EDWARDSVILLE — Young entrepreneurs had their time in the spotlight Wednesday and Thursday at The Ink House.
The Edwardsville CEO (Creating Entrepreneurial Opportunities) program held its Fish Tank business pitch competition. The two-day event featured 19 students making a three-minute pitch to judges, followed by a two-minute question and answer session.
In addition to naming three local winners and two honorable mentions, Edwardsville CEO had some success on the national level as well. Father McGivney Catholic High School senior Luke Deakos took first place and a $1,000 cash prize in the National Pitch Competition for his business, Jam Session 101.
“I’ve been working really hard on my pitch and I felt good about it, but I never thought I would be the national first-place winner,” Deakos said. “It was super exciting, and I was very happy with it.”
Midland Institute for Entrepreneurship helps establish CEO programs in communities across the nation (https://www.midlandinstitute.com/About-Us). Each year, they host a National Pitch Competition.
Any CEO student from across the surrounding seven states (58 programs) can enter a 30-second pitch for their individual business endeavor. This year there were over 160 student submissions.
A large panel of judges scored the videos and narrowed them down to 18 finalists. Edwardsville CEO had four students in the top 18, including, in addition to Deakos:
• Barrett Larkin (FMCHS) | LarkInfo Video Solutions
• Emily Cecil (Edwardsville High School) | The Mystery Box
• Matthew Gierer (FMCHS) | High Gear Fitness
“In the three years of Edwardsville CEO, we had a national winner in 2019, Adam Walters, whose figurines from the Roblox game he launched are now sold at Amazon and Target, and last year we had three finalists,” Edwardsville CEO Program Director Hannah Allison said. “This year we have four finalists and another national winner in Luke, so we are incredibly proud. Our students continue to exceed our wildest expectations. They truly are outstanding.”
Deakos launched his business, Jam Session 101, as an attempt to foster a love of music within children that he felt was lacking in traditional piano lessons.
“I took piano lessons for eight years and I pretty much hated them,” Deakos said, laughing. “It was valuable because I learned to play the piano, but it was boring. Now that I’ve been through that, I can teach kids the fundamentals of music without going through all of the boring stuff.
“In a nutshell, we make playing music fun. We let the kids do activities and we have games and we show them how to record music at home. The best thing we do is jam sessions, where the kids sit at the piano and play music together.”
Wednesday morning, during a live video call with Midland, the top three finalists were announced by Doug Villhard and Maxine Clark, Founder of Build-A-Bear Workshop.
Villhard, Academic Director for Entrepreneurship for Olin Business School at Washington University, meets with Edwardsville CEO in an 11-part speaking series that helps students develop their individual business idea. He teaches them how to craft a business pitch and was pivotal in students crafting the “perfect pitch” for their side hustles.
“This whole program has been just a great opportunity and it’s a great group of people,” Deakos said. “Hannah, our program director, has been super helpful along with Doug Villhard crafting those pitches.
“They have given us every opportunity to succeed. They expect excellence from all of their students, and they give us the tools for success.”
Deakos isn’t sure what he will do with the $1,000 cash award, which was among several prizes for winning the National Pitch Competition.
“I might put it back in the business, so I need to find a way to do that and make some entrepreneurial moves with it,” Deakos said.
Deakos will hold four weekly Jam Session 101 camps in July, when he hopes to have four students at each camp at his house in Edwardsville.
He credits the Edwardsville CEO program for giving him a chance to explore his entrepreneurial skills.
“I’ve had some other ideas, but I really didn’t know what I was getting into when I signed up for CEO,” Deakos said. “I knew what entrepreneurship was and I thought it was pretty cool.
“My dad works in business, so I’ve kind of been around it, but joining the program really opened my eyes so much to how many opportunities there are and how creative you can be at solving problems.”
Deakos will attend Ave Maria University in Florida on a baseball scholarship. He also played soccer and basketball at FMCHS before focusing on baseball as a senior.
At Ave Maria, Deakos will study biochemistry on a pre-medical school track.
“I want to become a doctor of some kind and I’m not sure what, but I think that delivering babies would be an exciting career,” Deakos said. “I would like to play some music on the side and even if I’m not teaching lessons, I want to have that as part of my life.”
In the local Fish Tank competition, local winners were announced on Thursday. Deakos again took first place, followed by Cecil with second place for The Mystery Box and Metro-East Lutheran High School senior Peyton Ashauer with third place for Unboxing Edwardsville.
Honorable mention went to EHS senior Jack Wise for Spin-22 and EHS senior Maddy Jones for Re-Jarred.
Prize money was sponsored by the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville School of Business and Small Business Development Center (SBDC) at SIUE.
The next big event for Edwardsville CEO is the Trade Show, slated for May 2 at The Ink House.
“The students are designing really cool interactive booths to showcase their products and services,” Allison said. “We’ll also have food and drink from vendors including Goshen Coffee, Cake POP and S’mores Shack. We’ll do giveaways for the first couple of people that walk through the door.
“We hope to have as many community members as we can. Everyone has to wear a mask and we’re working with the Madison County Health Department to make sure we’re following all of the COVID guidelines.”
Trevor Lovatto, who was a member of the inaugural Edwardsville CEO class of 2019 and launched his wedding videography business, Trevor Lovatto Film, is coming back as an alumnus to film a promotional video for the organization.
For more information about Edwardsville CEO, the Fish Tank or the Trade Show, or to read more about students’ individual businesses go to https://www.edwardsvilleceo.com/ or visit the Edwardsville CEO Facebook page. You can also reach out to Hannah Allison at [email protected].