Business Pitch Training and Competition

In past years, Berkeley Lab has hosted a pitch competition, co-hosted by the Intellectual Property Office and Haas Business School, for scientist-entrepreneurs, providing them with the opportunity to practice pitching their business ideas to funders and potential partners. 

Format: The contestants gave ten-minute presentations on their elevator pitch, their market position, the customer and competitive landscape, and financial considerations, followed by a five minute Q&A with the judging panel.

Pitch competition training was virtual. Competition was in-person.

Prizes (tied winners split prize money): 

• First place: $10,000 in funded time (not cash) for market exploration time

• Second place: $7,000 in funded time (not cash) for market exploration time

• Third place: $3,000 in funded time (not cash) for market exploration time

Congratulations to the winners of the 2023 pitch competition! Read this story to hear more about the event.

2022

First place

Deepika Aswathi, Biosciences Area, for “Z6 Technologies: Upcycling Methane to Green Biochemicals”

Second place (tie)

Farshid Roumi, Energy Technologies Area, for “Fire Free Battery Screening Technology”

Chun Chang, Earth and Environmental Sciences Area, for “Hunting the Greener and Cheaper Energy You Need”

Third place

Kenneth Higa and Daniel Collins-Wildman, Energy Technologies Area, for “Better Batteries for Buildings”

2020

First place

Andrew Haddad, Energy Technologies Area

Second place

Dilip Vasudevan, Computing Sciences Area

Third place

Reshma Singh, Energy Technologies Area