SPC Students in the Shark Tank

This Thursday, April 30th, the Seminole campus chapter of the Collegiate Entrepreneurship Organization will hold its fifth annual business plan and elevator pitch competition in the Digitorium at 6 PM.

Six finalists will compete for more than 10,000 dollars! This year’s finalists in the business plan competition are Brett Berner, Nykko Ford, and Benjamin Woods. In the elevator pitch contest the finalists are Michael Ganote, Rebecca Rodriquez, and David Thut. Carmen Cruz, Quentin Cumings, Kara Gilson, Kathleen Loney, and Luz Perry are competing for four special recognition awards, each worth 250 dollars.

An SPC student films her pitch in the Innovation Lab. Photo credit: Chad Mairn.

Four Tampa Bay area business leaders will serve as judges for the competition including, Tonya Elmore, President of the Tampa Bay Innovation Center, Dr. Cynthia Johnson, Ed. D, Senior Manager at the Pinellas County Economic Development Center, Mark E. Swanson, VP Bright House Networks, and Chuck Papageorgiou, CEO and Founder of International Screening Solutions, and managing partner of Ideasphere. Contestants will be judged on a number of criteria including innovativeness of the idea, creative market strategy, and strength of the leadership team. See the full list here.

A number of students came to the lab to work on presentation materials and get mentoring from the staff and volunteers. We want to wish all the contestants the best of luck in the upcoming competition! Come out and support Tampa Bay’s future business leaders on April 30th at 6 P.M. in the SPC Seminole campus Digitorium, RSVP here.