Two undergraduates made efficient use of their time — impressing judges and winning cash prizes in 90 seconds — Dec. 8 at an elevator pitch contest held at the Rhode Island Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Providence.
At the contest, sponsored by the Rhode Island Business Plan Competition 2011, college students and business veterans alike described business ideas to a panel — as if making a pitch to a CEO who only has an elevator ride's worth of time to evaluate a proposal.
Theresa Raimondo '11 won the $300 first prize for her business idea, a thermos that can heat or cool beverages from 50 to 150 degrees Fahrenheit within 90 seconds. Anshu Vaish '12 received a $50 prize for his pitch about WaterWalla, an organization already in existence and run by undergraduates that brings clean water to urban slums around the world.
Raimondo entered the contest as part of her ENGN 1930G: "Entrepreneurship I" class. She and her team of classmates were assigned the general task of improving astronaut food with the help of mentors from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. After research and interviews with astronauts, the team discovered that neither hot nor cold beverages are available in space due to energy constraints. This inspired the team to design a thermos using portable thermoelectric technology.
Raimondo said the group did not plan on actually marketing the product at the beginning of the semester, but the group's win in the contest might change that.
"We would consider it now," said Raimondo. "It's gotten a lot more recognition than we expected. We're entering the Rhode Island Business Plan Competition. If everything goes well, it's a definite possibility."
The group will use their prize money toward a prototype of the thermos as part of this semester's class.
Jason Beckman '11, co-president of the Brown Entrepreneurship Program, noted the importance of being able to pitch a complicated business idea in a short amount of time. The program — which offers mentoring and networking services to students with an interest in beginning their own business venture — offers its own annual elevator pitch competition with a cash reward of $1,000 to the best 45-second pitch.
"In terms of captivating an audience, a small dose is really useful," Beckman said. "To be able to distill an idea down into a minute's length and sell the idea they're working on is an essential skill."
Raimondo said that this challenge of brevity was also one of the more difficult aspects of the competition.
"It's challenging to give enough information in 90 seconds that you convince someone that your idea is useful and worthwhile," she said. "Getting people interested quickly is a useful skill to have."
WaterWalla, Vaish's group, began seven months ago and has raised $17,000. Vaish said group members felt an obligation to use their resources — especially a Brown education — to give back to others in the form of better health. The Hindi word "walla" roughly translates to "provider of."
After assessing the needs of different communities in India, WaterWalla sells technological solutions to local vendors at no profit.
According to WaterWalla's website, diseases related to water toxicity cause 90 percent of the deaths of children in Dharavi, the slum in Mumbai, India where the project began.
"If all else fails, if we save the life of just one child, it will all be worth it," Vaish said.
