supporter of the Coleman center.
As for the three businesses that represented DePaul? They exemplified how entrepreneurship can be used to uplift entire communities.
Neuroscience student and author Ayra Mudessir’s Success Seekers aims to close the “confidence gap” that arises as girls go through their teenage years. Its after-school programs empower girls through hands-on education in skills like leadership, entrepreneurship, and public speaking.
Entrepreneurship student Gretchen Shuler launched her brightly colored mobile coffee cart, ReBrewed, earlier this year out of the Coleman Entrepreneurship Center. As Shuler expands her business, she plans to employ foster youth, helping them access mentorship as well as financial resources.
Finally, Tequihua Self Defense — launched by recent graduate in public relations Valerie Sanchez — harnesses Sanchez’s skills as a decorated mixed martial artist to provide empowering education for women of all sizes and experience levels. Tequihua, which got its start in the Ray, was the winner in the student division of this year’s Purpose Pitch competition.
"It increases your confidence, just knowing that you have tools to protect yourself,” said Sanchez. “It’s not just about the physical side. It’s also about the mental side, the emotional side.”
Her philosophy might just as easily sum up the experience of being an entrepreneur, with all its ups and downs.
“At the Coleman center, we’ve worked closely with these founders as they went from having a vision to making a real difference in the world around them,” said Kathia Hernandez (BUS ’22), program manager at the Coleman Entrepreneurship Center. “And each of them has done it in a way that only she could.”
Learn more about the Coleman Entrepreneurship Center.
Read the story behind ReBrewed.