The Venture Development Center was packed Wednesday night for the 2024 Fall Pitch Party. The event, designed for students new to pitching, provided a stage for innovative ideas, a space for networking, and a showcase for student startups. Everyone who participated received a $20 gift card, while the top 3 received monetary prizes in recognition of their outstanding presentations and concept potential.
Celebrating Our Exceptional Judges
Thank you to our outstanding judges Garrison Davis, Isabella Duarte, Jordan Gonzalez for their contributions to the Pitch Party. Their expertise, thoughtful feedback, and willingness to support student entrepreneurs played a crucial role in the success of the event.
And the winners are...
The first place pitch winner and recipient of $300 was Hallie Ross with Sweet Success. Sweet Success is a combination of a baking subscription box and a financial literacy program. Hallie, a first year student, was also a 2024 EntreX Lab alumna and 2024 Diamond Challenge finalist!
Our second place pitch winner and recipient of $200 was Carys Adusei with Sight Connect. Sight Connect helps support social events for all people that want to join a community while also helping a good cause at the same time. Part of ticket sales for events will support a children's eye care nonprofit.
Finally, the third place pitch winner and recipient of $100 was Alex Witte with SkiSafe. SkiSafe is a mouth guard with pressure plates in it that can send alerts to EMS with exact location. It is a compact GPS and communication system that can be installed in a helmet.
Superlative awards were also given out at the Pitch Party:
Most creative: Mo Bull - Javier Cruz
Most Interesting: SkiSafe - Alex Witte
Most motivated: Sight Connect - Carys Adusei
Most Promising: Rent-A-Car - Aiden Hicks
Thank you to all students who participated!
AJ Bogdan - Toiletry Caddy
Toiletry Caddy that is placed on the wall with adhesive strips and also comes with packing foam to make it portable
Samuel Jean-Antoine - Pearl of The Antilles
The Pearl of The Antilles is a Haitian restaurant that solves the problem of lack of food associated with UD grubhub accounts. Food like jerk chicken and empanadas will be introduced to the UD campus
Garret Bonson - APEX Airsoft
PEX Airsoft creates fully impressive airsoft arenas, inspired by famous movies and tv shows. Also working to create more diversity among players
Mason Robbins - Safe2Go
Safe2Go helps parties split checks by uploading money into a bank to hold money and once the service is done the bank sends the money to the correct party
Alex Witte - SkiSafe
SkiSafe is a mouth guard with pressure plates in it that can send alerts to EMS with exact location. It is a compact GPS and communication system that can be installed in a helmet
Hallie Ross - Sweet Success
Sweet Success is a combination of a baking subscription box as well as a financial literacy program. The goal is to decrease financial illiteracy while making it fun by combining it with baking.
Jolin Jiang - MediBase
MediBase is a wikipedia for Women’s Health information. Medibase will be a app with forum, news, and research features
Andrew Roberts - Post Refocus
Post Refocus allows you to refocus your photos by adjusting the focus and depth in post production. Selling to professional and everyday photographers
Ian Wilt - Discord for Grandma
Discord for Grandma is an easy to use application that is senior friendly. It allows seniors to communicate with others in a social and simple way.
Ethan Weinerman - Coretex Care Pro
Cortex Care Pro is a solution to head injuries in sports by adding padding into the helmet itself. It works by moving the helmet with the head if a injury were to occur
Aiden Hicks - Rent-A-Park
Rent-A-Park is a peer-to-peer parking app that allows students to rent out their parking spaces. A way to rent parking spaces at houses and apartment complexes to make it easier for others to find accessible parking.
Jerry DeSimone - WrinkleWatch
WrinkleWatch is a board that will fold clothes into an easy portable box that will allow people to take clothing on the go.
Carys Adusei - Sight Connect
Sight Connect helps support social events for all people that want to join a community while also helping a good cause at the same time. Part of ticket sales for events will support a children's eye care nonprofit.
Troon Houlton - Vital
Vital is the solution for people who continuously forget to take their medicine or vitamins, in the form of a vitamin toothpaste. You get your vitamins and medicine by just brushing your teeth.
Azan Kahn and Rushil Medi - Muscle Minder
Muscle Minder is an AI based supplement reminder app that adapts to your body composition. It is customizable for each person and body type to know what supplements to take.
Mary Williams - DorLoc
DorLoc monitors your social accounts and protects them from being hacked. It shows your key metrics of your account like login and IP address to help secure your account
Javier Cruz - Mo Bull
Mo Bull is a mechanical bull service that allows event planners to receive a mechanical bull for their event. It is responsible for set up, service, and clean up all run by University of Delaware Students
Parker Stille - Parker Media
Parker Media is a service that helps small businesses create a greater social media presence. The team will take pictures, edit post production, post, and follow social media trends for small brands.
Mara Pecci - Garage Hopper
Garage Hopper is an app that helps simplify EV charging by showing car chargers that you can rent in peoples homes within a 10 mile radius. You pay a flat rate and then an hourly rate.
Sebastian Torres and Michael Earley - Razr
Razr is a self sharpening razor blade case that creates a sharpened razor for each shave.
The Pitch Party Marketplace
This semester's event featured The Pitch Party Marketplace, a showcase of student- and Horn Community-run startups like FunkyRat, Yodeling Elaine Art, Creative Hands by KT, and OBEnaturalle. UD Students Jake & Jonny were also invited to show off their musical talents. From supporting student businesses to bringing creative and entrepreneurial students together, the Pitch Party served as a platform for collaboration and innovation for young entrepreneurs.
We would also like to extend a special thank you to e-club president and event organizer Olivia Jin and faculty lead Dr. Dan Lee for hosting the Pitch Party.
About Horn Entrepreneurship
Horn Entrepreneurship is the driving force behind entrepreneurship education and innovation at the University of Delaware. Consistently ranked as one of the top entrepreneurship programs in the United States, it was founded and continues to be supported by accomplished entrepreneurs. The program empowers aspiring innovators, equipping them with the skills and resources needed to bring their ideas to life and create positive change in the world.
