Statewide competition will bring 'pitchers' and 'sharks' to Purdue Fort Wayne

FORT WAYNE, Ind.—Modeled after ABC’s popular “Shark Tank,” the regional finals of a statewide competition featuring high school students pitching entrepreneurial ideas that could eventually lead to a $25,000 windfall will take place at Purdue University Fort Wayne on Friday.

This phase of Innovate WithIN’s annual competition takes place at nine different locations across Indiana. The Region 8 session at Purdue Fort Wayne will happen in the International Ballroom of Walb Student Union. Ten teams of up to three members will have five minutes to pitch their idea to a panel of judges. The pitches will take place between 1:45 and 4:30 p.m. with a 15-minute break at 3:15. Media are invited to attend. Masks and social distancing practices are required.

The Region 8 panel of judges includes Clifford Clarke, president of C2 IT Advisors; Chancellor Ronald L. Elsenbaumer of Purdue Fort Wayne; Ryan Twiss, vice president of talent initiatives for the Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership; David Watkins, state director of the Indiana Small Business Development Center; and state Sen. Andy Zay of Huntington.

Finalists who move on from the nine regional competitions will take part in an eight-week boot camp where they will be taught how to develop market-ready prototypes and revenue models. All of this will lead to the state finals where the new, refined businesses will be pitched to a panel of government officials, venture capitalists, and entrepreneurs.

Each member of the winning team at the state competition will receive $10,000 in seed funding, $10,000 in tuition to any Indiana university, and additional prizes worth $5,000.

Learn more by visiting InnovateWithIN.org.

For additional information about Friday's event, contact Geoff Thomas at 260-437-7657 (mobile) or [email protected]. 

###