Palmieri Center for Entrepreneurship’s Idea Pitch to Be Held May 3

The Palmieri Center for Entrepreneurship (PCE) at Mount St. Mary’s University has selected five semi-finalist teams to participate in the inaugural Idea Pitch Invitational on May 3 at 4:30 p.m. in Knott Auditorium.

The semi-finalists, including an alumnus, a graduate student and students from all four undergraduate classes, were selected from a field of 16 applicants. Reviewers rated the applications on creative critical thinking, integrative problem solving, ethical implementation strategy, collaborative trust-based leadership and positive impact on people, planet, profit and purpose.

Over the past six weeks, PCE has offered semi-finalists several professional development opportunities to polish their proposals, including a boot camp, pitch prepping, graphic design, and business model refining. On May 3, the five teams of entrepreneurs each will present their 10-minute pitches and then field questions from five judges and the audience for 10 minutes. The results will be announced at 7:30 p.m.

The semi-finalists are:

• Levi Schindel, C’21: ADDU, a mobile app for cross-platform social media connection
• Le-Roy Battle, C’18: EMPOWER, a website-based community for supporting and mentoring young black adults
• Allison Baker, C’17, ‘MSB19, and Spenser Urban, C’18: Mountain Grounds Coffee Shop, an Emmitsburg coffee shop
• Chloe Cain, C’18, and Lyndsey Saunders, C’20: Personal Brand-in-a-Box, personalized branding packages to fit an individual’s personality, abilities and talents
• Paul Chrismer, C’97, Teamwork Publishing Company, a specialized publisher targeting the athletics departments and sports teams of high schools and small colleges

Competitors will have the opportunity to earn up to $5,000 in prizes.