Students pitch their business ideas during annual competition

Northwest business students – including a team for SipSync in the foreground – shared their business ideas with local professionals on Friday during an exhibit portion of the annual New Venture Pitch competition. (Photo by Lilly Cook/Northwest Missouri State University)

Northwest Missouri State University business students and avid hunters Xander Waugh, Bradley Sifford, Ethan Freiermuth and Brock Stout believed they had a worthy business idea as they developed their plan for a mobile app to help people like them connect with hunting dogs and handlers.

On Friday, their business pitch for the app, “Pointed,” earned them first prize at Northwest’s annual New Venture Pitch competition. They also took home $2,500 that they can use to pursue their startup idea.

With an app that could help hunters find dogs that best suit their needs, the group argued, individuals can save time and money – and enhance their success rates when locating and recovering game.  

Northwest students, from left to right, Bradley Sifford, Brock Stout and Ethan Freiermuth, had the winning business pitch with their idea for a mobile app to help hunters connect with dogs and handlers. (Photo by Lilly Cook/Northwest Missouri State University)

“Hunting was something that we were all already really passionate about since we were kids, and hunting’s something that we’ve always done,” Freiermuth, a senior financial management major from Lee’s Summit, Missouri, said. “We just talked about it one day that we all had experiences of not having hunting dogs. And we thought, ‘Hey, there’s a big market that we could fill for this.”

In all, eight teams of entrepreneurial-minded students pitched their business ideas to a panel of business professionals in hopes of earning some funding and turning their plans into a realistic venture.

During three rounds of competition, the teams – who presented ideas ranging from fitness and budgeting apps to a luxury dining table and a refrigerator with AI capabilities – participated in elevator pitches, exhibit presentations and then a final 10-minute pitch with a question-answer session.

Teams of judges, who are business leaders and Northwest alumni from throughout the region, evaluate each presentation and rank teams on the effectiveness and persuasiveness of their presentations as well as the innovation and quality of their ideas, the competitive advantage of their proposed businesses, effective discussion of financials and proposed management teams. Ultimately, judges base their final decisions on how likely they would be to invest their own money in one of the proposals.

Participating Northwest students were enrolled this spring in the University’s entrepreneurship course, a requirement for business management majors.

“The real purpose of the course is to give them the experience of starting something brand new – that no one’s ever done before, something that’s innovative – and then develop that ongoing business concern or develop a startup to get them to figure out what’s needed for a startup,” Gail Cullen, an adjunct instructor for the course, said. “We do a lot of research in all of the different areas. The ultimate goal, besides the pitch, is the final business plan, where they have a marketing plan. They have finance. They put all of the pieces together that would start a new business and use that experience to move forward with their knowledge.”

Left to right, Sophie Hiebert, Mia Ernzen and Emma Easton pitched their business idea for all-in-one wearable massage vest. (Photo by Lilly Cook/Northwest Missouri State University)

Students said they enjoyed the ways the contest and their preparation for it tested not only their business acumen and research skills but their presentation and public speaking abilities.

“Just to experience what it actually is like to run a business, start a business up, it’s something that I wasn’t really expecting to get this experience, being in this class,” said Stout, who is graduating from Northwest this spring with his bachelor’s degree in business management and financial management and has secured a sale role at a health insurance company. “I thought I was going to come here to just learn about what entrepreneurs do, but getting the actual experience to learn about it and actually experience it and then go out and ask investors for money, that’s definitely a cool experience.”

The competition’s runner-up was SipSync – an idea of Morgan Quetschenbach, Mason Swaney, Jake Froesch and Logan Steinhauser to offer a water bottle with built-in sensors so consumers may more easily track their hydration. The team earned $1,500 for their pitch.

Core Relief – a team comprising students Emma Easton, Mia Ernzen, Sophie Hiebert – claimed the third-place prize of $1,000. They pitched an all-in-one wearable massage vest.

“It was really interesting to try and come up with a product that isn't fully invented yet and just go through the whole business process of trying to create it,” Hiebert, a junior marketing and business management major from Kansas City, Missouri, said. “The financials were very interesting to try and create as well for a product that doesn’t exist yet, but it was an interesting class. I would recommend it to others.”

Funding support for the competition was provided by the Melvin D. & Valorie G. Booth Endowment Fund. In addition to the prizes awarded to finalists, all participants received a Walmart gift card.