Students pitch business ideas during fourth annual Pirate Entrepreneurship Challenge
Like many things over the past seven months, East Carolina University’s Pirate Entrepreneurship Challenge has gone virtual this time around. Over the past three years, the first round’s pitch competition has been outside on campus with students showing off their business or great idea through displays and talking to passersby. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the pitch competition is in video format and can be found on the Miller School of Entrepreneurship’s Facebook page.
“Although this is a big change, it has been positive,” said David Mayo the director of the Crisp Small Business Resource Center in the ECU Miller School of Entrepreneurship. “There is greater accessibility for the challenge for distance education students and for those with scheduling conflicts.”
For year four, each team had to pitch its business or idea in a short video. Members of the ECU community and the general public are encouraged to vote on the videos by giving their favorite pitches a “like.” The voting starts at noon on Oct. 12 and lasts a week. This year, 53 teams have registered to take part.
“Although the number of participants is much lower than face-to-face years, we have been impressed by the quality and preparedness of this year’s teams,” Mayo said.
What hasn’t changed is that the winners stand to earn substantial cash prizes and in-kind services. At this point, the awards value more than $100,000 with some sponsorships still being added.
“We are very excited to see the competition begin,” Mayo said. “The Pirate Challenge provides access to entrepreneurial programming to a diverse student body and strengthens our connection to community stakeholders and student entrepreneurs.”
Twenty teams will move on to round two, which is expected to take place in January. The teams that advance to the third and final round will get one-on-one mentorship leading up the finals in April.