2024 U-Pitch Competition

The 2024 School of Business U-Pitch Competition was held on May 16 to a full house. Three finalists presented their ideas to a distinguished panel of judges.

Purecomfort took the first place prize of $5,000 for a functional and fashionable tank top option for mastectomy recovery patients. Existing mastectomy bras are heavy, uncomfortable, and unattractive, with loops that hold drainage tubes on the outside, making it hard to hide the tubes or wear anything else over it.  Purecomfort bras will solve all of these issues and provide convenience and dignity to breast cancer patients.

Vault-X won second place ($3,000) for a product designed to make the usage of X-Acto knife blades more functional and safe. The third-place award ($2,000) went to WiseBites, an app that would scan food barcodes and provide immediate nutritional information needed to make healthy eating decisions. 

In order to be chosen as a finalist, teams first entered a written submission introducing and defending their new and unique product or idea. Seven teams moved on to the next stage in which they prepared a video that identified a problem and described their solution. Three of those teams made it to the final competition.

The competition provided a unique opportunity for students to collaborate with their professors and peers. Interdisciplinary teams created a business plan and learned how to confidently present in front of a critical panel of knowledgeable judges. This year’s judges included two entrepreneurs from San Francisco, a Amazon senior product manager, a consulting attorney, a financial advisor at a bank, and the local mayor.

Nyasha Pazvakawambwa, a senior accounting and finance major, competed in U-Pitch as a member of Purecomfort and Vault-X.  He was in charge of the financial and logistic information for both groups. For Pazvakawambwa, the competition was an invaluable learning opportunity and an experience he highly recommends.