Winners of the Fast Pitch Competition with Garner Holt Left to Right: Jeanne Gonzalez, Samuel Moreno, Garner Holt, Jeramy Sanchez, Ana Gonzalez, Jocelyn Paz Photo credit: Jose Lopez
On November 8, 2023, the Semi-finals for the Garner Holt Student Fast Pitch competition were held at Garner Holt Productions in Redlands. Starting in 2006, Cal State San Bernardino students could submit a 250-word summary of their proposed business concept, and a select number of them would propose their idea at this event as a 90-second pitch as a competition. In 2008, Garner Holt became the sponsor of the event and since then, the semi-finals have been hosted at Garner Hold Productions.
During this event, there were 13 future entrepreneurs who had 90 seconds to propose their ideas to the audience and to judge for one of 5 seats at the Spirit of the Entrepreneur competition on November 15. The first-place winner of that competition will be awarded $7,500 in cash to help jump-start their ideas. In addition, there was a Top Pitch award given based on the votes of the audience members.
The 6 judges at the event were: Garner Holt, Derkek Armstrong, Ermillio Uribe, Edward Timmons, Mitch Morris, and Lilianna Ddacalos. Students would have 90 seconds to pitch their ideas to the audience and judges. Judges have a rubric where they can create comments and rate each student’s idea and presentation. At the end of each pitch, judges were able to ask questions about the idea and product.
The 5 people who will go to the final round at the Spirit of the Entrepreneur are Joselyn Paz, Ana Gonzalez, Jeramy Sanchez, Samuel Moreno, and Jeanne Gonzalez. These contestants will next propose their ideas to an audience of 800 and a panel of entrepreneurs and investors for the grand prize. The winner of the Top Pitch award was Jeramy Sanchez.
