WCE Pitch Competition

The WCE Pitch Competition is designed to give students from across campus an opportunity to pitch their business ideas for the chance to win an award to launch and scale their business and learn and practice their presentation skills. The Spring 2025 competition will give out a total of $10K in awards to students for their business ideas and businesses.

Sign Up Here

How to Participate

Students that would like to participate need to:

1. Submit an Application – Apply here! You will receive a follow up email for confirmation and a link to attend sign up for the workshop and directions on how to choose a mentoring session.
2. Attend a Workshop – Learn the rules of the pitch competition and strategies to create a winning pitch. Workshop will be held on Wednesday, February 12th 6:30pm-8:30pm. Location TBD.
3. Get Feedback – Meet one-on-one with a draft of your pitch and slides and meet with community mentors to improve your pitch. Mentoring sessions will be held on Thursday, February 20th 6:30pm-8:30pm and Friday, February 21st 10:00am-12:00pm. Location TBD
4. Pitch! – Pitch in one of 3 tracks (Idea, Prototype, or Scale) for the chance to win an award. Awards total $10k.

Important Dates and Locations

Workshops

How to Pitch Workshop*
Date: February 12th
Time: 6:30-8:30 p.m.
Location: TBD

*Students that are unable to attend can still qualify to participate if they watch the recording of the workshop, take and pass the corresponding quiz, before February 20th and still be eligible to pitch.

Required Mentor Feedback Session
(Must Attend 1)

Optional Mentor Feedback Session

Date: Friday, February 28th
Time: 10 a.m.-12 p.m.
Location: TBD

Pitch Competition

Date: Thursday, March 6th
Time: TBD, evening
Location: TBD

Tracks

The WCE Pitch Competition is trying a new format for the Spring 2025 semester. Students will self-select one of three following tracks to pitch in.

1. Idea - The Idea Track is for students that have a business idea, but haven’t worked on its’ development. These 2 minute pitches should include the following content:
   1. A description of the proposed business idea
   2. A description of the problem it is helping to solve or the opportunity it is helping to create;
   3. Any evidence to suggest that the business idea is worth pursuing;
   4. A description of a potential customer, and why they would be a good customer to pursue;
   5. What next steps would look like to continue working on their idea if they were awarded the prize.
2. Prototype - The Prototype track is for students who have already validated a need for their business idea and have started to develop a solution. Note: the solution does not have to be a fully developed prototype. Instead, it could be a pretotype or a low-fidelity prototype. These 3 minute pitches should include the following content:
   1. A description of the proposed business idea and any photos of mockups of the business solution.
   2. A description of the problem it is helping to solve or the opportunity it is helping to create;
   3. Any evidence to suggest that the business idea is worth pursuing;
   4. A description of a potential customer, and why they would be a good customer to pursue;
   5. A description of what value this solution would bring to customers;
   6. A description of how the idea would make money;
   7. What next steps would look like to continue working on their idea if they were awarded the prize.
3. Scale - The Scale Track is for students who already have an established business and are working on scaling and growing. These 4 minute pitches should include the following content:
   1. A description of the business;
   2. A description of the problem it is helping to solve or the opportunity it is helping to create;
   3. A description of a current and future customers, and why they are good customers to have and pursue;
   4. A description of what value this solution brings to customers;
   5. A description of how the idea makes money;
   6. A description of how accomplishments of the business
   7. What next steps would look like to continue working on their business if they were awarded the prize.

Awards

Idea Track

• The 5 best ideas will be awarded $100 each.

Prototype Track

• First Place: $2,000
• Second Place: $1,000
• Third Place: $500

Scale Track

• First Place: $3,000
• Second Place: $2,000
• Third Place: $1,000

Judging Criteria

• Student has identified and explained problem or opportunity connected to business.
• Student has describe the solution so that a general audience can understand what they are working on.
• Student has identified and described a target market/customer and that the market is sufficiently sized to support the business/business idea.
• Student has a feasible plan to implement funds with winning award.
• Student has prepared a high quality pitch.

Technical Requirements

• Pitch Length determined on track (2 minutes for Idea, 3 minutes for Prototype, and 4 Minutes for Scale)
• 2-5 Minute Judge Q&A
• Must attend Pitch Workshop and one Mentor Feedback Session
• Must be a current UH Student
• Slides are encouraged, but not required

The WCE Pitch Competition is cohosted by Wolff Center for Entrepreneurship, RED Labs, and UH's CEO Chapter (the Collegiate Entrepreneurs' Organization). You can email liana@redlabs.uh.edu for any questions about the pitch competition and can follow CEO on instagram at @BAUER_CEO to learn more about the organization and how to become a member.