2024 Desjardins Elevator Pitch Competition
The Desjardins Elevator Pitch Competition highlights the University of Ottawa’s top student entrepreneurs. As part of Global Entrepreneurship Month, the competition allows both those entrepreneurs with traction, as well as those in the stages of validating, and also those still in ideation, the opportunity to pitch their business to a panel of judges for a chance to win prize money and business development services.
The evening includes a networking portion as well as a fireside chat providing inspiration, advice and insight into the challenges of entrepreneurship.
How It Works
Three categories
Idea Stage (3 finalists)
Validation Competition (3 finalists)
Traction (3 finalists)
Applications
Applications must be submitted by November 1st, 2024 11:59 pm and includes both a written application and a 2-minute video pitch submission.
Final Event Date
November 12th, 2024 at 5:00 pm. Applications must be submitted by November 1st, 2024 11:59 pm
Categories & Prizes
Idea
3 finalists
This category is designed for students who want to pitch their idea, benefiting from the pitching experience and the questions and feedback from the judges. To compete in this category you cannot have realized any traction to date such as sales or external funding, nor have you developed a final prototype or beta version. You may have started customer validation, but it’s really just an idea at this point!
$1,000
Validation
3 finalists
This category encourages and rewards customer validation, and/or early prototypes. These ideas are still somewhat conceptual but work is being done to actively validate or build early working solutions. Applicants must still be at an early stage and cannot have realized significant traction to date such as meaningful funding, sales or other significant accelerants as determined by the selection committee.
$3,000
Traction
3 finalists
This category is for applicants whose business is further along the entrepreneurial path with achieved milestones and will compete on the bases of an executive summary and pitch. Applicants in this category already have some realized form of traction with their business such as:
- Technical and/or market validation completed
- Early customer adoption
- Prototype finalized/website operational
- Early sales or beta clients
- and/or, acceptance into an accelerator or incubator program.
$10,000
$5,000
$1,000
$2,000
and professional services as described in the Eligibility Criteria and Competition Details
Registration
Applications must be submitted by November 1st, 2024 11:59 pm and includes both a written application and video pitch submission.
Eligibility Criteria and Competition Details
For more information contact Éric Nelson at
Telfer Knowledge Hub
Business Case Competitions: An Experiential Approach to Learning
MBA Management Consulting Project Wins Leadership Award for Sustainable Pharmacy Practices
MBA Students Tackle Food Insecurity in Canada at Diversity & Inclusion Competition
