‘Shark Tank’ winner hosting business pitch competition in Rexburg Monday
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REXBURG – Five students have been working all year on solidifying a pitch for an original business idea they hope will earn them a $1,000 prize and bragging rights for Madison High School’s first Business Pitch winner.
“Shark Tank” winner Jeremy Carlson will host the long-awaited competition Monday at 3878 Jake way suite 10. It will begin at 7 p.m.
Business Professionals of America advisor Jennifer Barzee got the idea while she was working with a group of local business leaders to learn what she needs to teach her students to enter the real world.
“I want to prepare students to go into the workplace and so I asked them what they are not seeing in employees when they are hiring. Then I try to work on those things in the classroom,” Barzee said. “We also talked about getting more students enrolled and getting them excited in business and one of their ideas was this Pitch Night or the Shark Tank-like competition. At that meeting, two of the businesses donated $500 each. So, the game was on!”
Lachlyn Golder, Ace Ingram, Lydia Woodall, Addison “Gecko” Cates and Ethan Hathaway all signed up for the competition. Some of the students are already building their businesses and just need a helping hand. Others are still in the development stage.
Barzee made sure they had access to mentors in every aspect of their business.
“This year, we’ve done three workshops at school during lunch, where we invited mentors and local business owners to work with any students who came. We’ve connected them with financial mentors, a patent attorney for legal advice and even provided them with marketing assistance,” Barzee said.
All the contestants have found a niche that has to do with a personal interest or a hobby.
Sophomore Ethan Hathaway is excited to pitch his idea. Though he doesn’t want to give much away before the competition, he says it involves buying and selling a product.
“I’ve always been interested in starting a business,” Hathaway said. “I think small businesses have really big impacts on any community and so pushing for students to learn (how to start one) … can impact any community.”
Three local professionals — Darin Herzoff, Heather Weber and Justin Ellingford — will be the official judges and determine the winner. Barzee is excited for those who will be participating and for them to experience a boost in their entrepreneurial spirit.
“I want them to see that the business community supports entrepreneurship and that there’s a lot of people out there who are passionate about their work,” Barzee said. “I hope the students get confidence and I hope the money helps them grow their business or further their education. (If nothing else), it’s something they can put on their resume and write in a college application or a scholarship application.”
The cost to participate is $1 at the door. Every ticket purchased gets a vote, which will only count for a small portion of the overall votes.