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WVU LaunchLab hosts Second Annual March Idea Challenge

A group of people standing in front of a white board covered in ideas.

The West Virginia University LaunchLab Network’s month-long March Idea Challenge came to an end, lauding a strategic communications major and a mechanical engineering major as the winning team after four contested rounds of the competition. The LaunchLab’s fifth and final pitch competition of the academic year was designed to hone the skills students need to successfully promote their ideas or product to advance their concept, business or invention.

After students across campus submitted 90-second videos to enter the March Idea Challenge, eight students or teams were selected to pitch their ideas, business venture or invention to five judges and an overflowing room of attendees. The competition began with the top eight contestants presenting 5-minute pitches about their ideas. The contestants were then narrowed down to the top four, who delivered additional 5-minute pitches and received $250 each. The top two contestants were then selected and received $500 each. They competed in a head to head showdown for the grand prize of $1,000.

After triple counting the ballots since the vote count was so close, the winning team of the March Idea Challenge was Jessica Mannering, a strategic communications major, and Michael Brinkley, a mechanical engineering major. The team successfully sold the judges and the audience on their new business called Mountain Momma, which is prototyping customizable stomp pads for snowboards to help boarders better balance their snowboard.

The runner up was Maria Carbone, a business marketing major who promoted her idea to create a new app called Round and Round to ensure students and parents can better track the school bus.

“The LaunchLab Network’s goal is to empower students of all colleges and majors to solve problems, conceptualize and build upon innovative ideas, invent new products or develop their business plans,” said Carrie White and Nora Myers, directors of the Morgantown and Beckley LaunchLabs, respectively. “But another important aspect of creating a new product or venture is to be able to promote and sell that idea to investors. These pitch competitions offer students a safe haven to build confidence while also developing the skillset necessary to pitch their ideas to real world investors or businesses.”

The March Idea Challenge judges included: Jonathan Ohliger and Najee Goode, founders of VEEPIO and WVU Football alums; Cory Dennision, President of Vision Shared and WVU Law school alum; Zach Sensabaugh, AVP of Business Banking for Huntington and WVU alum; Steve Parks, Executive Director for Ritchie County Development Authority and WVU alum.

View the complete list of student finalists who participated in the March Idea Challenge below.

Supporting entrepreneurs and innovators at every step of their journey, the LaunchLab Network offers everything from one-on-one mentorship to prototype development facilities to a variety of resources and connections to investors.

The LaunchLab Network is part of the WVU IDEA Hub, a university-wide network of centers, offices and programs that fosters and supports inventions, innovation and entrepreneurship in WVU students, faculty and staff while engaging the statewide community. A visual map of the full IDEA Hub ecosystem and detailed information about the resources included in it can be found on the IDEA Hub website