View other photos from the event<\/a><\/em><\/p>\nFit B credited the guidance and coaching of their professor this semester, Dr. Ross Malaga, a professor in the Information Management & Business Analytics department who also teaches entrepreneurship.<\/p>\n
Malaga noted Fit B was an interdisciplinary team with students from two different colleges\/schools on campus, and at undergrad and graduate levels.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Fit-B team worked really well together as a team,\u201d said Malaga.\u00a0\u201cYou could see in their pitch how much they thought it through and practiced.\u00a0Every element – right down to their matching hair styles – was thought out.\u00a0Their back and forth on stage was perfectly timed.\u00a0They also put in the hard work to create a prototype and validate their idea.\u201dKhubani, who served as a judge in the finals, credited the student teams with how well they pitched their products, services and apps.<\/p>\n
\u201cMontclair State is where I learned the basis for taking chances and establishing my own company while still a student in 1983,\u201d said Khubani. \u201cTo be able to give back to my alma mater by conducting the BulbHead Inventors Day for Aspiring Entrepreneurs and awarding the top student group with a $10,000 prize is helping to get that next successful business off the ground. Impressively, the 2017 participant groups truly have what it takes for business success. We are already looking forward to next year\u2019s competition.\u201d<\/p>\n
The other judges in the final round were Don Braca, president of Adcomm and Dennis Bone, founding director of the Feliciano Center for Entrepreneurship. The prelim round judges were Manish Israni, vice president at TeleBrands; Philip Kennard, CEO at Futurestay; and Collette Liantonio, president of Concepts TV. The master of ceremonies was pitchman Anthony “Sully” Sullivan.<\/p>\n
Residence Life and BulbHead generously provided raffle prizes for students who attended the event.<\/p>\n
After 21 teams pitched in the morning prelim round, six teams were selected to pitch in the final round in the afternoon: Car Coat, Elaion, Fit B, Let\u2019s Goal, Vego Ego and Wonder Wear Studios. (See full list of teams and students below.)<\/p>\n
Even students who did not win the $10,000 pitch contest prize found the experience to be a valuable\u2014even motivating\u2014experience.<\/p>\n
Bobby Esposito, a senior studying Psychology and Criminal Justice, pitched Uncover with Harold Garcia, a senior Finance and Marketing major. The app would use crowdsourcing to tell users what\u2019s happening, real time, in bars, restaurants and gyms. Esposito started working on the idea in early March, and said he wrote nine versions of his pitch and then practiced the pitch more than 150 times in the three days leading up to the competition.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing an entrepreneur requires sacrifice. It means staying up all hours of the night, losing a night out with friends and zoning out of conversations because you just thought of a way to better your newest idea,\u201d said Esposito, who admitted he was upset when Uncover was not chosen as a finalist. \u201cBut the feeling of being upset didn’t last long, it was soon overcome with motivation. \u2026 I know that I have a lot of hills to climb but I am looking forward to climbing each hill and learning while I climb. I am forever grateful for the opportunity to pitch my idea and I look forward to future pitch competitions where I can apply what I have learned from this previous one. I am excited for the journey.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jason Frasca, an entrepreneurship professor who taught and mentored several of the teams, said the students were learning many lessons about starting a business.<\/p>\n
“This competition prepares students for the entrepreneurial life,” said Frasca. “By pitching in front of a large crowd, solving problems and validating their business models, win or lose they are ready to continue on and build a business. They have all the tools, and now the confidence, to pursue this or any new business venture.”<\/p>\n
Below is a list of the teams selected to pitch on May 3, with students\u2019 majors and hometowns, listed in the order they pitched in the prelim round.<\/p>\n
\n- SPOT Vac
\nDana Tirico, Theatre Studies, grad student, Lodi
\nDavid Mizrahi, Theatre Studies, grad student, Lodi<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n- Urban Nomadic
\nAltarik Banks, Psychology, junior, East Orange
\nJoshua Miller, Management, junior, Lodi<\/li>\n - EmpaMask
\nJoe LeRoy, Business, junior, Vernon
\nHana Mershon, Business, senior, Lambertville
\nDaniel Schoberegger, Computer Science, senior, Graz, Austria<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n- Car Coat
\nFaith Cross, Retail Merchandising & Management, senior, Morganville
\nAlexis Duran, Studio Arts, senior, Lawrenceville<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n- 3D Supports
\nCatherine Ayala, Fine Arts, junior, Marlboro
\nChristian Manning, Mathematics, junior, Hackensack
\nKenechukwu Ochibili, Computer Science, senior, Paterson<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n- Fit B
\nJamie Wisniewski, Public and Organizational Relations, grad student, Montclair
\nSelena Alvarez, Marketing, senior, Carteret<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n- Clean Cutlery
\nMichael Riabov, Justice Studies, senior, Montvale
\nChristopher Serrano, Information Technology, junior, Hoboken
\nCesar Sosa, Computer Science, senior, Perth Amboy<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n- EZ-TIME
\nAlexander Kasimos, Information Technology, junior, Merchantville
\nOrlando Taylor, Economics, junior, Palisades Park<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n- Financial B.O.S.S.
\nCashem Lateif Holland, Information\/Technology Management & Business Analytics (Entrepreneurship minor), senior, Brooklyn, NY
\nElena Guazzi, MBA student, Quebec City, Canada<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n- Drinks and Delicacies
\nJoseph Brigley, Exercise Science, grad student, Bergenfield
\nMiguel DaSilva, Sociology, junior, Union
\nAlexandra Tevis, Marketing, junior, Scotch Plains<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n- BouchicMade
\nMakeda Bozeman, Psychology, junior, Irvington
\nZoe Hanauer, Fashion Studies, senior, Livingston
\nAimee Vizzuso, Fashion Studies, senior, Montville<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n- Vego Ego
\nCristina Diaz, Fashion Studies, junior, West New York
\nJahlisa Prunty, Justice Studies, junior, Fanwood
\nCarolyn Mathieu, Chemistry, grad student, Jersey City<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n- Grindstone Nutriments
\nQuinn Cummings, Sociology, junior, Verona
\nAnthony Milazzo, Economics, junior, Robbinsville<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n- LetsGoal
\nDaniel H. Lee, Finance, senior, Fort Lee
\nNatalia Lopez, Psychology, senior, Pequannock<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n- Uncover
\nBobby Esposito, Psychology and Criminal Justice (Business minor), senior, Bridgewater
\nHarold Garcia, Finance and Marketing (Psychology minor), senior, Dover<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n- Elaion
\nAlexis Johnson, Fine Arts, senior, East Orange
\nSophie Kunert, Illustration, sophomore, Bloomfield
\nKristen Martinelli, English, senior, Pompton Lakes<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n- Wonder Wear Studios
\nAmanda Daurio, Undeclared, sophomore, Bogota
\nMorgan Reilly, Marketing, junior, Spotswood
\nGeraldine Rivas, Management, junior, Paterson<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n- SofiSoftware
\nSiani Jordan, Psychology, junior, Sicklerville
\nKayla Watts, Marketing, sophomore, Freehold<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n- Virtual Split
\nCesar Enrriquez, Sculpting, junior, Newark
\nMax Gallo, Psychology, senior, Fair Lawn
\nClaudel Saintilien, Computer Science, junior, West Orange
\nSamuel Mitchell, Film making, junior, Medford<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n- SocialLight Games
\nCatherine Payne-Lewis, Master of Arts in Teaching (N.M.U.T.R.), grad student, Newark
\nJorge Villacreses, Master of Arts in Teaching (N.M.U.T.R.), grad student, Union<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n- Connector Protector
\nJustin Rich, Television Production and Digital Media, senior, Montclair
\nDan Rivas, Fine Arts and Printmaking, junior, Parsippany<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jamie Wisniewski and Selena Alvarez won $10,000 for their ability to pitch a product with words, but in the aftermath of learning they snagged the top prize in Montclair State\u2019s student pitch contest, they were left speechless. \u201cI have no words,\u201d said Alvarez, a senior Marketing major, moments later as she stood on stage with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":206539,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-862","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/entrepreneur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/entrepreneur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/entrepreneur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/entrepreneur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/entrepreneur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=862"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/entrepreneur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":206777,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/entrepreneur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862\/revisions\/206777"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/entrepreneur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/206539"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/entrepreneur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/entrepreneur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/entrepreneur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}