Two ideas tie in students' business pitch contest
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Nov. 30—HIGH POINT — Two business ideas ended up tied for first place in High Point University's annual competition for students to pitch their ideas for business ventures to a panel of judges.
Addison Antico and Jordan Rubin earned $5,000 for their idea, MJ Bottle, and Alexander Malyszko also won the same amount for Your Personal Jeweler.
The annual Elevator Pitch Competition is a part of HPU's Global Entrepreneurship Week. There were 21 students competing this year for funding to launch their companies or continue working on their business ideas.
Antico and Rubin, both seniors majoring in strategic communication, said their product is an all-in-one baby formula feeding bottle, and they are in the process of patenting it. The product is named for Antico's nephew, Matthew Jr.
"We named the bottle after him because that is how this problem first arose," said Antico, who is from Sherborn, Massachusetts. "My partner and I are excited to use the winning funds to further our invention and eventually get it into stores."
Your Personal Jeweler helps independent jewelers run their business with a "back office" solution. Malyszko, a senior from Terrell, said his product helps with accounting, marketing, advising services, systems management and network resources.
"I actually got the idea for this model after listening to the founder of MyEyeDr. speak at HPU," he said. "In the same way optometrists spend years learning their craft and struggle to run their own practice, Your Personal Jeweler takes this health care management model and adapts it to the jewelry industry."
Quentin Barrial of Atlanta took second place and earned $2,500 for The Condiment Spreader, a utensil that looks like a spatula to scrape the outer edges of a condiment jar and help eliminate food waste.
Third place and $1,500 went to Jack Hammond for Fish Stick, a product that retrieves expensive fishing lures from trees and underwater structures to avoid hazards to wildlife in the area.
The following runners-up earned $1,000 each for their businesses: Vincent Scavo V; Ivana Korankyi; Cole Brisson; Kema Leonard; Jess Marley and Blake Newell; and Maddie Drobny and Lauren McAtee.
