Shark Tank
Camarillo, Calif., June 3, 2016—A cough drop that stops the spread of a cold; fencing that traps water from the air; a vibrating, flashing pillow to help wake the hearing impaired and a smart phone application that allows you to contribute to a friend’s celebration, even at a distance.
These are some of the student business startup pitches that will go before five judges on Saturday June 4 during Aspire3’s 4th Annual New Venture Challenge, which is co-sponsored by CSU Channel Islands (CI).
Students from CI, five high schools and four middle schools throughout Ventura County will pitch their startup business ideas Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. in San Miguel Hall on the Ventura County Fairgrounds at 10 W. Harbor Boulevard in Ventura.
In the tradition of CNBC’s “Shark Tank,” about 40 student teams will demonstrate prototypes, give oral and PowerPoint presentations and pitch their ideas for a startup venture to a panel of investors, businesspeople and economic development professionals.
At stake will be a pot of $7,500 in seed money for their new business, and access to Aspire3, a Camarillo business that cultivates student entrepreneurs into community businesspeople.
“The Business & Technology Partnership (B&TP)— a unit of CI housed in the Martin V. Smith School of Business & Economics—is pleased to be a sponsor of the New Venture Challenge,’” said Professor of Business and Dean of the MVS School William Cordeiro, Ph.D. “Several groups of CI students are participating in the competition, which gives them an opportunity to develop business planning skills in a public arena.”
CI Business major Christopher Bolin, 28, and CI Business alumnus David Allen, 26, will pitch a social media app called “1onMe” that allows users to share moments in real time with friends celebrating promotions, graduations, birthdays, anniversaries, etc., rather than just seeing photos of the event on Facebook.
“1onMe allows friends and family members to celebrate with one another instantly from any location by buying them a gift or leaving a thoughtful messages,” Bolin said.
Celebrating friends show up on a 1onMe newsfeed so the user knows where the party is, and can join in with a gift, a message, a drink, a plate of nachos or a cab. The gift shows up on the news feed with invitations for others to join in, too, with their own gifts or messages.
“The most important part of the app is the ability to leave comments because it connects people from heart to heart and gives a ‘pay it forward’ feeling,” Bolin said.
Participants in this year-end event are all finalists from smaller competitions held in a classroom, school and district level. The CI competitors are from CI’s MVS School.
“The goal of the New Venture Challenge is to provide Ventura County students the opportunity to explore entrepreneurship to develop important career skills”, said Sean Bhardwaj, Founder and CEO of Aspire3. “They learn how to harness their creativity and potentially build a startup or have a patent before they leave school”
During the first half of the event, judges will evaluate pitches from the student teams. After lunch, judges will select nine teams to compete in front of an investor panel.
They are: Bruce Stenslie, President/CEO of The Economic Development Collaborative of Ventura County and member of the California Workforce Development Board; David Compton, Founder and CEO of Intenta and serial entrepreneur; Mike Soules, President of Corwin and President of the Conejo Valley Schools Foundation Board, and Rao Machiraju, CEO of reQall and former Principal Scientist at Apple.
Other sponsors for the event are: Aspire3, Ventura County Innovates and the Ventura Ventures Technology Center (VTC).
The event is open to the public and admission is free, but please RSVP to guarantee your spot at lunch as space is limited. There will be a $10 donation toward student prizes that will be collected at the door.
To RSVP contact Sean Bhardwaj at 805-701-9540.
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About California State University Channel Islands
CSU Channel Islands(CI) is the only four-year, public university in Ventura County and is known for its interdisciplinary, multicultural and international perspectives, and its emphasis on experiential and service learning. CI’s strong academic programs focus on business, sciences, liberal studies, teaching credentials, and innovative master’s degrees. Students benefit from individual attention, up-to-date technology, and classroom instruction augmented by outstanding faculty research. CI has been designated by the U.S. Department of Education as a Hispanic-Serving Institution and is committed to serving students of all backgrounds from the region and beyond. Connect with and learn more by visiting CI's Social Media.