Every solid business venture starts with one thing - a pitch! Whether making a sale or convincing an investor, your idea pitch has to be organized, well-thought out, powerful and convincing! GCC is here to help get you prepared!

If you have a passion you'd like to turn into a business but you aren't sure if anyone else will think it's a good idea, consider participating in GCC's Business Idea Pitch Competition on Tuesday, April 19, 2022 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. in room T102 of the Conable Technology Building at Genesee Community College's Batavia Campus. The competition is free and open to the public and prizes of $100 for first place and $75 for second place will be awarded to the most outstanding competitors in the "most likely to succeed" and "most creative" categories. Pitches will be judged by local business leaders.

"If you don't educate yourself, you'll never get out of the starting block because you'll spend all your money making foolish decisions," said Daymond John, investor on "Shark Tank," a reality television show on ABC in which contestants pitch their business ideas to a panel of potential investors in hopes of launching their retail dreams.

Among the leading causes for startup failure is a lack of basic business experience. In lieu of losing thousands of investment dollars, today's entrepreneurs have found another way to gain that experience before launching their startup - education. Genesee Community College offers both degree and certificate programs in Entrepreneurship to prepare emerging business owners and investors for success.

To register for the Business Pitch Competition, please email Dr. Lina LaMattina, GCC Director of Business Programs at lmlamattina@genesee.edu or Amy Conley, GCC Professor of Accounting at avconley@genesee.edu by Wednesday, April 13, 2022.

For more information contact Vice President, Development and External Affairs Justin Johnston at (585) 345-6809, or via email: jmjohnston@genesee.edu.

Call Lynn Bezon today at 344-HOME for more information on these listings or visit us online.

Every second, three new businesses "startup" in the United States. In the time it takes the average reader to finish this paragraph, nine new companies will be born, according to the 2018 GEM (Global Entrepreneurship Monitor) national report.

Conversely, the Small Business Administration tells us that 50 percent of those will fail during the first four to five years; but why is that? Do half of the entrepreneurs in the country have lousy ideas? Actually, among the leading causes for startup failure is a lack of basic business experience.

In lieu of losing thousands of investment dollars, today's entrepreneurs have found another way to gain that experience before launching their startup -- education.

"If you don't educate yourself, you'll never get out of the starting block because you'll spend all your money making foolish decisions," said Daymond John, investor on "Shark Tank," a reality television show on ABC in which contestants pitch their business ideas to a panel of potential investors in hopes of launching their retail dreams.

Genesee Community College offers both degree and certificate programs in Entrepreneurship to prepare emerging business owners and investors for success. To further open up learning opportunities to both students and the public, GCC teamed up with the GCEDC (Genesee County Economic Development Center) to sponsor the second annual Business Idea Pitch Competition.

The competition will be held Tuesday, April 30, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. in room T102 of the Conable Technology Building at the Genesee Community College's Batavia Campus.

The deadline for competitors to register to participate is April 5.

Registration requires the participant to submit an Executive Summary of their business idea, and attend at least one of the preparation workshops listed below. Participating high school students are not required to attend a workshop.

The competition is limited to 25 participants who will be selected based on their Executive Summary submissions and announced on April 5.

Executive Summary criteria and submission instructions are available by contacting Lina LaMattina, Ph.D., at lmlamattina@genesee.edu. 

The GCEDC's StartUp Genesee Networking Group has donated cash prizes which will be awarded at the Pitch Competition on April 30. Prizes of $100 for first place and $75 for second place will be awarded to the most outstanding competitors in the "most likely to succeed" and "most creative" categories. Pitches will be judged by local business leaders.

To help participants pursue their passions and take their first entrepreneurial steps, GCC will host three preparation workshops. 

• Starting a Business -- Tuesday, April 9, from 9:30 to 11 a.m. in room T121
• Business Plan Basics -- Tuesday, April 23, from 9:30 to 11 a.m. in room T121
• Idea Pitch Practice -- Thursday, April 25, from 12:30 to 2 p.m. in room T122

These workshops are free and open to anyone participating in the Business Idea Pitch Competition. To sign up for a workshop, please contact Lina LaMattina , Ph.D., at lmlamattina@genesee.edu.

Start-Up Genesee invites you to "Fall in Love with Franchising!" for the next Think & Drink networking event.

Join the Start-Up Genesee community and business consultant John Adams for a conversation about opportunities to own your own business and how to successfully get into the franchising industry.

This program will be held from 4 to 6 p.m on Thursday, Feb. 13 at The Generation Center, 15 Center St., in Downtown Batavia.

Afterward, everyone will head to O'Lacy's for a drink. To register for this event, so there can be an accurate head count for seating and drink token, click here.

From restaurants to retailers in many industries, franchising can create a turn-key solution for you to focus your entrepreneurial energy.

Adams leads FranNet's business matchmaking programs in New York and helps entrepreneurs make the right decisions to achieve their financial and lifestyle goals.

Submitted photo of Batavia High School graduate Brandon Smart (center) and his team (holding certificates and trophies) at the University of Rochester, who took Third Place last week in the Tibetan Innovation Challege. Team members are, from left: Su Sean Ng, Sarah Spoto, Smart, Fahria Omar and Kat Cook.

Press release:

Brandon Smart, 2016 graduate of Batavia High School and now an undergraduate at the University of Rochester, along with his four teammates placed third in the Tibetan Innovation Challenge.

This is an intercollegiate social entrepreneurship business plan contest. Top universities from around the world compete in this challenge. The ideals submitted from this contest are meant to improve the lives of Tibetans living in refugee camps in India.

Smart and his team competed with four others finalist teams in the final round of the competition June 3 in Rochester. The winning team was from the Simon Business School at the University of Rochester.

Smart's team proposed a powder and water that used the power of barley to provide benefits to consumers while aiding Tibetan refugees at the same time.

It's the kind of local entrepreneur story I like -- seeing a need, seeing an opportunity and taking action.

The store is being opened by Jeff and Vicki Kingdon, a Pavilion couple with no prior grocery store experience. 

And it raises the question: If an entrepreneur is willing to take a chance and open a grocery store in Pavilion, why can't somebody do the same thing in Downtown Batavia?

There's some great retail space vacant downtown. There's no reason for it to remain empty.

Applications will be accepted until Aug. 21, or until such time as the class cap is achieved. The nine-month program teaches middle and high school students how to start and run their own business or social movement.

YEA! class meets weekly from 4 to 7 p.m. this October  through June 2010. Tuition includes all books, field trips and events. Scholarships are available. No prior business experience is required only the drive and desire to succeed! To apply, visit www.yeausa.org  or call YEA! at 585-272-3535.