Last Friday, third-year Commerce student Tyler Cain won $500 by speaking for a total of three minutes.
"I am here to propose my product, a low-cost, prepaid cab service," Cain told his audience of would-be investors in his first presentation.
Ninety seconds later, he was greeted with a round of applause.
Cain, however, had no prepaid taxis to offer. He and 15 fellow Commerce students were participants in the Virginia Entrepreneur Organization's first Elevator Pitch Competition.
The students' objective was to imagine that they had just entered an elevator and, by chance, had happened to encounter a CEO or venture capitalist, said Eric Stangarone, a third-year Commerce student and VEO's vice president of public relations.
One would then have only the time it takes for the elevator to reach its destination to explain his or her business to the potential investor, he said.
The chances are slim, "but things like that can certainly happen," Stangarone said. "You never know who you are going to meet."
VEO President and founder, third-year Commerce student Daniel Donado, noted that the Commerce School already has business plan competitions but "wanted to do something very novel."
"There is a lot of public speaking at the Commerce School but with a lot of time to prepare," Stangarone said.
Donado noted that this was a competition that instead involved no preparation and could encourage a lot of people to participate.
"It sounded like a neat format," Cain said. "It was a chance to learn how to manage time when speaking, how to formulate thoughts quickly and how to better sort through a subject or question and identify the most important information."
Second-place winner and third-year Commerce student Ryan Gurney said he was similarly excited about the opportunity to think on his toes, given that the contestants were only allowed 15 minutes to prepare their speeches.
Cain said this exercise prepared him for interactions in future business endeavors.
"Just the fact that I've experienced what it's like to go up in front of venture capitalists makes me more comfortable," Cain said.
As the competition got under way, the 16 participants were divided into groups of four, each of which was given a business idea.
"The scenarios are one or two sentences max," Donado said. "They leave a lot of room for creativity."
Stangarone described the prompts as leaving a certain amount of leeway.
"There are no fine numbers involved ... what the participants are pitching are big ideas," he said.
Each competitor gave a 90-second speech based on the scenario in front of his or her peers and a panel of five judges.
The best-judged presenter from each group went on to the second round, in which the four students delivered 90-second speeches on a new idea.
Gurney said this format was an exciting rush.
"I had a great time," Gurney said. "The whole pace, one thing after another -- have to outline, practice, go! Five, four, three, two, one, everyone starts clapping!"
Cain agreed the VEO created a fast-paced atmosphere at the competition and compared it to a sporting event.
"We want to get people excited about entrepreneurship," Donado said. "The school puts a lot of resources into finance and accounting but not nearly as much for entrepreneurship."
Donado added that similar schools like the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton business school have an actual concentration in entrepreneurship.
"It is the purest form of business," he said. "There definitely should be more opportunities for those that are interested."
Donado said when he transferred to the University, he saw this lack of presence and founded the VEO, which was modeled after a similar organization he belonged to at Columbia University.
"An entrepreneur's goal is to take an idea, and oftentimes one that is very self-involved -- something that there is a lot of pride in -- and bring it into reality," Stangarone said.
According to Donado, the three qualities that an entrepreneur cannot go wrong with are creativity, ambition and dedication.
As an entrepreneur, "you have to put a lot into it. You're working off a lot of sweat equity," Donado said.
He noted, however, that Friday's competitors were working mainly off their ability to sell.
Another real skill involved, according to Stangarone, is public speaking -- "articulate public speaking!"
The five judges evaluating the ability to speak and sell were chosen so as to create a very diverse group, Donado said.
He explained that he was able to enlist the support of Tom Carver, managing director of Harren Equity Partners, and Kathryne Carr, managing director of Tall Oaks Capital, to bring to the table the investor's point of view.
Representing the other half of the equation -- the entrepreneurs -- were Commerce School Prof. David LaRue and Dominic Sinibaldi, president of the Darden Venture Capital and Entrepreneur Club. Donado noted that LaRue has started several successful companies.
Completing the panel was Commerce School Prof. Lynn Hamilton. Donado explained that Hamilton is a communications expert.
Among the qualities the judges said would be particularly helpful for the competitors was a good attention-getter, or "catch."
"A CEO in an elevator is not going to listen to just anyone," Stangarone said.
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