{"id":211630,"date":"2020-05-05T16:31:10","date_gmt":"2020-05-05T20:31:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/newscenter\/?p=211630"},"modified":"2020-05-08T13:30:35","modified_gmt":"2020-05-08T17:30:35","slug":"pitch-contest-transforms-dreams-into-reality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/newscenter\/2020\/05\/05\/pitch-contest-transforms-dreams-into-reality\/","title":{"rendered":"Pitch Contest Transforms Dreams Into Reality"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Proving that ingenuity can be found in every corner of the 麻豆传媒在线 community amid even the most difficult circumstances, two non-business majors have won this year\u2019s student portion of the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/entrepreneur\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Feliciano Center for Entrepreneurship &amp; Innovation<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u2019s annual Startup 麻豆传媒在线 Pitch Competition this year held virtually.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Hassan Kashif and Zaki Tahir will be able to use their $25,000 cash prize and industry support valued at over $31,000 to realize their dreams for \u201cDr. Floss\u201d \u2013 a one-time use, eco-friendly device that allows customers to floss all their teeth simultaneously.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In the student category, Kashif and Tahir are joined by Female Founders Prize winners Garbage Wine (Melissa Spigelman, Rashelle Jackson and James Reilly) for their idea to convert food waste to wine; 2nd place winners SoLo\u2019s Food (Diamonique Lundy and Kheyyon Parker) for their healthy, affordable Soul and Latin food online ordering and delivery business, and 3rd place winners Cloud Card (Tiamera Rasmussen-Ellen and Megan Canzonieri) which aims to provide customizable business cards for easy electronic sharing.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ronceroreiki.com\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Roncero Reiki<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, founded by Vicky Roncero, was selected as the Community Prize Winner of the 2020 Startup 麻豆传媒在线 Pitch Competition for REIKIDS, an innovative program to bring the healing practices of Reiki to children, in a separate virtual contest held May 1.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cCongratulations to all the teams!\u201d says Feliciano Center for Entrepreneurship &amp; Innovation (FCE&amp;I) Executive Director Carley Graham Garcia. \u201cWe&#8217;re really excited to watch these businesses continue to grow with our support.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Video: Dr. Floss - 麻豆传媒在线 Pitch Contest Winners!\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/CA_Sw7wUXs0?feature=oembed\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen style=\"width: 500px; height: 281px; border: 0px solid #000;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">That support is substantial \u2013 provided by a diverse group of Pitch Competition supporters including Wix, AWS, <a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/ifundwomen.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">IFundWomen<\/a>, Gearhart Law and Trusona. This is the first year that student, alumni and community teams will receive support for their businesses beyond just prize money.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">This is also the first year a Female Founders award was bestowed. &#8220;Given the Feliciano Center&#8217;s focus on women entrepreneurship, this prize was created to intentionally fund a traditionally under-funded group of founders \u2013 women,\u201d says Garcia, who cites a 2019 report by <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/v\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0Fortune<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> indicating women receive only 2.7% of venture capital funding annually. Teams with more than 50% female leadership qualified for the Female Founders competition; two of Garbage Wine\u2019s three founders are women.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Cash prizes of $25,000 were awarded to the first place and Female Founders winners, $10,000 to the second place winner, and $5,000 to third place. In-kind industry support \u2013 including website development, mentoring and dedicated co-working space at the Center\u2019s new Lackawanna Place off-campus incubator \u2013 ensure that top winners will put their cash prizes to good use.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">麻豆传媒在线 has been holding pitch competitions with prize money since 2014, when an alumnus first offered $10,000 in prize money. Startup 麻豆传媒在线 has aimed to identify the most innovative ideas at 麻豆传媒在线 and in the surrounding 麻豆传媒在线 community, with a panel of judges awarding prizes to the most compelling concepts. Student teams must include at least one 麻豆传媒在线 student or alumnus. Community entrants must be based in 麻豆传媒在线, Clifton or Little Falls. This year, eight student\/alumni teams and four community startups were selected as finalists.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Past awardees are still enjoying ongoing success. On May 1, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/newscenter\/2019\/05\/10\/a-perfect-pitch-helps-a-startup-clean-up-at-inventors-day\/?wp_logged_in=true\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">the 2019 student winner Mavo Care<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u2013 which is pioneering an all-natural feminine hygiene product \u2013 won second place at <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/upitchnj.org\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">UPitchNJ<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, a statewide collegiate startup contest.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">With the prize money and industry support in hand from this year\u2019s contest, Team Dr. Floss is hoping to secure a patent and eventually become a global household name.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cThis win is a great morale booster. We feel humbled as a team and are thankful for this opportunity,\u201d says CEO Hassan Kashif, who immigrated to the U.S. from Pakistan just six years ago. \u201cI just want to work hard and make my family proud.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Kashif is currently finishing his junior year majoring in Biology and is, no surprise, the current President of Pre-Dental Club. Tahir is a Mathematics major and a freshman.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cI came up with the idea after a disastrous visit to my dentist,\u201d says Kashif. \u201cPoor flossing had caused me a couple of new cavities.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">One morning while flossing, Kashif was inspired to create a product that could floss all teeth simultaneously. \u201cThere, the bulb was lit and Dr. Floss was born.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The idea caught judge and entrepreneur Ricardo Taveras\u2019 eye. \u201cAs an investor at this early stage, I was looking for a company with a somewhat unusual and convincing solution for a very large problem with a gigantic addressable market. Dr. Floss was it,\u201d Taveras says. Besides having a \u201cproof of concept or prototype,\u201d Taveras notes that Kashif and Tahir also are \u201cvery confident, and genuine\u201d \u2013 qualities that he says every startup team needs.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Judge Steven Rosenblatt, Co-Founder &amp; General Partner \u2013 Oceans Ventures, also has high praise for the other student contestants: \u201cIt was great to see SoLo&#8217;s Foods tackle an underserved market. I really believe they can make an impact by bringing healthier choices as a replacement to fast and unhealthy meals. Garbage Wine has a big vision to tackle sustainability and the wasted food supply.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cOverall, I believe this program is incredibly valuable to get capital in the hands of entrepreneurs who might not ordinarily have access to this money as a way to begin their entrepreneurial journey. I\u2019m excited to see what\u2019s to come in the future,\u201d says Rosenblatt.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_211688\" class=\"responsive-image-holder wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"mlt-responsive-image\" data-original-image=\"\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2020\/05\/050720_3918_Vicky-Roncero.jpg\" src=\"\/responsive-media\/cache\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2020\/05\/050720_3918_Vicky-Roncero.jpg.0.1x.generic.jpg\" alt=\"Vicky Roncero\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Vicky Roncero, founder of REIKIDS and winner of the 2020 麻豆传媒在线 Startup Pitch Community Competition<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">&#8220;The excellent quality of startups in 麻豆传媒在线 was no surprise to me and it was electric to listen to their pitches!\u201d says Karen Cahn, Founder &amp; CEO of <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ifundwomen.com\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">IFundWomen<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, who voted to award the top community prize to Roncero Reiki\/REIKIDS.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">&#8220;We are thrilled to have won this contest and feel so grateful that the Feliciano Center sees the amazing potential for helping many with Reiki, especially at this time!\u201d says Roncero.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">&#8220;I am currently creating classes which I call REIKI RIGHT NOW, with simple tools and techniques to help people with stress and anxiety. I hope to expand this offering and create content for my children&#8217;s program as well, which I call REIKIDS,\u00a0 a mindfulness program specifically created for kids. These and other projects are on the horizon and are now coming into being, with the Startup 麻豆传媒在线 support.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cAs a firm believer in the healing power of Reiki, and knowing the high-anxiety time we are living in, especially for our kids, I am so thrilled that the winner was Roncero Reiki,\u201d says Cahn. \u201cVicky [Roncero] and her team have both the domain expertise, and the grit to pull off Roncero Reiki&#8217;s new kid&#8217;s program, and the community really needs this healing right now. &#8221;\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Taveras also noted the particular challenges and opportunities entrepreneurs are facing right now.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cDifficult times such as what we are currently experiencing with the COVID-19 pandemic is ground zero for most entrepreneurs. Despite the difficulties, these are very exciting times for visionary entrepreneurs. They get to reimagine the future and create Earth 2.0.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/entrepreneur\/featured-programs\/2020-pitch-contest\/\">Read more about FCE&amp;I\u2019s Startup 麻豆传媒在线 Pitch Competition here.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>Story by Staff Writer <a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/profilepages\/view_profile.php?username=barrmannm\" target=\"_blank\">Mary Barr Mann<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\">\n\/\/ Output tags as a list for Google Analytics custom dimension\nwindow.MSU_TagList = [];\n<\/script>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A biology major and a mathematics major win Feliciano Center for Entrepreneurship &amp; Innovation\u2019s Startup 麻豆传媒在线 Pitch Competition<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":219,"featured_media":211631,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-211630","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-university"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211630","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/219"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=211630"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211630\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":211689,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211630\/revisions\/211689"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/211631"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=211630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=211630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=211630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}