Story and photo by Savannah Carr
Donations collected by artificial intelligence. Hotel rooms on wheels. A 7-year-old on a quest to save the ocean — all competing at the first ever St. Pete Pitch Night.
St. Pete Pitch Night was hosted by Greenhouse, which teamed up with the Kate Tiedemann College of Business and Regions Bank. The event gave five local businesses five minutes each to pitch their ideas and then another five minutes for the judges to ask questions.
The audience choice winner, Urban Yoga Foundation, took home a $500 check and a goodie bag. The overall winner, Miles Fetherson-Resch, CEO of Kids Saving Oceans, received a $5,000 check.
The winner was decided based on which company had the most points overall. The points were awarded based on different categories, with each category being worth 10 points. The categories were structure, communication, presentation effectiveness and each innovative idea’s quality and vitality.
Each business could receive 40 points from each judge, making the highest possible score 160 points.
The panel of judges included Jim Donatelli, Vice President at Regions Bank; Reuben Pressman, founder and CEO of Presence; Rachel Carpenter, CEO of Intrino; and entrepreneurship professor Stephen Diasio.
Kids Saving Oceans
Miles Fetherston-Resch, 7, founded Kids Saving Oceans after watching Shark Week.
“I was watching Shark Week last year, and I didn’t like what we were doing to our sharks, and our oceans, and our beaches,” Fetherston-Resch said.
With the help of his mom, Miles started Kids Saving Oceans with the goal of raising $1 million before he turns 18. Kids Saving Oceans sells T-shirts, hats and pins made from recycled plastic. Each shirt has a design by Miles. From each sale, 30 percent gets donated back to organizations to help save to oceans and its creatures.
While the goal is $1 million by the time he is 18, Miles said he wasn’t stopping soon. When asked what the bigger goal is, Miles shrugged his shoulders and said, “Maybe try and reach two miillion?”
Urban Yoga Foundation
Urban Yoga Foundation was established in New York but recently began leading classes in Florida.Co-partners of the company’s Florida team Clayton Sizemore and Latreca Bonner work to bring yoga into urban schools and the community. As of now, Urban Yoga leads yoga classes at eight local schools, but Sizemore and Bonner want that number to increase.
“We expect to be in every public school in the county in the next two years,” Sizemore said regarding the company’s growth. “That’s elementary and middle schools, not high schools.”
GIVVN
GIVVN is a fundraiser platform for nonprofits designed by CEO Danica Hoppe. The GIVVN platform uses artificial intelligence and a chat bot to help increase donation amounts for charities by engaging with the donor, regardless of the time.
Fueled by the impact a charity had on her childhood, Hoppe designed the GIVVN platform as a way to pay it forward.
Lunchpool
Lunchpool is a messaging platform that allows a company’s staff to solely discuss lunch. The idea is to get the staff to engage with each other at lunch time.
Pooja Pendhakar, the company’s product manager, pitched the company’s idea and put the emphasis on eating and socializing within the workplace.
“We are talking to people on Slack. We’re on the phone all the time. All the time we are connected,” Pendhakar said, “But are we really?”
GuestWings
GuestWings brings the guest bedroom to you in the form of an Airstream trailer. So far, it has two trailers available to rent with pricing different for the need.
To rent the trailer for a spare guest room in a residential area, the price is $249 plus tax. To take the trailer camping, the price is $229.
For any special event, you have to contact the company for pricing. On top of the pricing per night, there is a cleaning fee that can reach up to $100. Each trailer comes with basic hotel amenities, including an LED flatscreen TV and a coffee maker. The trailer sleeps four and has a full kitchen.
