On Friday, March 31, a competition will be held for students to present inventive ideas with the chance of winning up to $3,000.
“Students work to develop a pitch deck and present it to a distinguished panel of judges who are passionate about innovation and entrepreneurship,” said Bill McTier, senior lecturer at ETSU and one of the original founders of the competition.
Starting at 10 a.m., this will be an intense all-day event held in the Martin Center where participants will get a real-world idea of what it is like to pitch to investors. It also promotes collaboration since students across the university will be working together.
The competition is open to all ETSU students; participants and winners have come from different majors and departments, not just business. The organizers encourage all students, staff, family, friends and anyone from the Johnson City community to attend.
The first iBucs took place in 2017, and the winner came up with an app that went on to become a functioning business. Past students have developed many different apps that expand from landscaping to medical devices.
“Students learn so much from the experience,” said McTier. “Not only do they get to present their great ideas, but they also get to refine their presentation and research skills.”
The event will kick off with guest speaker, Jeff Bedard, CEO of Crown Laboratories. Students will then begin pitching presentations with a Q&A from the judges after each one, and after all pitches have been heard, they will be judged.
“The judges are active in the field right now, so the feedback and questions that students get at the end of their pitch is what you get in the real world,” said Sonu Mirchandani, a faculty member for the College of Business and Technology.
In the future, McTier and Mirchandani hope to get start-up companies to set up booths at the event for networking. They also hope to eventually expand the competition to other nearby universities.
For more information on the event or to enter, visit www.etsu.edu/ibucs. The deadline to sign up is Wednesday, March 15.
