Caption: Alexandria Arndt, center left, and Sam Tremelling, center right, were presented with $500 checks for their winning ideas at Northern’s Idea Pitch Competition. The judges were, from left: Kelly Weaver, Small Business Development Center; Tim Hanigan, Banner Engineering; Mike Bockorny, Aberdeen Development Corp.; and Olaf Hansen, Dacotah Bank.
ABERDEEN, S.D. – The judges had a tough decision at Northern State University’s Idea Pitch competition. Five finalists had five minutes to pitch their idea, shark-tank style, with a chance to win part of the $1000 prize money. Ultimately, two first place winners were selected, each winning $500: Alex Arndt and Sam Tremelling.
“It worked out pretty nicely that the Aberdeen Development Corporation sponsors the prizes for the event and that its CEO Mike Bockorny was one of the judges and could make the executive decision to increase the prize pool in recognition of two highly deserving winners,” said Dr. Daniel Shannahan, assistant professor of management and emcee for the Nov. 16 event.
The finalists, their majors and their ideas were:
Alexandria Arndt, Criminal Justice: 9LIVES
Sam Tremelling, Business Admin: Global Athlete Network
Diana Li, International Business, Marketing, Public Relations: YUTH
Daria Poor, Studio Art: The Maker Space
Natalia Szybinska, Communications Studies, and Nkemdilim Chibuko, Communications Studies and Psychology: Wolf Ride
The competition had cash prizes for first, second and third place, as well as three People’s Choice awards, that were decided by audience participation.
Szybinska and Chibuko won a People’s Choice award. Li took home third place and two People’s Choice awards.
“I think the audience probably knew the judges were going to have a tough decision on their hands, and the enthusiastic applause when we announced that both Alex and Sam would be taking home first place makes me think that was the consensus right decision,” said Shannahan.
Tremelling pitched “The Global Athlete Network,” which is a directory for international athletes. It would allow the athletes to pair with colleges in order to study and compete in the United States.
“The pitch idea really helped me to dive deep into what the user interface would look like, as well as the functionality and the pricing structure for the whole company. It made me pay attention to more of the intricate details and how they would all work,” Tremelling said.
Arndt’s pitch for was a safety app called 9Lives.
“The app would ensure that everyone could have protection and resources regardless of what ‘life’ they are engaging in, whether that be the student life, traveling life, night life, and/or romantic life,” Arndt said. “This app would be instrumental to college campuses across the country looking to boost campus and community safety, educate young adults about title nine issues, and fight back against statistical dangers, like substance abuse and sexual assault. There is a huge safety and resource gap for ages 18 and older that 9LIVES wants to address!”
Arndt presented at last year’s Idea Pitch and refined her idea for a win this year.
“My faculty mentors helped me grow my idea from last year's competition to what it is today. Their feedback was instrumental in straightening out some key concepts that really put my idea over the edge. It's a really awesome opportunity that I'm overall really glad to have and to have the support of everyone involved,” Arndt said.
Both students are working on putting together a business plan.
Arndt will be taking her app to the South Dakota Governor’s Giant Vision competition in the spring. In the meantime, Arndt plans to start on her survey research and collect primary data for her business plan.
“The next step for the idea is to really just put the plan into action, and make the business plan become more fulfilled so that I can start it up and progress with it all,” Tremelling said.