Students Advance in Value Creation Student Business Pitch Competition

On Wednesday, February 16, audience members were wowed by four undergraduate student teams’ value propositions as part of recent Student Venture Pitch Competition ahead of entering e-Fest, a national undergraduate entrepreneurship competition where teams can win $10K or more in cash prizes.

Teams participated in 90 minutes of workshop training facilitated by Curt Carlson, founder of WPI’s Curtis and Dudley Carlson Value Creation Initiative, and Curtis Abel, executive director of WPI’s Innovation & Entrepreneurship Center, and then had one hour of further iteration. With this work, the students’ presentations improved immensely. Each of the four teams were awarded $1,000 and were assigned a mentor for the next step in the process.

To submit pitches to e-Fest, the teams will now work with each other and their mentors to perfect a seven-minute video and a concise slide deck presentation to submit for consideration for the competition in Minnesota.

WPI’s Business School and Innovation & Entrepreneurship Center sponsored the pitch competition.

Award-winning teams 

Team: Bearhug

Members: Noelle Morgan and Tyson Wiseman

Bearhug is a pair of internet-linked stuffed animals that let users send physical affection, like hugs, to loved ones over a distance. 

Team: Endless Aero

Members: Nico Machado, Ilyas Salhi, Jeremy Trilling

Endless Aero is developing lighter-than-air cargo vehicles to empower rapid and sustainable transport. 

Team: Nutroo.AI

Members: Yuriy Kamenivskyy and Georgy Zhukov.

Nutroo.AI is an AI-powered healthy meal plan generator, that takes into account the user's dietary preferences, physique goals, and time restrictions. Designed for nutrition-conscious college students.

Team: Pallyt 

Members: David Hinckley and Nathaniel Klingensmith

Pallyt is making finding construction supplies simple by connecting customers with local suppliers.