MIT Sloan School of Management held the first of the three parts of the MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition Nov. 12, 2014. This first phase of the competition is called Pitch. The final phases are Accelerate and Launch.
The $100K Pitch competition celebrates the art of the one-minute business pitch. Competing teams are judged on the potential of their business ideas and the effectiveness of their delivery.
Presenting teams are selected from a field of 150 entries in seven business sector categories. Twenty-one teams are selected for the finale to make their pitches before an overflow crowd and a panel of judges on the MIT campus.
The Pitch portion of the competition is designed for projects in the idea stage. Some of the teams pitched concepts only weeks old others are further along, with existing prototypes or paying customers.
Foxtrot Systems, founded by brothers Doug and Patrick Coughran, took the $5,000 grand prize with a pitch promising the advantages of truck route optimization to businesses with fewer than 50 vehicles.
The $2,000 Audience Choice Award, decided through text message voting by attendees, was Fuel Drop. The plan was devised by a trio of MIT Leaders for Global Operations students. It aims to bring the filling station to the busy urban driver by delivering a full tank of gasoline.
The $2,000 second place winner was AquaFresco, whose founders have developed a water filter that can recycle 95 percent of wastewater from commercial-scale laundry operations at hotels. The $1,000 third prize went to TVision Insights, a company that is already showing a profit in Japan with an offering that uses Xbox technology to collect television viewers’ demographic information, viewing habits, and reactions to programs and advertisements.
The next phases of the $100K, Accelerate and Launch, requires developed business plans and business prototypes. The next phase is Accelerate, and will take place Feb. 20, 2015.