Purchase College Hosts 8th Annual Startup Pitching Competition For Student Entrepreneurs

On Tuesday, December 2, Purchase College, SUNY took a page from reality television when the Economic program presented its own startup pitching competition, modeled on the popular ABC show Shark Tank. The Eighth Annual Shark Tank Competition gave students on five teams the opportunity to pitch their business ideas to entrepreneurs and investors.

The judges and audience determined the winners who received awards for their business pursuits. The $4,500 in prizes was provided by the Dr. E. Lawrence Deckinger Family Foundation.

· This year’s grand prize of $3000 for new business idea went to Get Loaded, a company that will create a fun lounge for students to socialize when doing their laundry. The Get Loaded team included Isabella Millan-Pedraza, Sebastian Ford, Yordi Gonzalez, and Michael M. Rice.

· The second prize for $1,500 went to Tachynel Merveille, whose business idea, Tasty T Cuisine, is to provide home cooked Caribbean food to students late at night and to eventually open a restaurant in Manhattan.

· The Audience Favorite Prize for $1,000 went to Focus Frame, an AI fueled app to help students with executive functioning and time management skills. Focus Frame was designed by Johan Abreu, Binta Bah, Constantine Farinaccio, Anthony Cruz, and Liam Pheffer.

“Shark Tank offers Purchase students incredible opportunities. We have contestants who are already running their small businesses, and the competition provides them with the chance to contemplate scaling up and dreaming big. Additionally, we have students who only have their big idea, and Shark Tank assists them in formalizing it into a doable business plan,” said Assistant Professor of Economics, Iuliia Chikish, who spearheaded the competition.

Second prize-winner, Tachynel Merveille, reflected on the value of her experience, saying, “My biggest takeaway is that things rarely go exactly as planned, and that’s okay. What truly matters is having a well-developed idea and the confidence to present it with real passion. When you stand firmly behind what you’ve created, everything else tends to fall into place, so no matter how big or small the idea, do it!”

Audience favorite winner, Constantin Farinaccio said, ‘‘Participating in the Shark Tank competition was a genuinely eye-opening moment. The challenge sharpened our ability to pitch under pressure, and we're grateful to everyone who showed up and supported the event. We're excited to take what we've learned and channel it into even stronger pitches going forward. Sincere thanks to the Dr. E. Lawrence Deckinger Family Foundation for making this possible.’’

This year's Shark Tank event was made possible by generous contributions from the Dr. E. Lawrence Deckinger Family Foundation.

The “sharks” were a diverse group of entrepreneurs who provided invaluable feedback after each student’s presentation.

They included:

Jocelyn Greenkey Underwood

Business Transformation Strategist and Founder- SiderRoad

Katie Mayer

Purchase Alum and Founder of EarlyBird Coffee Shop, Briarcliff Manor

Nick Read

Founder and CFO of Read & Right LLC

Julie Tsai

Food Consultant

About Purchase College, SUNY

A top 10 public school, according to U.S. News & World Report, Purchase College, part of the State University of New York (SUNY) system, was founded in 1967 by Governor Nelson Rockefeller. His aspiration for Purchase was to create a dynamic campus that combined conservatory training in the visual and performing arts with programs in the liberal arts and sciences, in order to inspire an appreciation for both intellectual and artistic talents in all students. Today, Purchase College, SUNY is a community of students, faculty, and friends where open-minded engagement with the creative process leads to a lifetime of intellectual growth and professional opportunity. For more information about the college, visit www.purchase.edu.