Poets&Quants™ Announces Final 3 Contestants in IdeaBounce Pitch Competition in Partnership with Olin Business School at Washington University of St. Louis

    OAKLAND, CA, March 15, 2022 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Poets&Quants, the definitive online publication for business education news, unveils the top 3 companies that will travel to St Louis and pitch their ideas directly to a panel of judges for a $50,000 prize of seed money. This final round of judging in a first-of-its-kind pitch contest has been done in partnership with the Olin Business School at Washington University of St Louis, the No. 1 school in P&Q's 2022 ranking of the Best MBA Programs for Entrepreneurship.

WashU Olin's BIG IdeaBounce® powered by Poets&Quants pitch contest attracted 167 founders and founding teams from all over the world, including India, Nigeria, Ghana, Belgium, Spain, England, and Canada. More than 55 universities were represented in the contest that was open to any current undergraduate or graduate students, or any prospect interested in a graduate business school degree.

"It was difficult for the judges to pick a final three based on the quality of submissions we received," says Doug Villhard, academic director for entrepreneurship at Washington University."In the end the judges appear to have been drawn to what is commonly referred to as the "triple bottom line" -- profit, people, and planet. All three finalists have profit potential, but they are also good for people and/or the planet."

The Final 3 Companies:

OnDeck Fisheries - a monitoring tool that meets regulatory needs using AI instead of humans to automatically quantify the numbers of fish caught, revolutionizing marine conservation while cutting costs by a factor of 10.

Pedal Cell - a unique bicycle power source that converts a cyclist's motion into continuous charge for lights, smartphones, GPS, and other essential USB devices.

MiDoc - an at-home medical device that allows physicians to remotely conduct lung and heart physical exams, revolutionizing the patient-provider telehealth experience and improving healthcare access, affordability, convenience, and quality.

These finalists will now pitch their ideas to our panel of judges that include John A. Byrne, Editor-in-Chief of Poets&Quants, Akeem Shannon CEO of FlipStik, and Maxine Clark, Founder and former Chief Executive Bear at Build-A-Bear Workshop. The teams will vie for a $50,000 prize to move their company forward. The P&Q Choice winner, chosen by the readers of Poets&Quants, will also be revealed at this event.

Readers can tune in to see the event on March 22nd at 12pm ET on Poets&Quants.com. Register here to view the live broadcast of this incredible event!

Learn more about the finalists here.

About Poets&Quants:
Poets&Quants is the leading resource for complete coverage of graduate business education. We feature multiple tools and authoritative content, including consolidated B-school rankings, news and in-depth features, videos, podcasts, two searchable directories, and events, empowering our community with information needed to make decisions along their journey from pre- to post-MBA.

About Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis
Firmly established at the Gateway to the West, Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis stands as the gateway to something far grander. WashU Olin prepares our students to thoughtfully make difficult decisions—the kind that can change the world—through a values-based, data-driven approach to decision-making, informed by entrepreneurial spirit, experiential learning and a global outlook on business. Olin offers 13 graduate business degree programs, including specialized master's programs and the MBA, online and in-person, along with a four-year BSBA and a host of joint degrees and related minors. Learn more at olin.wustl.edu or follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.

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