On Oct. 19, 2018, the Whitman School hosted the fourth annual Orange Tank business pitch competition. Student and alumni entrepreneurs pitched their ventures to a panel of accomplished judges in hopes of receiving valuable feedback and winning a cash prize to further advance their venture. Thanks to the generous support of Mark ’83 and Judi ’84 (VPA) Morris, Keith Lippert ’78 and Mark Selden ’95, $21,000 in cash was awarded.
The first-place prize in the alumni category with a $7,500 cash prize went to Robinson Torres ’18 for FEFA, a startup education company. Second place and $2,000 in the alumni category went to Scaled Buy, an AI-powered, modern procurement portal for commercial clients that cuts costs by applying economies of scale. Finalist, a talent network that matches in-house recruiters with vetted candidates, received third place and $1,000.
In the student category, Stephen Bolen ’18, Jonathan Gregory ’19 and Isaac Yates ’18 of the Whitman School’s online MBA program won the first-place prize of $7,500. Their product is Latchkey, a smart home device that provides an easy and automatic way for caregivers to be informed when a child arrives home alone. Fitpet, a company focusing on smart, pet-wearable auxiliary system products, took home a second-place prize of $2,000, while The Artemis Wand, an extension apparatus for the disabled and infirm, won the third-place cash prize of $1,000.
Judges included Jake Duneier ’10, Lisa Fontenelli ’86 (WHIT/NEW), Michael Gursha ’10 (WHIT/NEW), Camellia Loojune ’13 and Mark Selden ’95. The master of ceremony was Mike Smith ’12, ’13 M.S.
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