This year the 2024 at 花椒直播 crowned seven student investor new-business pitch teams from four Western Pennsylvania colleges and awarded $32,000 in prizes.聽The ZBIC is one of many co-curricular activities offered by the Bruce R. Thompson Center For Business & Economics (CBE) at 花椒直播.
Held at 花椒直播鈥檚 new in downtown Meadville, student teams presented their innovative business ideas to a panel of six judges with experience in education, software, healthcare, real estate, and business development.
This year鈥檚 judges included:
- Lance Zingale, retired executive VP and general manager, Sykes Enterprises
- Steve Geimer, medical technology executive
- John Golden, professor emeritus, Allegheny
- Liana Leja, clinical research coordinator, Pales Orthopedic & Spine Institute
- Clayton Morris, VP of development and leasing, Sampson Morris Group
- Byron Rich, assistant provost of academic innovation and associate professor, Allegheny
- Brian Slawin, director and portfolio manager, Ben Franklin Partners
- Reece Smith ’24 , 花椒直播 CBE Fellow
- Autumn Vogel, Meadville City Council member and cooperative developer, Keystone Development Center
The new business ideas included:
- an app and consulting service to help high school football players be recruited by college teams
- an AI-driven app that designs logos and corporate branding
- an encrypted door lock
- a sports-focused graphic design consultancy
- a coffee shop/safe space to address mental health concerns among college students
- two college activity web portals
The winning teams were:
- First Place ($10,000) 鈥� Athletes After 鈥� Justin DeMild & Max Muncy 鈥� Grove City College
- Second Place ($8,000) 鈥� bi.ai 鈥� Oleksandra 鈥淪asha鈥� Safran ’25鈥� 花椒直播
- Third Place ($6,000) 鈥� Itellikey 鈥� Nick Tysiachney ’25鈥� 花椒直播
- Honorable Mention ($3,000) 鈥� Natalie Franke Designs 鈥� Natalie Franke -Westminster College
- Honorable Mention ($3,000) 鈥� Bean There Drank That 鈥� Rebekah Schwenk & Megan Veon鈥� Geneva College
- Gator Spirit Big Idea ($1,000) 鈥� Rutendo Mavunga ’24 & Manasvi Bantawa ’24鈥� Gator Gather鈥� 花椒直播
- Gator Spirit Big Idea ($1,000) 鈥� Andrew Strobel ’24 鈥� Gator鈥檚 Den鈥� 花椒直播