2019 YIBI Youth Business Pitch Winter Semifinal

This past week, YIBI hosted the 2019 Youth Business Leadership Training (YBLT) Winter Session in San Jose, California. There were 31 participants ranging from eighth grade to eleventh grade, all guided by coach Erika Yang (YIBI President) and four TA mentors: Ryan Chan (Mission San Jose High School), Lena Liu (Foothill High School), Tony Li (Palo Alto High School), and Pauline Rogers (Valley Christian High School).

Every day from 5:30 to 9:30 pm, the hardworking students fine-tuned their startup presentations to prepare for the semifinal competition on Sunday, December 29. In addition, guest professors from local universities were invited every day to discuss various parts of the business and entrepreneurship process, such as finance, marketing, business etiquette, and social advertising. The coach and mentors then further guided the teams through advice and critique.

This session, there were six teams: Younique One, TokiFridge, TrashSmart, NocTurn, GiftChain, and Intellitutor. Team Younique one created a website to enhance networking between young artists ranging from age 16 to age 25 and everyday customers. Team Tokifridge created an all-in-one kitchen appliance to make meal preparation efficient for the busy working class. Their idea was to connect the refrigerator with the oven, using conveyor belts to bring the ingredients from the refrigerator to the oven. TrashSmart designed an eco-friendly trash can that organizes waste into designated compartments, reducing the unnecessary tons of recyclable products entering landfills each year.

Team NocTurn noticed an issue with car related injuries, proposing the solution of creating a smart windshield that highlights dangers from miles away. Using a projector, the driver will be notified if any objects or lifeforms enter the radius of the car. GiftChain is a platform that connects buyers with sellers. They plan to solve the issue of unwanted gifts by allowing users to sell the gifts to the startup, even without a receipt and thus serving as the middle-man. In return, sellers receive cash back to be used on other, more desirable products. GiftChain will then sell the unwanted product to their website at a lower cost than retail. Lastly, Intellitutor is an AI tutor that helps students on subjects they might not understand. Since it is artificial intelligence, students can access the website and seek help any time of the day.

The judges ultimately enjoyed Intellitutor's well-prepared presentation, especially since the entire team was well-knowledged on the technicalities and plans of execution, leading them to first place. Second place was a three-way tie between Team TokiFridge, Gift Chain, and NocTurn. As such, each of these three teams had to present an elevator pitch on their startup to further sell their service or product. With just five minutes to prep for the thirty-second speech, it was very intense for all parties. In the end, GiftChain won second place and Team TokiFridge won third. Teams Intellitutor, GiftChain, and TokiFridge will advance to the International Grand Conference, where teams from all around the globe will get a chance to be featured.

Throughout this week, the students learned more about the vast world of business. From basic entrepreneur skills to marketing strategies, the students truly went gained lots of new experiences.

By Ryan Chan