The Idea Pitch
THE 2024 IDEA PITCH
Eight finalists will pitch their business ideas to a panel of judges. All finalists will win a cash prize.
Meet the Idea Pitch Finalists
Ishwor Acharya - Legacy Webs
1st Place
Sai Venkata Aravind Bandhanadam - Smart Apply
Olivia Fenneken - Fidget-able, collectable bracelets
3rd Place
Nick Hugar - Boobys Coffee and Tea
Marissa Jackson - Beauticase
2nd Place
Niree Lowe - Niree's Boutique
Bradley Smith - Entrepreneurial podcast
Kay Strahler - WanderLust Remedies
2024 JUDGES
Greg Basford - Former Owner, Heritage Packaging LLC
Greg Basford is a seasoned professional with over 35 years of experience in the packaging industry. Throughout his career, he held roles ranging from salesperson to general manager, working with companies of various sizes, including Fortune 500 corporations. From 2007 to 2020, he owned and operated Heritage Packaging LLC in Lincoln, IL. In 2020, he sold his business and transitioned into semi-retirement. Greg is a Kent State alum, obtaining a B.S. in Business Management in 1985. He is married with two children—a 26-year-old son (also a Kent State graduate) and a 25-year-old daughter.
Betsy Engels - Founder, Acer Business Consultants
Betsy joined Acer in 2014 and launched Acer Business Consulting in 2018 to focus on helping local manufacturing companies grow. She has over 30 years’ of experience in manufacturing and has worked on growth initiatives ranging from building a sales and marketing team to evaluating mergers and acquisitions to driving new product development initiatives. Betsy has worked in metal processing and metal forming industries has experience in a broad range of materials related industries including steel processing, machining, forging, additive manufacturing and electroplating. She has a bachelor’s degree in Materials and Metallurgical Engineering from The University of Michigan and an MBA from The University of Houston.
Amalia Munteanu - EIR and Executive Coach
Amalia Munteanu is an integrated marketing and advertising executive with 20 years of media industry experience across digital and television. She’s an award-winning marketer and story-teller, who’s led digital marketing and brand partnerships for NBC Universal. She led integrated partnerships for shows such as Tonight Show, Saturday Night Live, The Office, This Is Us, with many of the world's premiere brands including Google, T-Mobile, AMEX, Microsoft, Ford, Samsung and more. Her expertise is in building brands across platforms, driving revenue through partnerships, and strategic communications across media channels. Throughout her corporate experience, Amalia has demonstrated a passion for developing talent into business leaders. She is now bringing those executive coaching skills to Kent State's Ambassador Crawford College. Amalia holds a BA in Psychology and an MBA from Kent State University.
Faith Voinovich - Principal, Ohio Innovation Fund
Faith Voinovich serves as a key member of the investment team at Ohio Innovation Fund. She has led investments spun out of top research institutions, assisted companies in raising tens of millions in follow on funding, and served in a variety of board director, board advisor, and board observer roles, including at Invirsa, Clarametyx, Genetesis, DatAnchor, Complion (merged with RealTime CTMS), and Stirling Ultracold (exited to BioLife Solutions, NASDAQ: BLFS). In addition to her investment work, Faith is passionate about making venture capital more accessible, especially to demographics underrepresented across the industry. She's a founding mentor for VentureForward's Mentor Forward program, leads the OIF Student Experience Program (SEP), and serves as a College Coach for Breakthrough New York. Faith received the Rising Star Award from the National Venture Capital Association in 2023.
ABOUT THE IDEA PITCH
Pitch Your Idea for Funding
The Kent State Ambassador Crawford College of Business and Entrepreneurship’s John S. and Marlene J. Brinzo Center for Entrepreneurship is now offering a fall pitch competition for students who have an idea. The Idea Pitch Competition creates an opportunity for students to receive mentoring and feedback on their business idea, as well as win seed money. Student finalists pitch to a panel of judges. All finalists win a cash prize, and the first-place winner earns a guaranteed spot as Spring Pitch finalist.
Presenting Sponsor:
Ohio Innovation Fund (OIF) is a venture capital firm based in Columbus, Ohio whose member institutions include Kent State University, The Ohio State University and Ohio University. The OIF team has turned ideas into over $10 billion of market value, including several Initial Public Offerings and acquisitions by SAP, Medtronic, Dell, Intuit and Stryker. OIF's companies have been featured in prominent media outlets such as CNN, Forbes and The Wall Street Journal. Many Fortune 500 companies and leading universities are customers of OIF’s portfolio, and their strategic partners include Microsoft, Facebook, Citi and SAP, among others. Combined revenue growth was approximately 100 percent between 2016 and 2017 for OIF’s portfolio.
Bill Baumel oversees all operations of The Ohio Innovation Fund (OIF), a venture capital firm based in Columbus, Ohio. OIF has the largest early-stage venture capital portfolio of Ohio-based companies. Member institutions include Kent State University, The Ohio State University and Ohio University. OIF’s companies have been featured in prominent media such as CNN, Forbes and The Wall Street Journal. Many of the Fortune 500 and leading universities are customers of OIF’s portfolio companies, and their strategic partners include Microsoft, Facebook, Citi, and SAP, among others. Combined revenue growth was approximately 100% between 2016 and 2017 for OIF’s portfolio.
Turning "Bold Ideas" into thriving enterprises is what OIF partners with entrepreneurs to accomplish. One such bold idea was from a diabetic, who each night worried that they might not wake up in the morning because their glucose levels may go too low overnight, and the only diabetic testing was periodic finger pricks. Out of that bold idea came Dexcom and its continuous glucose monitor, which provides a glucose reading to diabetics' mobile devices every five minutes. A great step forward for diabetics, and a company now worth over $10 billion. This could be you!
OIF fosters commercialization efforts at KSU, OSU, and OU through appointments to university's Accelerator Award Committees, sponsoring internship programs, career linkage among member schools’ students/alumni and OIF companies, speaking engagements, mentoring of faculty members, incubating faculty start-ups, and guest course, panel, and business plan competition participation.
With more than twenty years of experience investing in Silicon Valley, and close ties with a significant network of key Silicon Valley leaders, Bill has spent his career investing in venture capital-backed emerging growth companies. Awarded Venture 100 status as one of the top 100 VC’s in the United States, with successful exits via multiple Initial Public Offerings and acquisitions by companies such as Medtronic, Dell, SAP, Intuit, and Stryker. Areas of focus include SaaS, Big Data, Cyber Security, Med Tech, and Advanced Manufacturing. Having served as a CEO, COO and CFO of successful public and private companies, he understands what it takes to build and scale a leading company in a high growth market.
Learn More | Ohio Innovation Fund
Contact Us
Linda Hale - Marketing Manager of The Brinzo Center
Phone: 330-672-7890
Email: lhale9@kent.edu
Shawn Rohlin Ph.D. - Director of The Brinzo Center, Professor of Economics
Phone: 330-672-1098
Email: srohlin@kent.edu
Nick Petrella - Entrepreneur in Residence
Phone: 330-672-5826
Email: npetrel3@kent.edu