Bear Down and Pitch
Second annual Bear Down & Pitch held at Scottsdale's Museum of the West
Event Description: Bear Down, Arizona! On Thursday, April 18th, McGuire New Venture Development Program's “launch-ready” student teams went head-to-head and showcased their business ventures in front of the most successful entrepreneurs in Arizona. 2019 participants included:
Emcee: Christie Kerner, Director of Venture Development at Startup AZ Foundation
Judge: Mario Martinez II, Co-founder of Startup AZ Foundation
Judge: Holly Lyman, Founder of WILD TONIC
Judge: Mark Scatterday, Founder of Jupiter Research
This year, the judges selected Exakt Technology as the winner of the competition and recipient of the $5,000 prize. Kelly Jiang, Mitcheel Torres, Scott Kottmer and Taylor Hunter are the student masterminds behind the prize-winning venture. Jiang and Torres focused on the business issues while Kottmer and Hunter handled the engineering part of the venture. The team is working to develop a product that will change the diagnostic process for heart arrhythmias.
Throughout the year, more than 80 University of Arizona students receive experiential education that engages them in the process of moving innovation from an early-stage idea to a sustainable launch-ready venture.
Bear Down & Pitch positions McGuire’s “launch-ready” student venture teams to pitch in front of the Phoenix entrepreneurship community. Thanks to Deron Webb ’89 BSBA (Business Administration), managing principal at WWP, and Paul Clayton, founder of Paul Clayton Consulting, active Phoenix investors and venture capitalists will convene to get a glimpse of McGuire’s new, innovative business ventures.