Orange Tank Business Competition

Apply Here! The Martin J. Whitman School of Management’s eighth annual Orange Tank business pitch competition will be held on Sept. 30, 2022, at 2 p.m. in the Helaine and Marvin Lender Auditorium at the Whitman School.

Thanks to the generosity of Whitman Advisory Council member and lifetime Syracuse University Trustee John Couri ’63 (A&S), current students and alumni entrepreneurs from the Whitman School can apply for a chance to pitch their business venture to a panel of accomplished judges and vie for part of the $42,000 in cash prizes. Monetary awards will be given to the ventures finishing in first ($5,000), second ($2,500) and third ($1,000) place in both the student and alumni categories. A grand prize of $25,000 will be awarded to the competition’s top overall finisher among the two first-place ventures, so contestants will be competing for as much as $30,000.

Three alumni and three student ventures will be selected from the applicants to pitch at the competition. Those chosen will have five minutes to pitch, followed by five minutes of Q&A from the judges, who will be looking for:

Market potential
Differentiation and economic feasibility
Ability to protect intellectual property, technology
Sound execution strategy
Scalability of the business
Proposed use of finances
Expertise and abilities of the founder(s)
Quality of pitch
The application deadline is Sunday, Sept. 11, 2022, at 11:59 p.m. No exceptions. All applicants must submit an executive summary using the application form linked below to Todd Moss at tmoss@syr.edu by the deadline. The application can be up to three pages of content to identify your project. All ventures must have a Whitman alumni or student founder or co-founder to apply. Finalists selected to pitch will be notified by Sept. 16, 2022.

Questions should be directed to Todd Moss at tmoss@syr.edu.