START-UP WIL – Ontario Tech University
Project scope
Categories
Product or service launch Information technologySkills
business planning critical thinking communication go-to-market strategy creativitySTART-UP WIL is a start-up pitch competition which will be taking place as part of The Venture Creation Course BUSI4999U. Students will work on their ventures with the supporting faculty over the course of the semester. At the end of the term the students will present their start up ideas to address their new products in a post-COVID environment. The competition will enable students to develop skills in communication, creativity, critical thinking and apply the principles of business being taught in the classroom.
As part of the competition each student will receive a $250 stipend for submitting a business plan and go-to-market strategy. Our panel of industry judges provided by Riipen will be selecting the top student team and those students will receive a $5,000 fund to launch their new venture.
About the company
Pitch competitions are a well-recognized type of innovative work-integrated learning.Time-limited pitch competitions can take many forms, including hackathons, data dives, codefests, sprints, edit-a-thons; these may lead to proposals for for-profit businesses or not-for-profit initiatives. These competitions are widely used in business and STEM disciplines, and increasingly in other disciplines (eg social science and humanities). Pitch competitions, when properly designed, are highly effective ways of developing students’ relevant cognitive, interpersonal and intrapersonal skills, including: creativity, problem-
solving, coachability (continuous improvement); risk-assessment and risk-taking; relationship-building and communication skills; and planning, implementation and time management for complex projects.