The Entrepreneurship Center Advisory Board (ECAB) hosted its first meeting of the semester Friday, and heard two new pitches for a music app and nonprofit.
ECAB hosts a monthly meeting on the third Friday of each month, where students and faculty members can present their different business ideas to the board.
The ECAB meeting is a way for entrepreneurs to be awarded grant money to further their ideas.
Jeffrey Rupp, the E-Center’s director of outreach, said the event is similar to the show “Shark Tank,” where people present business pitches to potential investors.
Freshman Amanda Swanton, a student who presented a nonprofit idea, described what the meeting was like.
“I gave my presentation, and everyone sat and listened; and as soon as it was over, they asked questions about my cause, what we would do with the grant, how we would market it and they also asked questions about our advisory board,” Swanton said.
Before pitching at the board meeting, entrepreneurs are required to complete the first step of the VentureCatalyst program.
This first step is a pitch to peers rather than to a board of faculty and professionals. Once students pass the first step, they are awarded $500 with the chance to successfully gain more money to kick-start their business plans into action.
“Students who have gone through our first step are allowed to come pitch their ideas in front of our board,” Rupp said.
ECAB can grant a student up to $7,500 through the process.
A majority of people pitching their ideas are students, ranging from freshmen to seniors, though faculty and staff are allowed to come pitch to the board, as well.
“Right now, we have over 100 active students, and we have 39 majors represented in that,” Rupp said.
On Friday, there were two students who pitched their ideas to the board.
One student presented an app that brings bands, promoters and agents together so they can connect.
MusicaForum is meant for music gurus to find shows and look for new talent, said JD Walters, senior business information systems major, who pitched the idea. It is a performance platform meant to connect people in the music industry and provide entertainment more efficiently.
“I am hoping to make this a nationwide thing where it can be seamless for small businesses to easily get shows organized,” Walters said.
Rupp said Walters’ pitch needs to be built on before they grant it funding at the next level, but ECAB invited him to come back and pitch again soon.
“We would like him to come back again this fall to answer some more questions and build on the idea,” Rupp said.
Next, Swanton pitched her idea and the board granted her $2,000 so she could further the outreach of a nonprofit organization she runs.
This nonprofit is a 501c3 charity called the A85 Cure Foundation Inc. Its goal is to raise awareness for the medical condition Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS), which occurs when a change from lying to standing causes an immense increase in heart rate.
“This organization is about everyone who suffers from this, because there’s an average of 750,000 Americans suffering and about three million more around the world,” Swanton said. “Our goal is to connect them and share their stories.”
This nonprofit organization strives to put POTS on the map to ensure the public is aware of the condition.
Rupp pointed out how unusual granting money to a nonprofit organization is for ECAB, but also made it clear that Swanton made a compelling and impressive argument as to why she should receive such a grant.
ECAB meetings take place in McCool Hall, where students can come and present their ideas, get feedback and possibly receive a grant to push their business ideas into action.