{"id":209792,"date":"2019-05-10T14:50:47","date_gmt":"2019-05-10T18:50:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/newscenter\/?p=209792"},"modified":"2019-05-13T12:50:26","modified_gmt":"2019-05-13T16:50:26","slug":"a-perfect-pitch-helps-a-startup-clean-up-at-inventors-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/newscenter\/2019\/05\/10\/a-perfect-pitch-helps-a-startup-clean-up-at-inventors-day\/","title":{"rendered":"A Perfect Pitch Helps a Startup Clean Up at Inventors Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

A three-month trek through Colombia and discovery of the healing powers of calendula has led to a new life purpose for a budding entrepreneur who cleaned up at Montclair State University\u2019s annual pitch contest with a new and natural product for feminine hygiene.<\/p>\n

\u201cI vividly remember telling myself, If I don\u2019t find myself in Colombia I hope I find something that will change my life,\u201d says Lisa Noesi. As a winner lauded for perfectly pitching her flower-based cleanser, she\u2019s now sharing $80,000 in prize money at this year\u2019s BulbHead.com Inventors Day for Aspiring Entrepreneurs. \u201cI guess I did.\u201d<\/p>\n

Montclair State\u2019s pitch day is the highlight of the process launched by the Feliciano Center for Entrepreneurship to encourage students from across campus to develop promising business ideas. The Shark Tank<\/em>-inspired contest gives student ventures a chance to test the waters, pitch their visions and turn their passions into profits. The prize money, donated by AJ Khubani, CEO and founder of BulbHead.com, is the largest collegiate funding pool at a New Jersey university or college.<\/p>\n

On May 8, a large audience watched the finals in Montclair State\u2019s University Hall. The students presented their ideas, product samples and PowerPoint presentations to entrepreneur experts, including Khubani, a 1984 graduate who has invested significantly in the University\u2019s business program.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love coming back to Montclair State,\u201d he told students. \u201cI started Telebrands right here on this campus. I would sit in the Student\u2019s Center top floor \u2013 I didn’t have a laptop back then but I had a notepad \u2013 thinking about what products to sell.\u201d Those products are now iconic \u201cAs Seen on TV\u201d and the online marketplace BulbHead.com brand.<\/p>\n

The University offers a certificate in entrepreneurship, which teaches the real-life skills needed to launch a successful enterprise. This year, current issues like student debt, childhood obesity and sustainability invited heavy thinking on novel ways to tackle those problems. With the pitch contest\u2019s reach across campus, students draw on each other\u2019s expertise, whether it\u2019s business or graphic arts, computer science or psychology.<\/p>\n

The University also provides networking opportunities with alumni and professors\u2019 expertise. Specialized classes and facilities like the MIX Lab with 3D printers for innovation and design enable students to fully develop and test their ideas. A team this year, for example, created 3D fishing gear that placed third in the statewide UPitchNJ Competition.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you prepare and if you work hard, when the opportunity comes and makes itself known to you, you will be ready to take it,\u201d said OxiClean pitchman Anthony \u201cSully\u201d Sullivan, who served as master of ceremonies. \u201cIf you put the work in, if you’re gritty, if you do the late nights and the weekends, and work harder than the person next to you, you can be successful and you can make your business work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prize money will help the three winning start-ups \u2013\u00a0 the feminine cleanser, a free-styling rap app and kindness beads \u2013 seize this new opportunity, and strengthen and grow their business models.<\/p>\n

As the first-place winner, Mavo Care was awarded $50,000 to scale up production and testing of the all-natural feminine cleanser. Noesi, who studies Gender, Sexuality and Women\u2019s Studies, teamed with Visual Communication Design majors Kenna Brockway and Nicole Curley. Judges admired their candid opening pitch and said their idea fills a need in the feminine hygiene market.<\/p>\n

Second place and $20,000 went to the freestyling, songwriting and music-sharing platform Hypeman. It\u2019s the brainchild of Robert McPherson, a Computer Science major, who has teamed with Finance major Anthony Russo to market an app that provides access to thousands of rhymes at the touch of a button.<\/p>\n

In designing the app, McPherson says he was inspired by the large number of Montclair State students making their own \u201cimpressive and fun art,\u201d particularly hip-hop. Hypeman is available as a download for Android from Google Play and will soon be available for iPhones. \u201cAnyone who tries it will definitely want to have it,\u201d says pitch judge Arline Wall, a new product design and development leader.<\/p>\n

Third place went to Good Deed Bead, a startup that aspires to inspire people to spread good deeds, both big and small. \u201cWe believe that one single act, represented by one single bead, can help make the world a brighter place,\u201d says Lauren Elwell, who graduated in 2018 with a degree in Family and Child Studies, and Jacqueline Lynch, who studies Sports, Events and Tourism Marketing. They received $10,000 to continue to grow their business.<\/p>\n

At each prize level, team members will share 20 percent of the award, with the remaining 80 percent to be invested in the startup venture under the coaching of the Feliciano Center for Entrepreneurship.<\/p>\n

The daylong event also saw the awarding of the $5,000 Promise Prize award to Alicia-Ann Caesar. Only about a dozen schools across the nation are awarded the prize sponsored by Change Create Transform Foundation, to reward students\u2019 academic excellence, leadership, scholarship, initiative, service and entrepreneurship. Caesar is pursuing her MBA at Montclair State while working at Cerebral Palsy of North Jersey and volunteering her time with community gardening.<\/p>\n

Click on an image below to enlarge photo.<\/p>

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