Marketing major wins The Pitch with Skin Safe app

By Chelsea McKanna

Friday, February 7, at 6 p.m. Cedarville University hosted its bi-annual entrepreneurship event, the Pitch, in the Dixon Ministry Center for students and visitors alike. With business experts as the judges and students eager to pitch their business ideas, the event fosters an excitement for entrepreneurship for all class years.

Entrepreneurship has taken a focal point in the business department over the past few years at Cedarville. The Pitch, a once a semester event, is a prime example of that fact. Students from every major are welcomed to apply to the Shark Tank style event where they can pitch their business ideas for a chance to win $1,000. 

Contestants apply a month or two beforehand at which point, if their business venture is approved, they are given the chance to ‘Pitch’ their idea before the student population and a panel of judges. 

“Our goal with the Pitch is to present these ideas, these kingdom venture, kingdom impact ideas to go out and change the world,” said William Woods, the president of Cedarville University Entrepreneurship student organization. “We put together like-minded individuals in a community where we have the desire to use entrepreneurial ideas to impact the world.” 

Jeff Haymond, dean of the Plaster School of Business, echoed Woods’ sentiment, saying, “At Cedarville, we’re all about helping our students, whatever their discipline is, to be in the marketplace on mission for God.”

The night started with a red carpet, where students had the opportunity to take photos and support previous Pitch participants who were tabling with their products in the entryway. A crowd of people milled around outside the chapel doors until 5:55 p.m. when the doors opened. 

The crowd hurried to get seats close to the front of the stage. Groups of students there to cheer on their friends positioned themselves in the center of the room with signs of encouragement. 

At 6:00 p.m. the Pitch hosts, Lily Gaulkin and Chayton Gearhard introduced the judges to the stage: Jim Stevenson, the president and co-founder of the International Center for Creativity, and Scott Moffat, co-founder of Ideal Strategic Partners, and Becky Fromkes, vice president of operations at Dawson.

Pitches began with a wide spread of ideas, from an app that helps you know what’s in your skincare, to a city development and war board game. With a total of five pitches, the contestants were given five minutes to present their idea to the judges and another five to field questions. 

“Congratulations for stepping into this, and I want to say this to all the participants, it’s about you guys taking a chance and stepping forward into an arena and accepting criticism,” said Stevenson, after the first business pitch, College Conquest, had concluded.

The winning pitch was by junior Marketing major, Alexandra Simons, who pitched an app to the judges that would scan the barcodes of skin care products. The goal of  Skin Safe, the app, is to provide women who struggle with acne and other skin conditions with the tools to make sure the products they use on their skin will not cause further issues. 

“Skin Safe is the product that sees through the deception of an unregulated industry and allows users to know what products are going to be best for them,” Simons said, during her presentation. “Everyone deserves to keep their skin safe and the truth is just below the surface.”  

The judges appreciated her overall presentation skills, thought out pitch, and genuine desire to create something valuable for customers who might be struggling with insecurities because of their skin. 

Second place went to Cube Dojo, a business venture by four friends: Sebastian Toledo, Joshua Parker, Zaine Fletcher, and Jordan Powers. Their idea came together in a college dorm room, an app meant to help users perfect their Rubik’s cube skills. Finally, third place went to Annie Alexander, an Accounting major, for her business venture entitled, Breakroom Boosters. A product meant to foster community in the workplace through office games. 

“We’re just in awe of where you’re starting,” Stevenson said at the end of the night. “I can’t imagine if I would have had this kind of opportunity when I started, the road would have been a little less bumpy.” 

Chelsea McKanna is a sophomore Professional Writing and Information Design major with a minor in Missions. She spends her free time with friends or sipping coffee with a new book to read. 

Photo by Ian Chan