Taylor’s 11th annual Trojan Arena, a business pitch competition formerly known as “Shark Tank,” was held in Rediger Chapel on Nov. 7.
IGNITE internship students organized Trojan Arena. Throughout the contest, six students pitched business ideas and answered questions from a panel of six judges.
Mark Bowell, Kathy Heyerly, Steve Klipsch, Mary Walraven and Nick and Molly Pastermack, entrepreneurs and businesspeople, traveled from across America to evaluate the entrepreneurs.
Confetti cannons announced the pitch taking the first-place prize of $5,000: InnoShop, by Emberly Loveland and Alli Holder. InnoShop plans to offer customized mobile shops for student entrepreneurs to promote their goods around campus.
Will Lot’s Trojan Threads snatched second place, and the judges awarded third to Meg Shaffer’s Cation. The audience’s choice was Elijah Choi’s 80Plates.
“You can taste entrepreneurship in the air,” said Dani Gavilanez, a student who attended this slay-the-dragon themed competition.
Mick Bates, director of the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE) said Trojan Arena has benefitted both entrepreneurs and audiences over the years. He said its name was only recently changed from its original title, “Shark Tank.” Bates said the renaming resulted from a conversation that started years ago.
Medieval decorations draped Rediger chapel as students laughed and took selfies with a lightsaber-wielding, blowup dragon near the stage. The smell of popcorn and the sound of medieval music twirled through the air.
Participating in Trojan Arena involved heavy preparation.
Meg Shaffer, a competitor, prepared for two weeks prior to Trojan Arena. Schaffer pitched Cation, which funded foster families’ vacations.
She said she was inspired to support foster parents by her family’s adoption experience.
“I saw the struggle between my parents of the amount of effort they put in,” she said. Her family experienced rest and laughter visiting Holiday World, an amusement park offering free tickets to foster kids. She relished the memory of family bonding and wanted to give other weary foster parents the same experience.
Shaffer initially felt intimidated but enjoyed Trojan Arena. The third-year graduate majoring in marketing and systems appreciated Trojan Arena’s networking and experience opportunities.
“I think the way that it was structured, they did a really good job of helping us feel prepared,” she said. “I’ve never actually had to perform in a sense in front of other people.”
Organizing Trojan Arena required extensive work.
Bates led the process. Bates said Trojan Arena is an important contribution to campus life.
“It's about really catalyzing and inspiring the entrepreneurial mindset across campus,” Bates said. “It serves as a centralization or a focal point for students who may not be thinking about entrepreneurship to actually think, ‘Oh, that's kind of cool.’”
Bates appreciated how Trojan Arena fostered interest in business and encouraged students to share their ideas. He recognized that the competition provided budding entrepreneurs with industry connections and displayed campus life to prospective students.
Relabeling Shark Tank to Trojan Arena was an intentional move to Taylor-brand the contest. Bates said Trojan Arena is like Shark Tank, though changes were made.
“We really wanted to take it to the next level,” he said. “We increased the judges pool last year; we increased the prize money that was available last year, and we determined that we need to get our own Taylor brand.”
In the future, Bates said Trojan Arena may develop further. He mentioned potential expansion plans regarding competitors.
Jody Hirschy, Dean of the Cornwall School of Business and Leadership, agreed. Hirschy said Trojan Arena will continue to improve every year and loves the values it encourages.
“I love that innovation and entrepreneurship is displayed,” Hirschy said. "It's not just business majors; it's computer science majors; it’s all different sorts of students who God's gifted with this idea. And that's the whole point of the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.”
Hirschy sees entrepreneurship as beneficial to everyone, not just students majoring in business.
Hirschy said she’s grateful for the judges’ willingness to travel across America.
“Trojan arena did not disappoint,” Hirschy said. “It was a wonderful night displaying innovation and entrepreneurship across the campus.”
