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Cameras flash and chatter fills the air in Alumni Hall as Christian Eppich ’25 and Annie Alexander ’25 enter, microphones in hand. With a red carpet under their feet and a Cedarville University Entrepreneurship banner behind them, Eppich and Alexander are kicking off The Pitch’s pre-show.

“This has been months in the planning,” Alexander announces to the crowd and camera. “We’ve got six contestants and four judges who we’re excited to introduce!”

For the next half hour, Eppich and Alexander interview contestants, judges, and audience members about the upcoming show. “Tell us a bit about your startup,” they prompt each contestant. “Where did this business idea come from? And let those watching know how they can find your product online!”

One judge, Scott Moffat — co-founder of the entrepreneurial acceleration company Ideal Strategic Partners — flew in from Florida this morning. He steps onto the red carpet, smiles, and captures the room’s excitement with his interview.

“I love this event,” Moffat says. “I love the ideas, love the innovation. Every time it gets better.”

The Pitch is a Shark-Tank-style competition where students present their startup ideas to a panel of industry-expert judges, answer questions in front of a live audience, and vie for a chance to win up to $1,000 for their business. The former School of Business Administration (now the Robert W. Plaster School of Business) developed the event in 2018 to strengthen the school’s focus on entrepreneurship and to raise visibility about other entrepreneurial opportunities on campus.

“We want people to know that entrepreneurship is for everyone,” Dr. Kary Oberbrunner, Berry Chair and Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship, said. “As we like to say, ‘Entrepreneurship is a mindset, not a minor.’”

The Cedarville University Entrepreneurship (CUE) student organization hosts The Pitch every semester, but preparations begin well before anyone takes the stage. In the months leading up to the event, contestants submit their startup ideas to CUE, present their pitches in preliminary rounds to business faculty, and hope that they’ll be among the six finalists who make it through to the live show.

When the day of The Pitch finally arrives, nerves are high. Contestants button their blazers, review their notes, and await the five minutes they’ll have to sell their idea from the Scharnberg Auditorium stage. The entire student body is invited, and thousands of others will watch the show live or via replay.

“Welcome to the Pitch!” Aubrey Colburn ’25, one of the event co-hosts, announces. She’s met with cheers from the crowd. Colburn explains the structure of the event — five minutes to pitch followed by five minutes to answer the judges’ questions — introduces the judging panel, and then kicks off the event by welcoming up the first contestant.

Judges take notes from their black leather chairs as Addi Melvin ’25 presents her equestrian coaching service, Achiever’s Equine Academy. “What would be your marketing strategy?” one judge asks. “How would you scale this business?” another adds.

Lainy Humes ’24 opens her pitch with a piece of Gen Z, fashion-insider slang. “Do you want to be ‘cheugy’?” she asks the judging panel, going on to explain the word’s connotation with being out of style. Being ‘cheugy’ is a problem that would devastate clothing boutiques, and that’s exactly what her fashion consulting technology, NEOCHIC, is meant to combat.

Humes flips through presentation slides filled with runway models and fashion magazines while explaining the way NEOCHIC uses machine learning to analyze fashion trends and produce reports that help boutique owners merchandise their stores.

The judges’ questions fly in: “What made you choose the boutique route rather than direct-to-consumer? How did you price your services?” Humes answers them one by one and thanks the judges before walking off the stage.

Between pitches, spotlights circle the chapel and intense music plays. Judges turn to clean pages in their notetaking portfolios. Hosts announce the names of audience members who’ve won CUE merch in the night’s giveaways. Brief commercials showcase student companies developed through Cedarville’s entrepreneurship curriculum. But the crowd’s attention always zeroes in when a new contestant takes the stage.

Will Woods ’27 and Abby Atkins ’26 introduce their business idea, Peace, a counseling platform that presents pregnant women with a single, unified network of pro-life counselors from various organizations. Ethan Wallis ’25 passes around prototypes of the protective motorcycle gloves manufactured by his startup, Rider Aspect.

When the final presentation of the night concludes, the judges step off stage to deliberate. Colburn welcomes Associate Professor of Management Dr. Daryl Smith to the stage to explain the ‘why’ behind The Pitch. Smith’s presentation follows the same structure as the student pitches — identifying a problem in the world, proposing a solution, and explaining the value of that solution — but he isn’t marketing a product; he’s sharing the Gospel.

“The world is broken because of our sin,” Smith explains. “God knew that problem was too big for us to solve ourselves, so He sent Jesus to pay for our sins on the cross. And now, we can turn towards God, seeking forgiveness, and be united to Him through Christ.”

Like everything at Cedarville, this biblical message has been at the heart of The Pitch from the beginning.

“Because of their leadership and visibility, Christian business leaders have an outsized Gospel opportunity in their communities,” said Dr. Jeffrey Haymond, Professor of Economics and Dean of the Robert W. Plaster School of Business. “The Pitch helps us build up more marketplace leaders who can impact their communities for Christ.”

After Smith’s Gospel presentation, attention returns to Colburn, who holds the judges’ decision in her hands. Colburn announces third and second place — Peace Counseling and Rider Aspect, respectively — and then pauses, feeling the room’s anticipation.

“And in first place, we have NEOCHIC, Lainy Humes!”

The audience erupts. Humes, smiling ear to ear, rushes on stage and receives a giant check made out to NEOCHIC. Judges and hosts crowd around for a photo.

Humes has just joined the growing list of Pitch success stories.

Timothy Davis ’25 and Luise Schmidt-Krayer ’26, for example, won the fall 2023 cycle with their laNora Breast Pillow, a medical device that helps women recovering from breast surgeries or suffering from breast pain achieve comfortable and safe sleep. Already registered as a medical device in a number of European countries, laNora recently partnered with MediCorp to pursue its registration in the US.

And in the spring 2023 cycle, Cooper Peterson ’23 came in 4th place and received $200 for his company runGLUBZ, an athletic brand specializing in uniquely shaped gloves that allow athletes to maintain proper running form in the cold months. Less than a year later, in February 2024, Peterson had obtained his LLC and recorded over 3,000 sales.

Also in the spring 2023 cycle, Luke Rykbost ’25 won the top prize of $1000 to put toward software development for his property management software, Prime Properties — but what Rykbost found even more fruitful from his Pitch experience were the connections he formed.

Following the event, Rykbost teamed up with Peterson and judge Scott Moffat to co-found the Kingdom Kommerce podcast, a business resource focused on biblically-based entrepreneurship. Since its inception, Kingdom Kommerce has produced 25 episodes and continues to release new content.

Clearly, The Pitch is more than just a game show; it’s an opportunity — a jumping-off point — that’s bolstering student entrepreneurs and prompting audience members to consider if they, too, could have a future in marketplace leadership.

“The Pitch is inspiring,” Colburn said. “I’ve never considered myself the entrepreneurial type, but sitting in the audience and listening to my peers, I couldn’t help but think, ‘That’s an incredible idea. I wonder if I could do something similar. I wonder what I could create.’”