Register for Pirate Entrepreneurship Challenge

Published Sep 09, 2019 by
Filed under: On-Campus, Opportunities

Register now for the third annual Pirate Entrepreneurship Challenge. The challenge is a three-round pitch competition available to any student enrolled in the 2019/2020 academic year, as well as alumni who have an ECU enrolled student on their team.

More than $35,000 in cash and in-kind services will be awarded. Those services could include legal services, website development, branding design, accounting, trademark services, and office space. Final Round prize money is $15,000 to the grand prize winner, $10,000 to second place, and $5,000 to third place. Payment will be delivered to winners as they achieve pre-approved milestones.

The competition is broken down into three rounds.

Round 1 is an open-air forum for participants to showcase their ideas and ventures. This poster session will be held Tuesday, October 15 from 12-2 p.m. on the lawn behind the new Student Center. Students who pass by will get three tickets to allocate to their idea (or ideas) of choice. Twelve teams will be selected to move on to the second round based on student popular vote, community judges, the Miller School, and Ideation Champions. $2,000 will be awarded.

Round 2 will be a 5-minute pitch followed by a Q&A period. During the pitch process, mentors will be able to ring a bell for the participant they would like to mentor. This round will take place Wednesday, November 20 from 6-8:30 p.m. in Room 249 of the new Student Center on main campus. Six teams will move on to the final round. $2,000 in seed money will be awarded.

The final round, Round 3, will be held in February 2020 in Harvey Hall – Murphy Center at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium. Six finalists will present a five-minute pitch followed by a five-minute Q&A. A panel of university and community entrepreneurship leaders will select winners.

There will be three PEC information sessions:

  • Wednesday, Sept. 18, 5:30 p.m. in Bate 1400
  • Wednesday, Oct. 2, 5:30 p.m. in Bate 1400
  • Thursday, Oct. 3, 5:30 p.m. in Brody Commons

To learn more and register, visit https://business.ecu.edu/msoe/pec/.

If you have questions, email msoe@ecu.edu.