Joshua Miller of Lewiston, NY is a finalist in the Launch VT Collegiate competition

2016 Feb 15

Joshua Miller of Lewiston, NY is a finalist in the Launch VT Collegiate competition.

LaunchVT Collegiate is coming to Champlain College on Feb. 19 and will feature top college student entrepreneurs from campuses across Vermont vying for a spot in the finals of LaunchVT, a statewide business pitch competition offering a $30,000 first prize.

Each collegiate team will have 10 minutes to present their business pitch, followed by Q&A. A panel of three judges will determine if the plan is viable and offers a likelihood of meaningful growth and successful business. The winning team will receive a cash prize of $7,500 and the opportunity to participate as a finalist in the LaunchVT competition on May 5.

First-year student Matthew Giles '19, an International Business major, and his partner, sophomore Cullen Jemison, a mechanical engineering major at the University of Vermont, were selected as the Champlain College representative group based on their pitch for a start-up company called "Thermouse," which is developing an ergonomically superior computer mouse. They received a $2,000 prize from BYOBiz.

Earning second place was David Helebert '16, who pitched his company "Black Market U," a commercial version of the Champlain Black Market Facebook page, which Helebert created along with Josh Miller '16, Jonah Allibone '18, and Peter Orzell '16. The prize was $500.

Rounding out the competition in third place was Vsevolod (Sev) Tysh '16, who pitched an online service called "Ici/La" to provide a social networking site for "foreigners in a foreign land," along with Chief Marketing Officer Jadd Serhan '16 and Chief Technology Officer Michael Roberts '18. The prize was $100.

Students from Champlain College, Middlebury College, University of Vermont, Norwich University, Saint Michael's College, Castleton State College, Johnson State College, Vermont Technical College, and Lyndon State College are all participating in the competition.