GVSU Idea Pitch winners spur entrepreneurism to new level of innovation

By: Deborah Johnson Wood

Last Thursday's Idea Pitch Competition gave 30 hopeful entrepreneurs the chance to pitch their product and business ideas—in 90 seconds—to judges and an audience of 75 people. The top three winners received $1,500, $900, and $400, respectively.

GVSU's student-run Collegiate Entrepreneurs Organization (CEO) and the Seidman College of Business Center for Entrepreneurship sponsored the competition for GVSU students.

"We heard outstanding pitches this year," says Kevin Orlich, event director. "The top five were really close."

Joel Soelberg took first for his broom and mop scraper attachment. Soelberg, a 25-year-old biomedical science major, worked in the janitorial industry eight years. He hated getting on his knees to scrape gunk off a floor or grout.

"The scraper's angled for scraping or scrubbing, it has a non-marring edge for linoleum or hardwood, and it attaches to an extender so you don't have to bend over to use it," says Soelberg. "The handle is part of the broom or mop handle, and there's a pole adapter within the handle."

Soelberg has a prototype and he's looking for a manufacturer.

Matthew Senko took second for software that sizes tattoos before they're inked. Currently, a design is printed, positioned on a person's body, and resized several times until it fits. Senko's software adjusts the tattoo against a digital photo of the customer.

The third place winner, Joe Pohlen, pitched his business, dormtshirts.com. Students upload their ideas for T-shirt designs, then email a link to friends asking them to vote for the design. Winning designs become available for purchase, the designer gets 10 percent of the sales. The site goes live November 2.

Source: Kevin Orlich, Collegiate Entrepreneurs Organization; Joel Soelberg; Joe Pohlen

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GVSU's Idea Pitch brings entrepreneurial dreams to light in 90 seconds or less