This year’s competition, presented by the CSUSB Inland Empire Center for Entrepreneurship (IECE), will be held Monday, Nov. 6, from 5-9 p.m. at the Esri Conference Center, 380 New York St., Redlands.

A student makes his pitch at the 2016 Fast Pitch competition. This year’s edition will take place Nov. 6. Photo by Robert A. Whitehead/CSUSB

CSUSB student entrepreneurs to compete at Garner Holt Student Fast Pitch Competition Nov. 6

They will each have 90 seconds to make what could be the business pitch of their lives to jump-start their entrepreneurial dreams by convincing a panel of investors that their proposal has what it takes to succeed.

Welcome to the 2017 Garner Holt Student Fast Pitch Competition, where a group of budding Cal State San Bernardino student entrepreneurs will each pitch their business proposals for cash prizes.

This year’s competition, presented by the CSUSB Inland Empire Center for Entrepreneurship (IECE), will be held Monday, Nov. 6, from 5-9 p.m. at the Esri Conference Center, 380 New York St., Redlands. Refreshments and mingling starts at 5 p.m.; the program and pitches start at 6 p.m.

Each fast pitch will be judged for the quality of the presentations and their investment potential. A panel of investors and entrepreneurs will offer valuable feedback regarding the viability of the business ventures and the quality of their presentation skills.

This year there were a record number of submissions coming from students representing over a dozen academic programs on campus, said Mike Stull, professor of management and director of IECE.  

“It has been so great to see the participation that we are getting for the competition from the general student body. This is no longer just a business school program but is exposing the whole university to this facet of entrepreneurship,” said Stull. “All disciplines are constantly selling ideas within and outside, and honing skills to be able to pitch convincingly in a short timeframe is useful to everyone.”

Of the 16 semi-finalist competitors, five finalists will be chosen to pitch their business ideas for the chance to win part of the $7,000 in cash prizes at the Spirit of the Entrepreneur Awards Gala on Nov. 14, in front of a live audience of more than 800 top business professionals. The gala will be held at the Riverside Convention Center, 3637 Fifth St., in Riverside.

The fast pitch competition is sponsored by Garner Holt Productions of San Bernardino. Since its founding in 1977 by Garner Holt, the firm has emerged as a recognized industry leader in the design and manufacturing of show and ride systems and elements, including animatronics figures, show action equipment, special effects, sets, scenery and show control systems. The company has created some of the world’s largest and most sophisticated animatronics and show action pieces for clients such as Disney, Universal, MGM, NASA, Chuck E. Cheese and FAO Schwarz.

Visit the Garner Holt Productions website for more information about the company.

Also visit the CSUSB Inland Empire Center for Entrepreneurship website for more information about its programs.

For more information on Cal State San Bernardino, contact the university’s Office of Strategic Communication at (909) 537-5007 and visit news.csusb.edu.