Pirate’s Pitch 2023

Calling all student entrepreneurs! You are invited to compete for $16K in prizes in the Pirates Pitch Startup Competition!

The Stillman School of Business Center of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE) is once again sponsoring the annual Pirates Pitch Startup Competition. All SHU students, both undergraduate and graduate students, are invited to enter the first round of this exciting event. In Pirates Pitch, student teams comprised of one to six students have an opportunity to develop and pitch an innovative startup idea to a panel of successful alumni entrepreneurs and faculty members who will serve as judges. At least one member of the team must be a student enrolled at Seton Hall University. Other team members must be college students as well, although not necessarily at SHU. Applications to enter the contest are due Friday, March 3.

To enter the contest, all you need to do is think of an innovative business idea and flesh out the first steps toward reaching your goal to launch that new venture. Or, if you are already running your own business, tell us your plan to expand and grow your venture. The student teams that advance to the Finalists round, to be held on Wednesday April 12, will compete for $16,000 in seed funding prizes and professional services.

Judges will select first, second, and third place winners. The first-place winning team will receive $8,000 in seed funding; the second-place will be awarded $4,500, and third place will secure $3,000. The audience will also have a chance to vote for their favorite team for the $500 Audience Choice Award. Our law firm sponsor, Santomassimo Davis LLP, will provide legal assistance to the Pirates Pitch finalists. Finalists teams will also receive a free subscription to LivePlan business development software. For more information, visit the Pirates Pitch website.

Don’t know where to start? Don’t worry! The Center of Innovation and Entrepreneurship is hosting two free workshop events on Feb. 22 and March 1. Registration is required to attend. These workshops will cover how to enter the Pirates Pitch 2023 competition, how to create a winning application, and how to craft a compelling startup pitch. Each workshop will be held in Jubilee Hall room 528 from 7:00-8:00 p.m. and students can also participate via Microsoft Teams. Please register and find more information at the links below:

• February 22 Workshop – Creating a Winning Contest Application
• March 1 Workshop – Pitch Perfect: How to Create a Compelling Startup Pitch

Seeking assistance? CIE offers individualized coaching and mentoring sessions and will provide feedback on your business ideas. To make an appointment, please contact CIE Director Susan Scherreik at scherrsu@shu.edu.

Pirate’s Pitch 2022

Calling all aspiring student entrepreneurs! Do you dream of one day appearing on Shark Tank? Well, now is your chance to get your start at Seton Hall University.

The Center of Innovation and Entrepreneurship is once again sponsoring the Pirates Pitch Startup Competition and we are looking for fledgling student entrepreneurs just like you! In Pirates Pitch, student teams comprised of one to six students have an opportunity to develop and pitch an innovative startup idea to a panel of successful alumni entrepreneurs and venture capitalists who will serve as judges. The contest is open to all SHU students, both undergraduate and graduate students, and applications to enter the contest are due Monday Feb. 25.

To enter the contest, all you need to do is think of an innovative business idea and flesh out the first steps toward reaching your goal to launch that new venture. Or, if you are already running your own business, tell us your plan to expand and grow your venture. The student teams that make it to the FinaIists round, to be held on Tuesday April 5, will compete for $16,000 in seed funding prizes and professional services worth $30,000. Judges will award varying amounts based on how well each team impresses the judges. Our law firm sponsor, Santomassimo Davis LLP, will provide legal assistance to the Pirates Pitch finalists. Finalists teams will also receive a free subscription to LivePlan business development software. For more information, visit the Pirates Pitch website.

Don’t know where to start? Don’t worry! The Center of Innovation and Entrepreneurship is hosting three free workshop events on Wednesday evenings from February 9 through February 23. Registration is required to attend. These workshops will cover how to enter the Pirates Pitch 2022 competition, how to create a winning application, and how to craft a compelling startup pitch. Each workshop will be held in Jubilee Hall room 528 from 7:00-8:00 p.m. with an option to attend via Microsoft Teams. Please register and find more information at the links below:

• Feb. 9 Workshop: How to enter Pirates Pitch here
• Feb. 16 Workshop: Creating a winning contest application here
• Feb. 23 Workshop: Pitch Perfect: How to Create a Compelling Startup Pitch here

Seeking assistance? The Center of Innovation and Entrepreneurship offers individualized coaching and mentoring sessions and will provide feedback on your business ideas. To make an appointment, please contact center Director Susan Scherreik at scherrsu@shu.edu.

Pirate’s Pitch 2020

Five teams of Seton Hall University student entrepreneurs pitched their business ideas for more than $25,000 in venture capital seed funding at the 10th annual Pirates Pitch Startup Contest sponsored by the Stillman School of Business’ Center for Entrepreneurial Studies. The April 1 event, originally slated to be held before a live audience of several hundred students and faculty in Jubilee Hall, instead assumed a virtual format because of social distancing restrictions caused by the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak in the United States.

How did the virtual contest go?

Tremendously well, according to Joyce Strawser, dean of the Stillman School of Business. “These young entrepreneurs are an inspiration! Although they are at very different stages of concept development, each team has an intriguing business idea,” Strawser said. “I am especially impressed by the students’ ability to adapt so successfully to a virtual pitch presentation. Our judges provided some terrific advice, which I know students will find invaluable as they continue pursuing entrepreneurial ventures. In all, I am incredibly proud of our entrepreneurship community!”

All five teams received seed funding for their projects, with Stillman senior Noah Thompson taking home the largest amount at $6,500 for Agape, an athletic apparel ecommerce site that will allow shoppers to buy high quality merchandise at cost. Thompson, who also is a finance major and pitcher for the Seton Hall University baseball team, impressed the judges with his innovative retail model and his extensive research, including visiting factories in China last summer. He shared that Agape already sells customized leggings to sororities nationwide as a first step in building the business. His ultimate goal, he added, is to enable overseas factories to earn a fair profit while letting shoppers buy high-quality merchandise at cost. Agape will profit by charging shoppers a membership fee for access to bargain prices.

Buccino Leadership Institute sophomores Rachel Badway, a finance major, and Robin Schilke, an art and design major, pitched LeadAhead and received $4,500.
“In our tech focused world, we often forget to develop the leadership skills that help set professionals apart in the workplace,” Badway said. LeadAhead plans to teach key leadership skills through a series of fun and engaging activities that students can complete on their cell phones. The startup idea grew out of a leadership class project, with Badway and Schilke already employing skills and concepts they are learning in the leadership program.

The student team of sophomore Luke Tyler and junior Marian Bsharat, co-founders of Edith, were awarded $3,000 for their proposed digital workforce management software. The goal is to enable companies to boost productivity and employee retention rates by tracking early signs of worker burnout. Edith will then suggest work-flow changes to help each employee improve their job experience. Tyler is majoring in finance and minoring in computer science, and Bsharat is majoring in finance, entrepreneurship and marketing.

Faith Akinlade and Belen Gamarra were awarded $1,250 for their business idea KINetics, an app that would help members of health and fitness clubs with similar interests to meet each other to work out together. The app also encourages users to get together socially to improve their physical, mental and social health. Akinlade and Gamarra are both sophomores in the Buccino Leadership Institute, and Akinlade is a civil engineering and physics major, while Belen is majoring in psychology with a business minor. In November, the team won first place for their startup idea in the Health Care Transformation Challenge sponsored by Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey.

Seniors Anthony Conrad, Jevon Mitchell and Marcellus Counts, and junior Quintar Mathis were awarded $750 for Don’tStop.Skate, a mobile skate repair shop that would be similar to a food truck. They plan to create skate repair trucks that will frequent popular skate parks to provide instant repairs of wheels and boards so that the skating experience won’t be cut short. Otherwise, skaters can be out of commission for days while they find a repair shop and wait for repairs to be made. Conrad is majoring in management, Mitchell in finance, Counts in social and behavioral sciences, and Mathis in liberal studies with a communications minor.

As part of their awards, the student teams will receive pro bono legal services from attorneys Christopher Santomassimo and Anthony Davis and their staff at Santomassimo Davis LLC, a law firm with offices in Parsippany, and a sponsor of the Pirates Pitch startup contest.

To also encourage the student teams to continue to develop their startup business models, the judges told them each team can earn as much as $1,500 in additional venture seed money capital if the team successfully completes a new eight week virtual summer accelerator program being launched in May by the Center for Entrepreneurial Studies.

Susan Scherreik, founding director of the Center for Entrepreneurial Studies, expressed her pride in the student teams. “These young entrepreneurs demonstrated passion and drive as they overcame many obstacle to compete in Pirates Pitch this year,” she said. The Finalist Teams, she noted, worked remotely to write their required business plans, create five-minute videos that they submitted to the judges to substitute for live pitches, and then held question and answer sessions with the judges in video-conference sessions. “Pirates Pitch continues to grow and develop as a competition,” Scherreik added. “That growth is a reflection of both the limitless creativity and ingenuity of Seton Hall students and the planning and support of all of those involved.”

The alumni investor judges were:

• Bryan Jakovcic ’09, President and Owner, Fusion Health
• Rich McMahon ’87, CEO, cda Ventures and former CEO and President of Bed, Bath & Beyond, and Seton Hall University Regent
• Pravina Raghavan ’01, Executive Vice President, Division of Small Business and Community Economic Development at Empire State Development
• Gabino Roche Jr. ’98, CEO and Founder, Saphyre

During the competition, the judges shared how impressed they were with the caliber of the students’ ideas, the effort they put into their business plans and video presentations, and their poise during the question and answer sessions.

You all have done a great job and you all have what it takes to be very successful in life,” judge Bryan Jakovcic told the students during the contest video meeting.

“Pirates Pitch is a phenomenal way of encouraging the entrepreneurial spirit of students at Seton Hall University,” noted judge Pravina Raghavan. “It introduces young entrepreneurs to a network of experienced individuals who can provide valuable feedback that can take the ideas to the next level.”

Added judge Rich McMahon: “Entrepreneurs live and breathe their businesses, and I look forward to seeing you continuing to develop your startups in the summer accelerator program.”

To learn more about the student teams and their startup ideas, visit the Center for Entrepreneurial Studies Pirates Pitch webpage.

For more information about the new summer accelerator program, contact Director Susan Scherreik at Susan.Scherreik-Hynes@shu.edu.

Pirate’s Pitch 2019

Student Entrepreneurs Receive $16,000 from Investor Judges

By Juliana Arrabito and Joseph Murante, 

Hundreds of students, faculty and friends cheered on four student teams who pitched their business ideas for $16,000 in venture capital seed funding at the ninth annual Pirates Pitch Startup Contest sponsored by the Stillman School of Business’ Center for Entrepreneurial Studies. Urged on by John Fanta ’17 from Fox Sports Network and Big East Digital Network, who served as Master of Ceremonies for the April 3 event, the audience and investor-judges drilled down on what would make each potential business a success.

All teams received seed funding for their projects, with M.B.A. student Alissa Lopez, taking home the largest amount at $9,000 for Sincere Sitter, a website and app connecting caregivers and parents. With more than seven years experience as a babysitter, Lopez wowed the judges with her idea and business plan. Just last month Lopez’s idea led to her being selected as one of the final eight teams to pitch at the Student Startup Madness Entrepreneurial Competition at the South by SouthWest festival in Austin, Texas.

College of Nursing freshmen Allison Lamoureux, Katie Mazzarelli and Annemarie Ryan pitched Care Call and received $3,500. They worked closely on the project with a support team comprised of of Patricia Esposito, Isabel Finan, Gary Kraft, Julia Skerratt and Isabella Valentino. “Easy, efficient, effective,” Care Call would allow patients to communicate their exact needs to nurses through tablets and software, alerting the nurses to the specific nature of the concern. The goal is to reduce wait times, improve nursing procedures and increase patient satisfaction. The Care Call team, all members of the Nursing Cohort in the new Buccino Leadership Institute, also received the Audience Choice Award, earning an additional $500.

The student team of Peyton Elder and Olivia Finan from Flock were awarded $2,000 for their multiplatform application that would allow consumers to easily compare the food prices and wait times for popular food delivery services such as Uber Eats and GrubHub.

Steven Catudal, Elizabeth Win and Nathanael Boatswain were awarded $1,500 for their business idea Sprouts Analytics, which aspires to be the Bloomberg Data Service for cryptocurrencies, providing real-time data, news feeds and user forums.

Susan Scherreik, founding director of the Center for Entrepreneurial Studies, expressed her excitement about the event and the fearless nature and creativity of this group of student entrepreneurs.

“The goal of Pirates Pitch is to cultivate the ambitious drive of student entrepreneurs and assist those young professionals in making their ideas a reality,” said Scherreik. “Each year, Pirates Pitch continues to grow and develop as a competition. That growth is a reflection of both the limitless creativity and ingenuity of Seton Hall students and the planning and support of all those involved.”

The alumni investor judges were:

• John Auriemma ’81, founder and CEO of American Wear
• Michael Lucciola ’83/ M.B.A. ’86, CEO of Firefly Group
• Taseen Peterson ’14, Founder of Gamefuly
• Pravina Raghavan ’01, Executive Vice President at Empire State Development

During the competition, the judges shared how impressed they were by the caliber of the students’ ideas, the effort put into the business plans and the polished presentations.

“Pirates Pitch is a phenomenal way of encouraging the entrepreneurial spirit of students at Seton Hall,” said Raghavan. “It introduces the young entrepreneurs to a network of experienced individuals who can provide valuable feedback that can take the ideas to the next level.”

“This competition gives students the opportunity to formulate a business idea and have that idea manifest into a start-up,” said Auriemma. “The lessons that these teams learn from this experience will grant them a competitive advantage in their industries for years to come.”

Alumnus and former Pirates Pitch winner Christian Zeron ’16 advised the competitors and aspiring entrepreneurs on the importance of understanding the “why” in business. He shared that finding purpose in one’s work gives direction goes on to influence actions and choices for the business. Zeron’s vintage watch business, Theo and Harris, cracked $2 million in sales last year.

Pirate’s Pitch 2017

Students Awarded $10,000 in Prizes at Pirate’s Pitch