Rising Entrepreneurs Day Application

On February 22, 2026, please be prepared to do a brief presentation (5-7 minutes maximum), pitching your business and sharing your journey. Ideally, you will share an existing small business or side hustle that you are already engaged in, but ideas with some support and validation are also possible. You will present via a PowerPoint slide deck (to be shared prior to the competition) for your presentation. Please feel free to bring samples of your product, etc. Whatever helps your pitch!

You will pitch your idea to a small panel from the Keenan Center Team, all of whom will be experienced entrepreneurs and investors. Please be sure to email PowerPoint files in advance to deredima@lemoyne.edu. If you are emailing files, please do so at least 24 hours before the event. If you have any questions pertaining to technology or setup for your presentation, please contact deredima@lemoyne.edu.

Please fill out this application by Friday, February 6.

Confirm Student Information

First Name

Last Name

Email Address

Birthdate

Tagline

What is your company about (Please answer in 4-6 words. This should be short and snappy)?

Problem Statement

What is the problem, need or want of your target customer that you are solving?

Alternative Solutions

What are your current or potential customers/users doing to solve the problem or need today? Why don't they think that this solution is "good enough"? What are they doing to look for an alternative solution? What other companies are trying to solve this problem and how are they doing so?

Solution

This is a critical section. Capture your audience here and provide an eureka insight, or lose them entirely. Describe the product, service or technology you are developing in as much detail as possible, given the space constraint.

What’s the value proposition? (Be Specific) What makes your solution unique? What value will you be delivering to your target market? How does your product/service/technology solve the problem?

Traction

Do you have any other user data, viewership data, or other such metrics that would demonstrate your business is real and active? (not just an idea)

Has your business generated any sales? If so how many customers and how much revenue?

What customer discovery have you done to validate your idea? Do you currently have people using and/or paying for a service or product of yours? If not, what do you need to do to develop to launch? If so, what do you need to develop to support growth?

Target Market

This section should combine a quantitative analysis of your market—size, growth rate, location—with a qualitative discussion of your target user—psychographic, demographic, and behavioral.

Describe your ideal customer and/or user of your product/service. Describe your market in quantitative terms (e.g., size, growth rate, location, etc.).

Marketing and Sales

If you had to go out and acquire ten new customers tomorrow, how would you do it and where would you find them?

Competitive Advantage

Every business has some sort of competition—direct, indirect, substitution. Competition is a good sign. It often indicates there is a potential market.

What companies are out there today trying to solve this problem or operating in a related market? How are they doing? What makes your solution different and more valuable in the eyes of a customer?

Business Model

Use this section to detail how you will make money.

How will you make money? How and what will (or do) you charge for each product, service or technology? What are (or will be) some of you your biggest cost factors?

Logo & Pitch Deck (Optional)

If applicable, please provide any links to logos or a website that you may have.

If you would like to enhance your application by including a draft set of slides, or your "pitch deck", please provide a link here, or email directly as an attachment to shomarja@lemoyne.edu See link for a template and example of the slides that should be included: https://guykawasaki.com/the-only-10-slides-you-need-in-your-pitch/