Pitch Day
co-hosted by DRW
Novus Club’s fourth annual Pitch Day will bring together over 200 high school entrepreneurs to pitch their startups to model investors and learn from industry practitioners.
Pitch Day 2022
Since 2018, Novus has partnered with companies around Chicago to provide high school students with opportunities to pitch their startups to industry practitioners, in competition for a seed investment prize. Due to COVD-19, Pitch Day 2022 will be hosted virtually, using video conferencing software.
At Pitch Day 2022, Novus will be awarding up to $1,000 in micro-investments to top performers in the competition. All participants will receive documentation certifying their participation in Novus Pitch Day 2022.
April 29, 2022
09:00AM | Opening Remarks by Novus |
09:15AM | Keynote Speaker – Sharon Hong, Vice President of Global Service Offers and Enterprise Technology for Motorola Solutions |
10:00AM | Workshop – Leo Galindo-Frias, Maine West Alum currently studying Computer Science at UIUC, with internship experiences at Facebook (Meta), Snap Inc., and the U.S. Department of Defense. |
11:00AM | Pitch Presentation |
2:45PM | Sponsor Workshop – Andrew McGarry and Syed Hadi, Digital Innovation Team for Ulta Beauty |
3:15PM | Closing Remarks & Awards Ceremony |
Pitch Day 2021
In 2021, Novus Club brought over 100 talented high school entrepreneurs together virtually to pitch their startups to local industry practitioners for a micro seed investment prize. Students who attended Pitch Day experienced an amazing opportunity to learn, create, and grow.
Competition Guidelines
Groups
Participants are permitted to compete within groups of 1-5 students. Within groups, students should designate one team member to submit their written entry online.
Business Plan
Participants are required to submit a comprehensive business plan, develop a minimum viable product or prototype, and pitch to industry practitioners. All information presented by competitors in the business plan and pitch should be true and verifiable. The deadline for submission is April 13, 2022 at 11:59PM CST – submissions after this deadline will be automatically docked 10 points, for each day that they are late.
Pitch
In addition to their written entry, participants are required to deliver a pitch, over video conferencing software, at Novus Pitch Day on April 29, 2022. The pitch must be no longer than 10 minutes and participants must be prepared for 5 minutes of Q&A following their pitch. Participants who have submitted their written entry will receive invitations to video conference rooms several days before Pitch Day.
Important Deadlines
- January 31, 2022 – Deadline to register for competition is (please contact your entrepreneurship teacher to register for Pitch Day).
- March 15, 2022 – Last day to request feedback on your full or in-progress business plan, which won’t impact your score.
- April 20, 2022 – Final business plans are due to be submitted here by 11:59PM CST (daily 10 point penalty for late submissions).
- April 29, 2022 – Pitch Day competition to take place virtually
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Questions? Email compete@novusclub.org or DM @novusclub
Frequently Asked Questions
Students who wish to compete at Pitch Day must register through their entrepreneurship teacher — for more information, speak to your D207 entrepreneurship teacher or email compete@novusclub.org.
Students who are accepted into the competition will be given access to separate Zoom sessions for a keynote, workshops of their preference, and an individual pitch room.
Competition information, including guidelines, rubrics, and submission deadlines can be found here.