We’ve all had an idea at some point or another, but how many of us have ever taken it to the next level and actually tried to bring that idea to life? How many of us can truly say we are own boss? A new student-run initiative, Ideas2Entrepreneurship (I2E), Powered by VeloCity, supports students in developing their ideas into businesses and growing the existing culture of entrepreneurship at the University of Waterloo and the Region. On Tuesday, January 24th, a group of six student entrepreneur teams gathered in the Student Design Center of Engineering 5 to take one of the first steps in reaching that reality, by pitching their ideas to an esteemed panel for not only feedback, but also the chance at winning one of three cash prizes of 250 dollars.
With a time limit of five minutes, the six participating teams presented their pitches to the panel and crowd of approximately forty fellow students, local entrepreneurs, and interested E5 inhabitants. They then took part in a question and answer portion of the pitch, where the panelists grilled the students on their business models, marking strategies and more, all in the hopes of discovering what “big problem” the students were trying to solve and what keeps them passionate enough to solve it.
In keeping with I2E’s goal of serving a wide range of students from all backgrounds here at UW, the pitches presented to the panel were from students with varied backgrounds, and were solutions to a wide variety of problems currently facing society (with a special focus on students). The projects consisted of (in order of pitch) TeeGuise Inc, an online community for t-shirt design and distribution; Kingpin, an online service for men that allows you to shop for personal care items online and have them delivered regularly; Fused Recycled Glass, which wishes to build low cost countertops from recycled glass; Student2Future an interactive online network that connects high school students to college and university students across Canada; Anti-Theft CD, a compact disc containing a RFID tag and software that, when inserted into your laptop, protects against thefts in the library; and Eustache Financial, a website to allow for students to manage their financial portfolios better.
The panel awarded two awards of 250 dollars, the first going to Kingpin, and the other to Anti-Theft CD. The audience also awarded a People’s Choice to Anti-Theft CD. After what was a successful first event, I2E plans to continue to support and grow the culture of entrepreneurship here at UW through a variety of events throughout the term and beyond. Stay tuned for future pitch nights, networking events, workshops, and lots of other fun stuff from them. For more information, email i2e@uwaterloo.ca , or follow them on Twitter @uwi2e.
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