Celebrating 15 years of amazing elevator pitches!

About the Elevator Pitch Competition (EPC)

Sponsored by:

The Grove City College Elevator Pitch Competition, established in 2007, affords all students the opportunity to pitch their new venture ideas to a panel of judges, offering cash prizes in two categories – Commercial Enterprise and Social Enterprise. The competition is open to students from all majors. For team ventures, all members must be present, and one student will deliver the pitch. If registering as a team, only one student from the team should complete the official “GCC Elevator Pitch Application Form,” but each teammate and his/her contact information should be listed. It is free to enter the competition.

The “elevator” pitch is a frequently used term, which literally means “tell me about your new venture within the time it would take to ride up an elevator.” The goal of the Elevator Pitch Competition is to teach students to communicate effectively and allow their charisma and positive characteristics to shine through in just a short pitch. The Elevator Pitch Competition demonstrates the networking and presentation skills essential to any entrepreneur or business professional. Please note that ideas may be at any stage of development from creation of concepts or ideas to an established venture.

Who Should Participate?

The Grove City College Elevator Pitch Competition is currently open only to Grove City College students.
GCC students interested in enhancing their presentation skills
GCC students who want to explore the idea of starting a new venture
GCC students planning to possibly prepare/vet your idea for VentureLab and/or the Wolverine Venture Battle

Why Participate?

This is your chance to showcase your talents and passion for changing the world through entrepreneurship + innovation.
It’s an opportunity to present your commercial or social idea in a positive atmosphere.
Why not receive recognition for the merits of the presentation of your idea with the possibility of cash awards?

How will the 2021 Elevator Pitch Competition go down?

Timeline 2021

September 17: Registration Closes

October 1: Video Submission Deadline

October 22: Finalists Announced

November 10: Final Round

Commercial Enterprise Prizes:

1st Place-$500

2nd Place-$400

3rd Place-$300

4th Place-$200

5th Place-$100

Social Enterprise Prizes:

1st Place-$500

2nd Place-$400

3rd Place-$300

BONUS: FAN FAVORITE PRIZE–$100

(audience votes)

Grove City Foundation Social Impact Prize–$250*

*awarded to one social enterprise team

2021 FINALISTS

COMMERCIAL ENTERPRISE:

Safe n’ Tasty | Caroline Dawson ’25 Entrepreneurship

Allergy Stick | Drake Muir ’25 Business Economics

Keep Yo Capo | Jenna Knepper ’25 Marketing

Greener Packaging | Madalyn Fry ’23 Biology

Epi-let | Mark Wilhelm ’23 Entrepreneurship

Divine Creation | Mia White ’25 Design and Innovation

Speed Swipe | Micah Fazekas ’25 Marketing

H2Only | Shelton Brower ’24 Marketing

ShowerRite | Sierra Nagy ’23 Business Management

Fully Adjustable Window Screen | Victor Schultz ’25 Design and Innovation

SOCIAL ENTERPRISE:

Broken Light | Emma Whiteford ’24 English

Vibe | Gus Minotto ’23 Biblical and Religious Studies

Code Purpose | Logan Richardson ’24 Computer Science

Kids Too | Molly McCommons ’25 Undecided

Culinary Corrections Co | Oliver Schwarz ’25 Entrepreneurship

Mosquitocide | Peter Judge ’25 Computer Science

ROUND 1

Registration

To register, students are required to complete the online form by clicking on the button below. Once registered, students should starting working to create and record their elevator pitch as ALL REGISTRANTS WILL ADVANCE TO ROUND 2!

Information Required:

Name of your venture
Is it social or commercial?
Individual/Team Member(s) Information
Short idea description (1-2 sentences)

REGISTRATION IS NOW CLOSED!

User's Guide

Social Enterprise Judging Rubric

Commercial Enterprise Judging Rubric

ROUND 2

Video Submission

In a video recording that is no longer than two minutes, deliver your pitch to the Elevator Pitch Review Panel. The EPC Review Panel will choose the TOP SCORING TEAMS to compete in ROUND 3 (FINALS) based on the judging rubrics (above).

Feedback will be provided to the finalists in order to guide them as to how they should proceed to strengthen their pitch in the final round.

Information to consider and include in your pitch:

• What is the problem? Tell a story! Paint a picture!
• What is your solution?
• What is your organization’s name, and who are you?
• Why you?
• What is it like/similar to?
• How is it different from the competition?
• How are you going to make money? (Social = become sustainable)
• How can you expand in the future?

The submission deadline has passed!

ROUND 3—FINALS

Final Presentations; Wednesday, November 10

Join us as the Finalists pitch their Commercial or Social Enterprise idea in a live final presentation. Audience members can vote for the FAN FAVORITE! EVERYONE is invited to attend.

Check out competitions from years past!

See who won, watch the pitches, and get the intel you need to win this year!

2021

2020

2019

2018

2021 Reviewers

Many thanks to all of the Reviewers who watched and evaluated the student pitches in Round 2!

Toby Basalla
Tiffany Bicek
Cliff Blendermann
Chris Botting
John Brier
Jonathan Brutt
Justin Bushko
Tim Colussy
Leslie Craven
Dan Creston
Jeff Curran
Brad Dearborn
Kris Deemer
Lisa DiFalco
Jay DiNucci
Rachel Ellison
Ruth Entwistle
Sondra Fisher
Kim Ford
Collin Foster
RJ Fryan
Chuck Gaetano
Dennis Gilfoyle
Jennifer Gilliland
Curt Given

Brian Gongaware
Glenn Grossman
John Holt
Jordan Horst
William Howell
Edward Huttenhower
Robert Keller
Andrew Kmiec
Karolina Lagerquist
Beth Lepore
Marjorie Loresch
Evan Lowe
Bill Lucas
Kim Marks
Beth Marraccini
Dean Marraccini
Wendy Marshall
Lauren Marts
Drew McCandless
Glenn McDonald
Scott McDowell
Winifred McGee
Alan Mesches
Ronald Miller
Brian Montgomery

Scott Moran
Jeff Moxie
Curt Newill
Victoria O’Brien
Elisabeth O’Brien
Susan Parrett
Robin Parsons
Mark Pentz
Levi Roberts
Steven Roman
Kelly Shields
Joshua Shull
Neil Skoriak
Bill Smith
Zachary Smith
Steve Solman
Heather Starcher
Cameron Suorsa
Allyson Sveda
Ben Tobias
Brenda Vinton
Joshua Weatherstone
Steve Wickman
James Will
Lesley Winfield