Halloween Pitch Competition offers students opportunity to compete for $5,000

Engineering students with business ideas have the opportunity to compete for a share of $4,000 in startup capital, and a $1,000 special category award, in the upcoming Halloween Pitch Competition.

Sponsored by the Harbert College of Business and the Auburn University Thomas Walter Center, teams will submit a one-page summary and a two- to three-minute video of their business idea to a panel of judges, who will select 20 finalists for the Oct. 29 final pitch round held inside the Broadway Event Space and Theater at Horton-Hardgrave Hall. 

“Students from any college that have business ideas should enter,” urged Lou Bifano, Director of Entrepreneurship Strategy at Auburn University. “We are hoping that students who plan to compete in the Tiger Cage Business Idea Competition next winter -- where there is a $54,000 startup capital award pool -- will use this opportunity as a tune-up.” 

First place in the Halloween Pitch Competition will be awarded $2,000. Second place will receive $1,000, while the third and fourth place teams will receive $500 each.

A special category award of an additional $1,000 will be provided by the Thomas Walter Center. The cornerstone of the Center is its 16-credit Business-Engineering-Technology (B-E-T) minor.

“The Business-Engineering-Technology minor focuses on blending business and engineering skills needed for a successful product innovation start-up,” said Thomas Walter Center Director John Evans. “The five-course minor is designed to carry students from the initial product innovation concept, through customer discovery, intellectual property, product specification and testing, business planning, production planning, and product marketing. These skills are valuable for a small business start-up and are scalable to the corporate world. Over the years we have found that business and engineering students with the B-E-T minor are very coveted by industry.”

Engineering students, including alums Zac Young from Vulcan Line Tools, and Daniel Mazur and Mit Patel from SwiftSku, have enjoyed tremendous success in recent pitch competitions – winning Tiger Cage, the SEC Student Pitch Competition and the Baylor Business Pitch Competition. What makes engineers so successful?

“Engineers generally have an inquisitive nature for solving real problems and creating new ideas,” Evans added. “Most are also well-rounded and understand the many skills needed for a successful start-up. For the pitch competition, engineering students can be very creative and often find unique methods to standout in a pitch competition.”

Applications to enter the competition are due by Oct. 21. Visit https://auburn.infoready4.com/ to register.