News

Posted Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Competition Recap: Young Minds, Impressive Ideas

The 4th Annual Pitch George Elevator Competition was full of bright entrepreneurs and innovative ideas.  Participants enjoyed breakfast on the Duquès 6th floor lobby while Dr. Erik Winslow, Professor of Management and Director of the Center for Entrepreneurial Excellence (CFEE), briefed the judges during their breakfast.  Dr. George Solomon, Associate Professor of Management and Director of CFEE, then gave an overview of the competition to both contestants and judges--and so commenced the competition!

Three categories--high school, undergraduate, and graduate--were split into two judging rounds.  A morning break separated the two rounds, and lunch in Duquès 650 followed the second round.  Jim Chung, Director of the GW Office of Entrepreneurship, made sure to make contestants aware of the benefits of the Entrepreneurship Office Hour and the upcoming Business Plan Competition (more information can be found at the Office of Entrepreneurship site and at the GW BizPlan site).

The top five in each category continued on to the finals, which were conducted in elevators in Duquès Hall.  The graduate and undergraduate winners received $2,000, $1,500, and $1,000 for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place, respectively, and high school winners received $750, $500, and $250 for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place, respectively.

The finalist rankings are as follows:

Graduate
  1. David Petaccio, Rip Rack
  2. Rehan Quadri and Steven Rothenberg, Delectify LLC
  3. Daniel Lieberman and John Lee, Ubrew
  4. Brandon Tasco, Razzle.com
  5. Scott Weiss, Troy Finnigan, Steve Majich, and Alison Harris, ModCo
Undergraduate
  1. James Stern, The Fieldhouse
  2. Johann Botha and Cameron Mulhern, SurpriseMe
  3. Ji Yeon Jung, Cap In Bottle
  4. Geetae Kim, Stephen Suozzi, and Jae Won Kim, Fotostamp.net; and Zach Peirce, JobsTrakr (tie)
High School
  1. Julia Peck and Sharmila Das, B.U.T.T.E.R.F.L.Y Initiative
  2. Kevin Zell and Brendan Karp, Seedling Startups
  3. Christina Fennell and Elsa Cristofaro, Masters
  4. Andrew White and Grant Leibow, Stench Slayers
  5. Brendan and Claire Fogarty, App Fantastic
Thank you to all of our judges and to the George Washington School of Business (GWSB) and CFEE for helping to launch the ideas of young entrepreneurs!