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Morris L. Hayhurst LaunchLab

Great Turnout for the Lab’s Final Pitch Competition of the Year

Agustin Urioste |

$16,250 awarded to up-and-coming entrepreneurs at the Fall Pitch Competition.

winners!

Last Thursday, October 19, the LaunchLab held its final pitch competition of 2023, to large attendance and great fanfare. Eight workers, four judges, three volunteers, and a packed lecture hall cheered on the seven contestants participating in the event. “I’m so excited to finally get to see what these events are all about,” said one of the volunteers before the event began. “I’ve heard a lot about them.” Just another day for the team at 413.

This was also the last LaunchLab pitch competition for long-time Executive Director, Dr. Carrie White, who will be departing from the role to pursue her work in Entrepreneur Ecosystem Experts, LLC as a co-founder. The moment was shared with a slew of friends, former colleagues, and student staff who made the trip to Morgantown to be with Carrie that evening, including Tara St. Clair, Mindy Walls, Rachel Stevick, and Maria Stasko to name a few. “It was a very emotional night. We were all so excited to be back together and to see so many of our old coworkers,” said Adam Payne, a former LaunchLab employee who now runs a successful publishing business of his own.


 The lineup of contestants consisted of:

  • Eva Toor pitching Slim Safe 

  • Dillon Ziolkowski pitching the Smartr Scoop

  • Luke Grimm and co. pitching the God Wallet

  • Angelo Crino pitching Crino Cuts

  • Leonardo Cuellar  pitching No Bull Technical Consulting

  • Nola Todd pitching Goldenrod Breakfast Company

  • Benjamin Landolina pitching CAPSHOCK


These were the big winners of the night by order of award size:

  1. Eva Toor - $7,000

  2. Angelo Crino - $3,000

  3. Benjamin Landolina - $3,000

  4. Nola Todd - $3,000


The popular vote, an audience-choice award in the amount of  $250, was won by Angelo Crino. 


Thank you to everyone who showed up to spectate and participate! While this is the last pitch competition for the Fall, there are plenty of competitions to watch out for in the Spring. One such event is Bridging Innovation week; a big event happening in April that will host important competitions such as IGNITEWV and the Hayhurst Invitational. Head over to our Pitch Competitions page for more information.