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Chaifetz Center for Entrepreneurship Hosts 7th Annual Real Elevator Pitch Competition

Starting a business or inventing a new product is possible at any age. The Real Elevator Pitch Competition held in St. Louis every year gives high school and undergraduate business students the opportunity to pitch their ideas, ranging from medical devices to probiotic snacks, to executives.

Chaifetz School of Business' Chaifetz Center for Entrepreneurship hosted the 7th Annual Real Elevator Pitch Competition on Sunday, December 2 at the Metropolitan Square Building in Downtown St. Louis. Students from SLU's Chaifetz School of Business participated in the event, as well as students from other universities across the U.S. and Canada.

Student pitches her idea to an elevator full of judges.

Thirty-five judges from different backgrounds provided well-rounded expertise in critiquing how well students were able to articulate and pitch their business ideas. The seven students with the best elevator pitches, three from the high school division and four from the college division, were awarded cash prizes.

High school winners include Ian Crossey with his idea Nova Bus, a carpooling app that allows students to request and give rides for school events, Charlie Steinbaum with his business to develop, produce and dispatch a nationwide network of quick charging stations for electric vehicles and Emily Tai with Custom Clothing Inc., an Etsy shop that produces customized sweatshirts.

In the college division, Peter Holmes from University of Waterloo won 1st place with Methane Chain, a hardware and software company providing leak detection to the oil and gas industry.

2nd place went to Isabel Reed from University of Iowa with her idea, Comigo, a web platform for college students to find potential collaborators on their campus.

3rd place was tied between Albert Mora from University of Waterloo with a medical device and Brianna Makaric from Michigan State University with her idea, Brite Bites, a natural probiotic snack.

The Chaifetz Center for Entrepreneurship in the business school works with students to develop their networking skills and their business ideas to prepare students to succeed at competitions and in the business world. The center holds national competitions to spark entrepreneurial ideas at Saint Louis University and beyond, providing opportunities like the Real Elevator Pitch competition to inspire students to develop their ideas into actual businesses.