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Pitch Your Idea, Win $1000: Penn State’s “1000 Pitches”

Warm up your vocal cords, practice your power stance, and put on your best bow-tie, because 1000 Pitches is coming to Penn State.

Through 1000 Pitches, Penn Staters can “pitch” their solution to a social or technological problem for a chance at $1000. Here are the details:

  • Each student can pitch up to three ideas, via video, on www.1000pitches.com.

  • The pitches can be anywhere from 30 seconds to three minutes in length.

  • Each pitch must be submitted to one of nine categories: Environment, Health, Consumer Products & Small Business, PSU Improvements, Education, Web & Software, Tech & Hardware, and Mobile Apps.

  • A winner will be selected from each category and will receive $1000 in funding.

  • All submissions must be submitted by November 1.

1000 Pitches — created by University of Michigan’s student entrepreneurship group, MPowered — is now one of the biggest student-driven entrepreneurial competitions in the country. In 2012, U of M entrepreneurs submitted 4,500 “pitches”. Penn State is taking aim at an even bigger total in its first year of competition.

At Penn State, 1000 Pitches will be led by Innoblue, Penn State’s very own student entrepreneurship group. The competition will sponsored by Microsoft, Smeal’s Farrell Center for Corporate Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Ben Franklin Technology PArtners, Penn State’s Entrepreneurship minor, and Centre Region Entrepreneur Network.

Eli Kariv, President of Innoblue, said 1000 Pitches is a great chance for students to take the first step toward making their business ideas a reality.

“1000 pitches is this huge competition — the biggest pitching combination you’ve ever heard of — that allows Penn State students to make a thousand bucks, and it allows them to take the first step towards taking your idea, and turning it into a start-up, a non-profit, whatever it is they want to do,” Kariv said. “We’ll help you turn your idea into a company, into a success, into a money-maker. Stop talking about it, and start doing it.”

Winning submissions will be on display at the 1000 Pitches Summit from 2 to 6 p.m. November 17 at the Nittany Lion Inn, Ballrooms A and B. Scheduled speakers at the summit include Todd Erdley, President and CEO of Videon in addition to representatives from Microsoft and Ben Franklin TechCelerators.

To submit your pitch or find out more about the competition, check out 1000pitches.com.

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About the Author

CJ Doon

CJ is a senior journalism major from Long Island and Onward State's Sports Editor. He is a third-generation Penn Stater, and his grandfather wrestled for the university back in the 1930s under coach Charlie “Doc” Speidel. Besides writing, one of his favorite activities is making sea puns. You can follow him on Twitter @CJDoon, and send your best puns to [email protected], just for the halibut.

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