Orange Tank 2021

Orange Tank 2021 will be held on Thursday, Nov. 4, 2021 at 6 p.m. and will be held at the Whitman School. There will be a virtual option for alumni and students in our online master’s programs.

Zoom link: For Viewing Virtually

Finalists will deliver a five-minute pitch to a panel of alumni judges followed by Q&A on Nov. 4, 2021.

The prize money for Orange Tank 2021 is a total of $42,000.

In both Student and Alumni divisions there will be three prize levels:

1^st: $5,000

2^nd: $2,500

3^rd: 1,000

Teams Pitching:

Alumni Teams:

Joe 2.0 Coffee – Brian Mellin ’15

Aphinity – Sardor Askarov ’20

Vees – Victoria Vasil ’97 (NEW), ’20 MBA, ’21 M.S.

Student Teams:

Out2Win – Jack Adler ’23, Sam Holland, ’23 (WHIT/NEW)

Ambassadoor – Bruno Gonzalez ’21 (WHIT/NEW), ’23 M.S.

MUNCH Jerky – Selim Dangoor ’23 (WHIT/NEW)

This year the selection committee consisted of: Alexandra Kostakis, professor of entrepreneurial practice; Ken Walsleben, professor of entrepreneurial practice; John Petosa L’95, professor of practice; Todd Moss, chair, department of entrepreneurship and emerging enterprises (EEE) and associate professor of entrepreneurship and Mirza Tihic, postdoctoral researcher (EEE).

The judges for this year’s competition are:

Ryan Benz ’11 M.S., Syracuse based developer, restauranteur and investor

Steven Bettinger ’93, Entrepreneur in real estate, technology, insurance, finance, and consumer products

Nathaniel Cotanch ’12, Founder, Zia Hatch Chile Company

Molly Fisher ’08, ’13 M.S., VP of finance and operations, DIG, an East Coast restaurant chain

Scott Friedberg ’14, Founder, Gilded Social

The judges will select an overall grand prize winner from the finalists. The Grand Prize is $25,000. Announcement of winners will be made the evening of the event.

We extend our sincere gratitude to John Couri ’64 (A&S), Whitman Advisory Council member and lifetime Syracuse University Trustee, for his generous and ongoing support of Orange Tank and the Entrepreneurship and Emerging Enterprises Department at Whitman.