The Shields School of Business hosted its annual Invest-in-Success competition on March 8, awarding start-up capital to three student entrepreneurs.  

The event is based off the popular ABC-TV show “Shark Tank.” At the competition, students are provided the opportunity to share their business ideas with a panel of judges who are themselves business investors. 

Participants then compete against one another for prize money that is used to support their ventures.  

At this year’s event, the judges awarded $2,500. The competition was conducted over Zoom for the first time because of the pandemic.

Josh Dinges, last year’s first-place finisher, opened this year’s competition by providing an update and pitch to the judges on his grass-fed beef company, Dinges Brothers.

Other contestants included A.J. Schmidt, who presented an idea called “Aqua Clock.”

Ethan Knoebel and Brenden Miller told the judges about their “Limestone Fly Company,” a fly-fishing venture.

Emily Lunger pitched her ideal about an app that is like Tinder, but one that helps students decide what college is the best fit for them. 

Hunter Longenecker and Morgan Flack shared their idea of a “Kronos Case,” which is a phone case that has more storage space for an iPhone.

Knoebel and Miller captured first-place, with the judges awarding them $2,000 to invest in their fly-fishing company. 

The judges discussed with the winners how they believe the money should be invested within the company, providing Knoebel and Miller with some professional advice.

“We are very excited to have won this competition,” said Miller. 

“We have worked hard on trying to create this brand and we are very fortunate to get some money to help get this company and idea taking off.”

Dinges was also a winner for the second consecutive year at the event. He was awarded $500 to be used to improve Dinges Brothers’ marketing efforts.