Tiger Tank

Sponsored by Saunders College of Business, this event gives students the opportunity to pitch their early-stage product or service business idea to a panel of judges (aka, Tiger Sharks) for a chance to win cash prizes.

Tiger Tank Poster

 

Applications for the Tiger Tank Pitch Competition are now closed! Thank you to all who applied and congratulations to our winners!

Requirements

Submissions describe an early-stage product or service with a foreseeable commercial impact. This includes:

  • How the venture is unique and what problem it seeks to solve.
  • A description of the target market.
  • Any potential challenges to delivering this product or service.

Pitches will be evaluated based on uniqueness, feasibility, and ability to impact people.

The top applicants will be invited to the Final Competition consisting of 90-second elevator pitches. All teams are required to be present (on-site) at the event to participate.

Application

Before starting the online application, be prepared to answer the following:

  1. Describe your early-stage product or service that has a foreseeable commercial impact.
  2. How is your venture unique?
  3. What problem does your idea seek to solve or what gap in the marketplace does it seek to fill?
  4. Describe your target market.
  5. Who are the potential consumers and/or users?
  6. What value does this venture add to their lives?
  7. Describe any potential challenges you see in delivering this product or service.
  8. Have you received more than $10,000 worth of external commercialization funding? If yes, please describe. This includes SBIR or angel investment funding. This does not include any resources employed for IP protection or research.

Prizes

Prizes awarded during the Tiger Tank Pitch Challenge are per team

  • 1st Place:   $2000 prize
  • 2nd Place: $1250 prize
  • 3rd Place:  $750 prize
  • 4th Place:  $500 prize
  • 5th Place:  $250 prize

Contact

For more information, contact Rupa Thind (rupa.thind@rit.edu).

Recent Winners

First Place – Digital Try Ons for Weddings
Second Place – Vital Repair
Third Place – CoPivot
Fourth Place – Internal Hematology Analysis Device
Fifth Place – Perfect Fit

The Fall 2022 & Spring 2023 Tiger Tank was combined into a year long competition where teams had up to 6 changes to qualify for the Tiger Tank finals held in April 2023.

First Place – Chasewheel
Second Place – Short Cut
Third Place – Wisedrive
Fourth Place - Homecheck
Fifth Place – Clout Lyft

First Place - MediSit
Second Place - BoxFit
Third Place - Mindsette Designs
Fourth Place - Circle Work
Fifth Place - Bookshare.Org

First Place - OnTop
Second Place - FrePay
Third Place - Sherpa
Fourth Place - Fly Team
Fifth Place - Better Wall

First Place - Special Delivery
Second Place - Galtron
Third Place - New Leaf
Fourth Place - WeServe
Fifth Place - Sonder Talk

First Place - Cruise Complete
Second Place - CyberSurfer
Third Place - Leonard Motor Works
Fourth Place - Here to Tell
Fifth Place - Mass Vaxx