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>> welcome, everyone...my name is amy koning. i'm the associate dean of operationsfor the school of workforce development, which is a really long titleto try to put on a business card. um, it just means that i getto work with people like felix, who gets to work with people like you,so that's a cool thing. um, i wanna welcome you to our third annual grcc idea pitch. so, that's pretty cool. this competition actuallystrives to promote you guys, and the great ideasthat you have,

um, ones that i will neverbe able to come up with, so i bow to all of you becausei've sat through three of these, plus the regionals, and it's just really cool to hearwhat you guys have to tell us, so-- and the ideasthat you can think of. so, i do encourage you,just as felix just said-- please, don't sweat it. you're gonna do great. it's okay.

you know your content better thananyone else, so it's gonna be just fine. the top three winners hereare going to receive $800 for first, $300 for second,and $100 for third, and in addition, the top two will advanceto the regional pitch competition. that is actually an event,um, that we're in collaboration with the west michigan collegesand universities group, affectionately called "wmcug"--(laughing) isn't that an awful acronym? um, but those universitiesand colleges--

we come together, and we tryto put on these events regionally to foster the innovationthat is coming out of you guys. and so, davenport,hope, calvin, g.v.s.u., aquinas,cornerstone, and ourselves will each advancetwo of their top two finalists to the regional pitch, which will be next week wednesday, november 7th, at 6 o'clock,hosted by aquinas. so, even if you don't get to advance,i would hope that you would go and spur on your fellow colleagues here.

we wanna thank that group--the "wmcug" group-- as a special thanks, but alsothe grcc business department, who has come behind this, as wellas the business department head, felix and, you know--he's also the professor, so we can't go withoutsaying thanks to him because he is reallybehind this. um, i just write the checks. he does all of the work,so i can't say enough thanks to him. so, i'm gonna turn itover to you, felix.

(applause) >> thank you very much, amy, and amy's behind the scenesand helping us accomplish this, so she's being very humble today. uh, nancy, and there are many peoplebehind the scenes of grcc, not only the professors butthe staff that make this happen. today's a special day! it's our third annualidea pitch competition. every business starts with an idea,whether it's for profit or nonprofit,

and every businessis headed by an entrepreneur. entrepreneurs are muchdifferent than anybody else. while most people avoid change,entrepreneurs run toward that change. while most peoplefear uncertainty, the entrepreneur views uncertaintyas an opportunity to create changein the marketplace. and today, we have 15 entrepreneurs that are going to talkabout their ideas for solving problemsin the marketplace,

because that's really what innovation'sabout is solving problems, creating products andservices and processes that add valuewithin the marketplace, and because they add value,they become an innovation. so, it all starts with an idea,it leads to an invention, and then, eventually, if it adds value in the marketplace, then we have an innovation. so, we have 15 innovatorshere today sharing their ideas, and we're very,very happy.

um, sometimes what happensis that people ask, "what happens after these idea pitch competitions? "what happenedafter 2010? "what happenedafter 2011?" uh, today, i gave several interviewsand in those interviews, that was the number one question--"did anything come about?" well, a lot of things come aboutbecause it takes a lot of courage to stand on stage for 90 secondsand pitch an idea. an idea pitch is also knownas an "elevator pitch,"

because if you werein an elevator and an important person came onand they said, "what do you do?" you have 90 secondsto tell them. if you get their interestand pique their interest, they ask you a few questions,they might ask you back to their office or make an appointment, andthey could help you build a business, maybe investin that business. so, that's reallywhat an idea pitch is. when you go to an interview,that's a longer idea pitch,

and the ideais them hiring you. so, basically, doing what you'regonna do takes a lot of courage, and our hat's off to you. now, what has happenedsince 2010 and 2011? uh, first of all, i could tell youthat dallas mcculloch-- what he did was he createda home brew company, he presented, and even though he didnot win the top three slots here, he competed just like you arewith the 15 finalists, and after the idea pitch,and after enrolling in b.a. 276,

our business innovation course,halfway through that course, dallas went to "5x5 night,"sponsored by rick devos. it's an entrepreneurial forum,and basically the "5x5" stand for-- you have five minutesto win up to $5,000 of venture capitalseed money. dallas won the full $5,000 and now, has started a microbrew cooperative. so, after the idea pitch,he took it to the next level. uh, several people havegotten paid internships.

uh, courtney dehaan,after presenting at idea pitch, uh, she ended up with a very prestigiouspaid internship for one year at steelcase. when she asked, "why did you hire meout of all the students "that appliedfor this internship?" they basicallywent back to-- "you were the one that was able to talk about ideas-- "new ideas and innovation--better than anybody else." also, we had jason schemmel, whoended up with a prestigious internship-- paid for a full year-- after presentingat idea pitch at "the right place" company

and working for bill small. now, this was very prestigious-- uh, what jason was able to do every week is call on small, medium, andlarge manufacturing companies, and he dealt with the ownersand the c.e.o.s. that's what he did every week for a full year. now, he's also here-- jason schemmel,if you could just-- please-- could we give hima big round of applause? jason schemmel,two weeks ago,

also presented at what was formerly "5x5," which was combined with anotherprogram to help entrepreneurs called "momentum"-- they combined both of those programsinto "start garden." two weeks ago, the public voted "entrprsr," an idea that was presented hereby danielle gore and michael corn with the help of jason schemmel, the public voted thatas the number one idea, and jason won $5,000 of seed money to pursue that idea,

and he's gonna get a teamto work with him over the next 90 days. and "entrprsr" isa social media platform that basically helps entrepreneurslook for talents and skills in the marketplace so, it's tapping into that big crazewith social media that we need today. so, again, hats off to you, jason,for doing that. we have three judges here and i know these judgesvery, very well.

i've known two of the judges herefor well over 30 years. uh, let me first start off by introducing randy walter-- if we could have a round of applausefor randy walter. randy walteris a chief engineer and a senior technologistat g.e. aviation, and for well over 30 years, you could basically thank the safe skies due to people like randy, who are basically coming up withinnovations in the field of aviation. so, we have two engineers

because i'm gonna introducetony here in a moment. you know what america-- americabecame great 'cause we make stuff... and the entrepreneur knowsthat if we make stuff, eventually we need to get an engineer involved, or a scientist. so, it's great that we have two engineers today that are gonna be helping all of youand asking you good questions on the technology behind that or the logic and the reason behind that. engineers are very good at problem-solving that way. um, so, thank you very much, randy, for agreeing.

randy was a judge in 2010and did a superb job. tony bowie! tony bowie-- if we could give a round of applause for tony bowie. uh, tony bowieis a chief engineer over at g.e. aviation as well, and he's been therefor well over 30 years. in fact, both randyand tony had been there from lear sieglerto smith industries, and then g.e. aviation.

uh, tony, to me, is probablyone of the most intelligent geniuses that came outof latin america. he's from nicaragua, so he helps mewith my spanish all the time, and he-- both randy and tonyare just brilliant at logic and creating stuff and knowing the technology that goes behind everything that we use today,so thank you very much, tony, for agreeingto be with us today. i wanna also say that tonydoes a lot of charity work as well. uh, he helps peopleto learn how to read

in the hispanic community, and that's to be definitely praisedin today's fast-paced society. so, thank you, tony, for that. then, we get to this guy here. i've been waiting for youto be a judge... justin williams. he is the c.e.o. of affordablelimousine & party bus, and also progressive properties. i met justin when he was 19 years old,

we started working on somethingthat he already owned, which was young bloodcustom motorcycles, and he built that to be a powerhouseand a cash machine, and he was really admired by everybodyin the motorcycle community for building custom motorcycles. he took all that talentand moved onto the limousine company. and even though the limousine industryhas been around for a while, the difference with justin is he saw things that couldbe better in that industry,

and he wanted to seekto improve that service... and today, a premiere limousine company is affordable limousines in west michigan. and also, he owns the party bus business, which is the number onein the state of michigan. nobody, uh, really has put togethera party bus business like justin has. we were down at grid70, and we had a lot of peoplefrom amway and steelcase, and wolverine worldwide,and meijers there,

and i said to justin, "hey, could you bring one of your buses?" and all these executivescame out... and from the outside,it looked nice. but they never wanted to leave the inside of the bus. it's just incrediblewhat he's done with it! with the flat-screen t.v.sand everything in there, it's just fantastic. also, justin williamsis also very charitable. justin gave of his time for over a yearto help us with at-risk youth,

here in the inner city, when we were teaching theminnovative thinking and entrepreneurialmindset skills, and justin came in and actually lent one of his busesthat he just bought. and working with the grccdesigners and art crew here at grand rapids community college, put together a lot of drawingsin a portfolio to present to justin, and then justinused some of those ideas.

so, that was a collaborationwith grand rapids public school system, spectrum health, and amway,and ottawa hills high school. uh, justin is-- all i get to say is that he is a serial entrepreneur. anything thathe puts his mind to-- at a very young age,he's super successful. and again, he's a grand rapidscommunity college alum. so, again, if we could havea big round of applause for all three judges!(applause) all right.

now, it's your turn. your turn to shine,your turn to come up here. let me put on my glasses--this is something that comes with age, so let me put onmy glasses here... and go to our very first presenter,nicholas hutchison. are you here, nicholas? okay, nicholas hutchison,"cleaning bag-in-box." there you go. >> hello, my nameis nick hutchison.

i work at west michigan white capsin van andel arena as a vending manager there. during the end-of-season clean-upat the ballpark, pepsi comes in and doesa year-end maintenance, and as they're doing their maintenance,i realized they never did the cleaning-- and they don't clean andit's not a standard procedure. i went into further investigationto make sure that it wasn't just this timesomebody messed up, but it's actually true--it's not a standard procedure at all.

and thinking about it,i thought, "well, we could putan organic liquid detergent "inside the sameexact program, "which is their bag-in-a-boxthat they put the syrup in, "and then flush water throughafter you do the lines "with the liquid detergent, "to make sure there'sno detergent residue left over." cleaning it not onlywill make it, you know, promote cleanlinessand healthiness,

but it will alsoprevent clogging and it will make surethat they, um... it also promote longer-lifing--longer life in the lines. there are 102 fountain linesat west michigan white caps and none of them arebeing cleaned, and after-- this is our 20th season-- and we've had to replace themmultiple times, and it's just an expensethat can be avoided completely. and...

being at the-- seeing all the food industry and the f.d.a. and they always go after peopleafter not being clean, i'm surprised that pepsihasn't gone after yet. and i think that, you know,if we promote this and make them and show them, you know,"this will promote your life long-- "it'll promote the life of the lines. "it'll make sure that,you know--" it'll promote cleanliness, and people willbecome healthier,

and not only do theyown lines at ballparks, but they own itat every food venue... and it's not only pepsi, it's coke--(bell dinging) and thank you for your attentionand everything today. >> so, you're telling methat they don't clean the lines out of these pop vending machines any place?(chuckling) >> um, out of the two placesthat i work at, i have not seen themclean the lines.

they do clean the outside parts.>> that's disgusting. i think you have a great idea.>> yeah. >> (indistinct speaking). >> at the white cap park, did you figure out how muchthey would be saving if they did use the detergentthat you're suggesting? >> i looked into the costof detergent and the bags that we would haveto put the soda lines in, and in the long run,it will definitely save money,

'cause you don't have to replace linesand pull the lines out, and sometimes it's-- at white caps, there's 60 feet of line that you have to replaceif they mess it up. and then, besides that,just overall cleanliness and promoting healthfor other people. >> is it a special detergent orsomething that you can get easily? >> um, i've been lookinginto it a little bit, and i've been looking at g.f.s.-type of liquid detergent that they already have to promoteand put it through there, so...

>> good idea. >> is this somethingthat would be-- a cost that would be incurredby white caps or by pepsi? >> pepsi technically owns the linesthat are within the white caps, and there are 102 of them. and so, pepsi comes in anddoes the year-end maintenance, and it's their own lines and we just use themand we buy the syrup, so it would be a pepsi cost.>> okay.

>> let's give another roundof applause for nicholas. all right,our next presenter-- jennifer vanderploeg,"artmarket." >> hi, my nameis jennifer vanderploeg and, um, i am an artist, but i also havea passion for business. now, uh, i am part-timeworking artist, and i've found it's a little bit difficult between work and school

to really promote my work,and for people to actually see it. i love to make it--it's hard to get it out there. i talk to a lot of other artists, andthey have a lot of the same problems, especially studentscoming out of school. they just don't have a lot of timeor knowledge to get it out there. and what i would like to dois start a program that would collaboratebetween businesses and artists. the artists would sign their work up for the program, and the program that i wouldlike to call "artmarket"

will place these art piecesin different businesses all around grand rapids. so, the businesses will benefitbecause they will have the piece, and if they sell it,they will get a commission. they will also be paidby artmarket to have that piecein their lobby. the artists will benefit by having a lot of promotion because the artworkis going to be placed in a different businesseach month.

so, it'll be mass exposurefor the artists, as well as helpingthe businesses themselves to have a different,interesting decoration in their lobbies. there are a lot of similar decorationsi see when i go the lobbies and things like that, and i like to see differentand new, fresh experiences. this will also involvethe community. we can have a website--(bell dinging)

something that people willbe able to see and know, and see if they can go on a touraround the businesses around michigan. so... are there any questions? >> so, the, um... the businesses is kind of the...(coughing) collecting art from various artists,so you need, obviously, a list of artists to work with.>> correct, correct. yup, the artists wouldbe funding "artmarket"

and the businesses willessentially act as galleries for the artists' work.>> right. and so, the businessthat displays the art actually gets paidon a monthly-- >> right, and that's the-->> some kind of small fee for displaying the art?>> correct. yup, that's the incentivefor the businesses, because-- >> and a commissionif it's sold? >> correct, and that willencourage the business

to sell the piece whileit's in their venue, as well. >> mmm-hmm. and the marketer-- the art marketer--obviously has to get a commission if these works are sold.>> exactly. so, part of it will goto "artmarket." and i could see this also expandingto where we have employees that can have their--they can be agents, and they will have their set of artiststhat they need to market and try to find businessesthat will be the best fit

and promote to the community thatcomes to that business for that piece. >> so, if i understand itcorrectly, then you would havethe artist create like an advertisementfor the business? >> uh, yes, yup. what i would like to dois have a matching, um-- the business will have categoriesthat they can choose, according to what type of art they likeor they think would sell in their venue, and the art-- and we would be able tomatch an artist to that specific business,

to enhance their gallery and also to have the best opportunity to sell it. >> very good, thanks.>> yup. all set? (applause)thank you very much. >> thank you, jennifer. our next presenter, kory gill,"creases out of shoes." >> hello, my nameis kory gill, and according to the associatesthat work at shoe stores,

80 percent of shoeshave creasing problems. and i have an iron--like, a shoe iron-- that will work similarto a regular iron except for insteadof blowing steam, it'll blow cool aironce it gets to 133 degrees, to iron out the shoes. it will come with, like, a support,so the wrinkle will stay in place as you iron the shoe. and, um...

we... and the bottom will bemade out of metal. it'd be almost be like...an iron... it'd be almost like...the... i mean, the bottomof an iron, except for it's gonna be one-fourthof the size of a regular. and it would come with spray bottlefor water to cool the shoe down. and the reason why it would be 133 degrees, because polyester burnsat over 148 degrees,

so i was thinking 133 degrees,then, will cool it down... so it won't burn any material... out of it. and basically, i would marketthis to, um, shoe stores, and people that sellhigh-end shoes. there. and i was think--(bell dinging) (sighing) >> very good-- let's give a big round of applause for him.

>> so, have you actuallyused one of these shoe irons? i mean, does it reallytake creases out of shoes? >> i believe so, because... i haven't actually created--um, made a shoe iron yet, but when i look on youtube,what i see on people getting creases out is a regular iron--out of their shoes, and it works if you actually put, like,something on it to protect the shoe. and i was thinkingit would be way too hot to actually get it up toan ironing temperature.

so, i was thinking 133 degreesshould be good 'cause it'll give it wiggle room, because--since the polyester thing burns at over 148 degrees... >> yeah, wrinkles in shoesis what makes 'em look old, right? >> yes!>> (chuckling). >> are these just leather shoes,then, that you're thinking about removingthe creases out? >> no, i'm thinking about universalfor every material.

>> every material, okay. and what makes you thinkthat the shoe store would buy somethinglike this? >> because i pitched it to foot lockerand the manager wanted to hear more. >> okay, great-- thanks. >> real-world experience. >> do you think it'd be a productthat would be affordable for the individual to be able to purchase to do their own shoes? or it'd be more somethingjust targeted towards shoe stores

who are gonna be dealingwith a lot of volume? >> i believe it would be more like a luxury item for, like, shoe fanatics, people who have 33-plus shoes.>> sure. >> very good--another round of applause. (applause)excellent job. very well. our next presenter, albert gardner,"auto progress board." >> hello, my nameis jack gardner. i thank everyonefor coming today.

um... so, my proposal is... an automotive information system in an automotiveservice garage. so, the problem is,you take your car to a garage and you're really not sure,like, what the repair is or how long it's gonna take. so, um, the information board-- the technician can quickly point,click, and enter a couple of times and update the customer’sinformation.

and so, um, the information boardis quite similar to a hospital board, and like, if someone goes infor surgery, you have-- it's all color-codedfor the level of service. so, like, you have… white is, uh...(clearing throat) the... the waiting time, and then, yellow would be your pre-service-- like a pre-operation-- and then, that would be your,like, 24-point inspection,

and your estimatedtime and cost. and then, red would be,like, your surgery, and that would be, like, a-- or red would be your service,like, equivalent to a surgery, and that would beyour time on repair. and then, orange would be, um... the, uh... orange would be the-- like your curing time, like recovery time.

and then, of course, after that,then it would go to green and then, that would meanyour car was ready to be picked up 'cause it's done. and then, the customer canquickly get this on the internet by their iphone,tablet, or computer. and then, that will makecustomers more informed-- (bell dinging)and then, that will make innovativegarages more ethical. thank you.

>> in your researches, have youseen any other products like this, where garages are using technology to be able to communicatewith their customers? or is this somethingthat would be brand-new? >> no, this, um--i would actually work with the software developerto make this, so it would be somethingthat would be new to make it more of an interactionbetween the customer and the garage. 'cause i've seen like, uh...

basic data entry programs that, you know, you use inthe auto garages and tire places, and they don't have anythingthat's going to, like, really interact, where the customer can just simplyuse their internet connection, and then be able to find outwhat's going on. >> would it also be a programthat would allow further communicationwith the customer, as far as reminders whenyour service dates are coming up, or to allow a customerto schedule appointments?

>> yeah.>> or would it just be to notify you when your car is there?>> no, exactly. it would be-- allow to, uh,other times of information that you can contact them. >> so, it'd be like a relationshipmanagement software for auto service. >> yes. >> i think this is a good idea. of course, you're talkingabout a program that would run, like, in a p.c. or a mac--or an apple.

>> yes, the idea would be,like, if you had forestart-- er, four-stall garage that each port,each stall of the garage, would have a computer so that technician can go and update that. >> and then, the customercan access that information via their cellular phone?>> yeah, it would be-- >> so, it'd be interactive? >> yeah, so they can just jump on,like, say, the website, and then, they can justscroll to, like, “service,” and then,they would just, um--

on there would be likean information board with the customer's--each customer's name, and then it would be the colorto the level of service of where their car is atin the progress. >> so, why do you think a company wouldwant to have an application like that? >> uh, 'cause i thought of itfor my own service garage. so, i'm going to incorporate it-->> it's to satisfy the customer? is that the end goal?>> yeah. >> it's to keep them informed.

and that, you think-- the company or the business would generate more customersto come in to their garage? >> yeah, exactly.>> is that the idea? >> yeah, if you interactwith them more, so that they have more of an ideaof exactly what is going on, instead of just looking at an invoice, and then it’s "plop down $200, $300, $400," they don't know exactlywhere that cost is going, so then-- >> it's a good idea, yeah.

>> this would be more ethical and provide more informationfor the consumer. >> one of the things that we try to doat grand rapids community college for all of our studentsis to do more than just the "professorin the classroom," but to give them outside experiences, so the idea pitch competitionthat happens in the fall, we hope for the business plancompetition in the spring, and of course, the internships,and really give them

as much "real world" experiencein solving problems. so, again, it takes a lot of courageto come up here and give those ideas. we’re off to a great start. i'd also like to acknowledge our vice president of communications,raul alvarez-- he's all the way in the back. if i could get a roundof applause for him... he's being nice enough todayto bring his camera, so we can get somegreat pictures of that,

but raul, and malinda powers, behind the scenes, have done a great job. it really takes a team effort at this college to get things done, so it's a collaborationof the professors, the staff, and also with the students. so, again, thank you very much, raul,for all your wonderful help, and for malinda as well. all right, moving onto our next idea! can't wait--can't wait here. kerri curtis, leann brown,“the self-adjusting bra."

>> i'm a little nervous.(both laughing) hi, i'm kerri curtisand this is leann brown, and we came upwith an idea, um… that will make every woman's lifea little bit easier, and also give them confidence that a lot of peoplelook to surgery for, or... uncomfortable measures,let me just say this. we developed a product that is a bra…(giggling) and above--(giggling) sorry.

above the underwearis an empty air sac, in opposed to... using uncomfortable paddingor "chicken cutlets"-- i don't know if anybody's familiarwith those, but they're horrible. there's an inside pumpthat you can pump and adjust, and i think that, unfortunately,not every woman is born with the mostbeautiful breasts in the world, and some suffer from havingone larger than the other, so that's an easy solution for themto be able to wear the clothes

that are in style and make them not feel insecureabout the way they look. and also, for women whosuffer from breast cancer and went through biopsiesthat has altered their image, to give them more of a sense of confidence without having to stuff or worry about something falling. or for the average woman who wantsto use it for a special occasion and wants to havea little extra cleavage,

or just in order to wearall the beautiful clothes that they're making right now.(bell dinging) i times that pretty good, huh?(laughing) >> so, have you actuallybuilt one of these? >> well, the concept of this is, i--we think it's really genius, and a lot of our girlfriends andwomen that we've talked to are like, "i want one right now!" um, i don't remember if any of you remember, like, the high-top pumps from the '90s,

with the basketball, and you pump it up... it's a similar concept,but it will be on the inside, so it's not visible. and it will also be convenientbecause you can deflate it before you wash itor clean it. and i think that with all the differentbra options that they have, there's just nonethat you can adjust. it just-- it is what it is,or you have to custom order. so, this will give women the chanceto alter their appearance,

or just feel comfortablein their own clothes... but it's that same basic concept. so, how-->> does this adjust the straps, or just the cup itself?>> just the cup size. >> okay. have you looked into how much costthis would add to... to a bra?>> well, actually, you know what? i think it would bevery reasonable, considering if you look atall the different lines of bras

that victoria's secret or just any department store offers-- um, they already offer the air brasand the water bras, and they're roughlyaround $49.99 to $55. so, it's the basic concept--same thing-- so, i can't imagine thatit would be that much more to incorporatesomething so simple, as opposed to just doing it premade. >> yeah, i know they're pretty pricey.>> yeah, tell me about it!

(audience laughing)>> so, just-- so just hold on. so, it would roughly be about $55 per bra?>> roughly, yeah. >> and so, you did indicatethat this would have, also, kind of a medical applicationfor those that have gone through-- >> absolutely. you know, women who go throughsomething so traumatic as that, like, i think that it's-- there's just nothing worse than, you know, just going through andsurviving through that, and having a visual reminder,you know?

and people-- girls wantto dress up and look nice. they want to wearfashionable things and not worry about, "is somethinggoing to fall out or slide down? "or just--" >> now, your market wouldbe for the victoria's secret or it would also be somethingfor, maybe, sears? >> all women-- everybody. >> so, you'll stress itfor victoria's secret-- do you think you'll be ableto convince them?

>> i don't know-- i hope i can convince you guys… it'll give me a nicelittle jumpstart. (laughing) >> as far asthe pump mechanism, have you guys actuallyworked on the design for that, or it's just more in the "idea stage" still? >> um, it's morein the idea stage, but i have a very good ideaof how it would be designed and where i want to go with it--where we would like to go with it.

um, i've been a sucker--i own the water bra, an air bra… >> one of the thoughts that i have,as far as, you know, the pump mechanism-- a lot of time,they're not extremely small. like, when you were talking aboutyour example from the old pump-up shoes-- >> yeah.>> now, if you're going to be wearing it in along the side here,and a lot of times, when women like to wear somethingthat is tightfitting… >> mmm-hmm.>> you know, is it gonna be able to be slender enough so it's not exposed?>> absolutely.

it would be on the inside.>> mmm-hmm. >> about a little smallerthan a quarter. and i mean, there wouldbe obviously the pump, but it would be inside against the skin,and flush with the outside of the bra. >> okay-- and also, the plastic partthat would be inflating-- would that be able to-- is there a product that you've looked at that would be able to withstandgoing through a washing machine? um, you know, somethingthat would stay flexible and not end up with issues or tear.

>> yes...the air bra that i own-- i took it apartand it's fine to be washed. and i looked at it, and the only difference between the ones that are already on the marketand this one... would be the pump, and the fact that-- this is kind of silly,but when we came up with the idea, it was kind of a concept of like,"tss-tss-tss-tss,” but the noise helps. and then, you--before you would wash it to care for it,you would just deflate it.

>> okay-- so, the current onescome already inflated? >> yes.>> and they's not an issue with washing? >> absolutely. okay-- whew!>> excellent job! (applause)very good, very good. is heather here with us? is heather--mary, no? okay… uh, heather--i do want to acknowledge her because she was oneof the fifteen finalists,

and we hope thateverything's fine. heather mcdonough and"grand rapids brew bus." okay? so, we were really lookingforward to hearing about that. our next presenter,shayna medendorp, and her idea is"giving a helping hand." >> good evening, everyone. thank you for coming. the heart is one of the mostimportant parts of the body.

“giving a helping hand”will create homemade items, ranging from jewelryto hats and scarves. i hope to sell these items either onlineor at different sorts of crafts stores or word-of-mouth. then, i hope to givea percentage of the portion-- a portion of the profitsto an organization either similar orthe american heart association. the american heart associationhas saved many lives, and also inspired peopleto become healthier.

i propose-- uh, three of my grandparentshave had heart conditions… and so-- they were savedby a similar organization or the americanheart association. i want to inspire people... to organize... or make products... along with me,to either-- and then, sell the productsto others.

when people look in the-- when peoplewho have either made the product or have boughten itand looked at it in their homes will see that they've madea difference in a person's life, or they saved a life. now, i have donesomething like this before. uh... and so, will you help me makea difference in a person's life? thank you for your time. >> well, i was just wondering if--(clearing throat)

you kinda said,"make products." i was just wondering if you hadanything more specific in mind? >> uh, items...uh, homemade jewelry. when i had said i've made something myself, i helped an organizationcalled “the dock”-- “the discipling of christ kids”--and i sold the jewelry i made, and i helped to raise moneyto expand their organization. the-- it would be blanketsthat were made by hand, uh, and hats and scarvesor different sorts of crafts,

like a handbagor something. so...>> so, as a business, the organization making the productshas to make some kind of return... >> oh, i’m sorry--i misspoke. it would be made by meand other volunteers. >> oh, okay. >> i was little bit nervous.(laughing) used the wrong word. >> i think the ideais great,

and i like the name"giving a helping hand." now, i do know that thereare other people out there doing the same thing, so you'll haveto do quite a bit of competition to achieve that. i've seen that donefor international-- uh, doing blanket for kidsin honduras, for example. so, how do you expect to compete withthose people that are already doing it? >> i hope to compete withthe internet-- use the internet. uh...>> to attract volunteers?

and then, also,make the items unique. i have had many peopleask to have bracelets... blankets and stuff. i've not madethe blankets myself, no. but like, different sorts--quilts and stuff-- and that's attracted people,like, "ooo, i want that!" and so, what it would bewould be... the fact of the or--uh, profits would go to an organization like the american red crossor something,

and i believe thatwould inspire the people. >> okay, very good. >> would it be a type of situation whereit might have an actual product line, where i could go online and i could pick from a design that i like, or i could submit something,say, "i like this blanket, "but i would like this and this and this done to it," as far as customizing itto make it more desirable. or is it more of a, you know,whatever the volunteers wanna make, and just going into the situationseeing what's there?

i guess, you know, would it be ableto tailor to a specific person's wants? >> yes, it would be tailored. um, i'm a business student myself, and so i understand that the customer’s needs come first. so, yes, it would be. or try, at best. so-- i've also contactedthe american heart association, and i'm waiting to hearfrom them back. and i also have a partner

i'm hopefully going tohear back from as well. >> all right, thank you. >> excellent job.>> thank you. >> all right, our next presenter-- austin mckee,with his idea "careview.” >> good evening, everybody,i'm austin mckee. uh, i'd like to thank everybodyfor coming out to listen to my idea,“careview.” um, how many parentshave i got out here today?

all right, thank you. um… when you have your childin a daycare center... what you wantis peace of mind. you're looking for peace of mindin the fact that your child is going to receivethe greatest care possible. um, i feel that daycare centersdon't do a great job with communicating with the parents that theyhave in their centers. the solution i seeis “careview.”

“careview” is a mobileas well as web-based application that will bridge the gapbetween parents, as well as the childcareprofessionals. uh, “careview” armsthe childcare professionals with the toolsthey need to-- uh, the tools that are--that they need to... wow, the tools that they needto have a more efficient job, as well as put their daycarein a leading edge over other daycares.

um, “careview” will use toolssuch as online scheduling systems for the childcare providers, as well as a mobile check-in/checkoutsystem that they can use. um, other features that “careview”will sustain for the parents, will be such as, um… a real-time snapshot of what their childis doing in the daycare, and so on. this is a highway that willbridge the gap between parents as well as the childcare provider. >> for the mobilecheck-in/checkout application,

could you explain a little bit more about that? what would the benefitbe to me, as a parent? >> the benefit for you,as a parent, would be the ease that you knowthat your child is-- you know, you-- instead of-- i've chatted withdifferent daycare facilities, and they have a systemwhere they punch in the code, and they check-intheir child that way. if you could do it througha device that you have-- you know, online signature,some kind of program of that sort…

um, it would integrate your technologywith the safety of your child. >> so, would that be different thanwhen i bring my child to the daycare and check-in in person? is it more of a--something that might alert me if someone wasto pick my child up? >> exactly, that's just a featurethat would be added on as a sidenote. um, yeah. >> so... you're also talking about, like,real-time videos of your child

in the daycare, being able to,at any point in the day, see what's going onwith them? is that partof the concept? >> yes, some daycares already implementa video camera surveillance system that their parentscan log onto. this system wouldimplement it for them, as well as the daycaresthat don't have the budget to implement a surveillancesystem, such as-- it will work offof the scheduling system

that the childcare professionalinputs into the system, and the parent can look on their,you know, mobile device, and it has a real-time snapshot,you know, of what the schedule said that they were goingto be doing at this time, such as, you know, snap--snack time-- apple slices are whatthey're eating today... and just...things like that. >> okay, so, your primary marketfor this, obviously, would be the daycare providers…>> mmm-hmm.

>> facilities.>> yeah, yup-- i would think that this would,like i said, give them a leading edge over daycare centers. in caledonia, where i live,they have milestones as well as adventures daycareacross the street. um, i would like to see one of them,you know, take this idea and give them an edge overthe other daycare center. if, you know, parents wouldgo to this daycare center because they have this system.

>> well, austin, i was goingto ask you if you have looked into what it would cost to createthis program that is gonna be web-based. >> i have not, no.>> you have not looked into that? >> i wanted to do more market researchto the actual parents, as well as the childcareprofessionals, to see what kind of featuresthey would want specifically, and then, off of that,i would build a price. i've been working with the u.x. designout of grand rapids, to try to implement this idea.>> are we ready for that idea?

most of the daycare centersdo have computers? >> uh, sorry,i didn't hear the question. >> are most of the daycare centersthat you are familiar with-- do they have computers? do they havethat capability? >> i believe that they do. the ones i didhad that to the option, but i'm thinking,further down the road, when technology is more, you know,implemented in these daycares,

this system can reallyjump-start them into using that technologyto the fullest potential. >> thank you. >> good job.(applause) is hope with us today? okay, hope wasn'tfeeling very well. we were looking forwardto her idea. uh, she proposed an idea, and it was titled “youth for abstinence.” the next presenter, andrew--andrew hartger.

is andrew here? no-- well, we hope thatsome of our presenters that did make itto the finals-- you know, we were hopingthat they would be here, but we hope that nothing wronghas happened to them, so let's make sureto keep them in our thoughts. the very next presenter, carl--i don't know if this is true, but carl told me that we havethe summer olympics this year, and he said that this next idea that he has

possibly could be consideredby the next summer olympics as an official event. uh, carl nystromis "custom beer pong." (audience chuckling) think about that for a college--college students just came from that-- how does that happen? >> they have leaks.>> they have leaks-- there we go. >> uh, so if i go out on the weekend or i do anything and i don't know some peopleat the party,

the first thing that i do is i liketo go do something entertaining. i'll grab a friend and i'll be like,"hey, you wanna play some beer pong?" it's simple. of course, the answer is "yes." um, like, i've seen anywhere from,like, a table like this right here to a fantastic table at a buddy’s housethat i made for him. absolutely hands-down--i'll say they throw the best parties. the beer pong tablejust has people lined up. if you walk into, like, grand valley,michigan state, western, central--

they all party.(laughing) every single person parties--everybody knows it. that's what they're known for. and they all throw,like, huge bashers. i've been to a few. they're pretty cool. but i stick to beer pong. it's my game,i like it, it's fun. the idea of it is...

you have eight-foot long tableor a six-foot long table-- your choice-- 27 inches wide,about 5 inches deep. in between the table, like,we'll put plexiglass on top of this, this will be filledwith nothing but air, and then another layerwould be this, and inside of it and you couldhave your favorite alcohol bottle. mine would be grey goose. you put grey goose bottles lining the top to the bottomof the board.

and then, fill it with highlighter mix--(bell dinging) aww… yeah, fill it up--make it sweet. >> maybe it's because i'm so old, but... what is beer pong?(laughing) >> beer pong is a game--you got ten cups. you line four up, three up,two up, one. so, it's a triangle. it's very popularright now. and you have ping-pong balls,basically.

both sides has ten cupsinto a triangle. the objective is to make it. you make the cup,you pull the cup, after you and your partner shoot... and then,it continues on. there's differentthings you can do. like, three-two-one,when you get down to that. a "zipper" is three this way and two right here. you can do a rhombus.

there's different, like,patterns you can make for it. >> sounds fun.(audience chuckling) >> carl, so how are yougoing to make money here? i mean, i'm trying to--you're going to sell the idea? is it something thatyou would like to do? >> i would like to do itpersonally. i like to build things, i like to use my hands, i like to work. >> so-->> um... you could make money off itthis way...

like the beer pong tablethat i made for my buddies. it's pretty sweet. it's grey goose bottlesinside that i have, and what you do is you paint it your favorite colors, whatever your favorite n.f.l. team is or whatever. and then, like, if anyone asks,“oh, where did you get this one?” i'm a reference. i have three more people wantingbeer pong tables currently... because of the one i set up at my buddy's house in lansing.

and so, a pretty big school,it'll get around, and it's pretty sweet.>> okay-- so, the environment is also-- you have-- it's kind of a partyenvironment kind of a thing? you have to have a party environmentin order for it to succeed? >> you can have the party environment, but, like, some people just like to chill,have a casual beer, drink with buddies, which it's a very chill game, too. or it can be exciting-- depends on the mood you're in. >> okay, thanks.

>> you know, i thinkit's a pretty decent idea. one of the things that youhave to consider in business, is if you're going to bemarketing to colleges-- and obviously, there's thousandsof colleges nationwide. um, you know,let's say best case scenario-- suddenly, everybody wants one. you're looking atbuilding these yourself-- what would you dofor the next step, if suddenly, you post this online

and tomorrow, you've 187 ordersthat need to be filled? >> um... right now, i have-- my dad ownsa warehouse for his business. with-- oh, i shut it off. all right, anyway--all right, we're good. so, he owns his own business,has his own warehouse, does his own manufacturingand everything. the boards would be easy-- i can orderthat standard from a lumber thing, plus my dad gets it freewith all of his businesses.

and then, he has a workshop. all i'd have to do is cut the boards,continuously running them, and then,on top of that, i have plenty of--like, i could hire people. that'd be easy enough. and then...like, the online thing, the only thingi would worry about is what they wouldwant in it. 'cause if they wanted beer bottlesin it or something...

like, beer bottleswouldn’t be too hard to get. but like, a grey goose bottleor something, you're looking at-- i think it, per fifth,it's about $35, $39. so, that'd be pretty expensiveto try and get those. but overall, i wouldn'tbe too worried about it, just based on how manyi can run out per hour. >> now, when you talk aboutthe grey goose bottles being $39 apiece, are you anticipating actuallyputting these in there full? >> no, no, definitely not.

you can, like, put-- most peoplewill put like a highlighter mix in it, and then,what you can do is you can put, like,a black light around the side-- light 'em up.>> okay. >> all right, very good! thank you very much, carl. our next presenter--jeffrey noel. “bookhippie” is his idea. tell us about “bookhippie.”

that's-- there you go, sir. >> thank you for your time, and your considerationof my idea. my idea is called “bookhippie.” my idea stems froma research study that was done by the governmentaccountability office. it said that fromthe 1986 to 2004, textbooks increasedin price 240 percent. we're seeing textbooksthat cost $200, $300,

and we have, across all the campusesin the united states, we see a monopolystarting to be built… where the on-campusbookstores-- there's really no alternativefor people that have, like, financial aid, or maybe their parentsare paying for it or whatever. so, my idea to helpsolve that issue... what it is, it's an online sitethat allows students to register books that they have from classesthey've already taken. then, througha matchmaking system,

pairs them up with other studentsthat have completed the courses they're going into. so, let's say "political science 101"is a class that i've completed. but, i'm going into "english 101." what this does is it finds another studentthat is going into "poli sci 101" and has completed"english 101," and it match-makes us,so that way, we can trade our books, instead of going to the bookstoreand spending $200, $300. at the next level, let's say i have a book that i can't trade.

“bookhippie” will buythis book from the student, and then list it on somewhatof an auction site. what this does is that whena student purchases the book from a different college...(bell dinging) it allows them...(chuckling) it allows them to basicallysend that book anonymously to that other student and receivecompensation from “bookhippie." >> have you looked at allinto the software side of it, as far as the development and what kind of costs would be involved.

>> well, actually,i'm a web developer here. um, i've actually completedthe entire site. it is functional. it's ready for launch. the e-commerce is still somethingthat has to be decided-- do we want it to go through paypal? do we want to write something (indistinct)? maybe do our own thing? it's completely up in the air right now,but we do have the website ready to go.

>> what kind of guaranteewould i have, as a student, that when i put my book in the mail,i haven't received the other one yet-- my book disappears,i never receive one, now i have $200 textbookthat i just mailed away. >> i've actually-- i've actually hadsomebody ask this question before. and we do have this builtinto the marketing plan. what it does is that this listbasically doesn't purchase anything until there is a buyer. so, once we connecta buyer with a seller,

then what it does is it purchases that book. this person thatbought the book basically puts it intothis escrow account. it sits there untilthey receive it on their end. if within a week,two weeks, we have a-- um, you know how they print outthose pre-postage, for u.p.s. witha tracking device? um, basically,what we do is that when it goes fromone person to the other,

the seller of the bookprints off the label and we track iton our end. so, when we see somethinghad arrived, then we send them three e-mailsover three days and saying, "hey,you received your book. "how do you like it? "does it work--is it good?" if they don't respond within three days,the compensation is sent to the seller. the buyer is assumed to have the book,and that's the end of that.

>> so, is there a commissionfor doing these book trades? >> well, the book trades,i'm thinking is gonna be a dollar. but if it goes on to the listing auction site-- you know, when you go to amazon,they say, "we have 44 for $3.93." um, it works kind of like that,where that top number is actually going to bethe lowest seller. so, let's say somebody says they wantto sell their book for five bucks, and everythingis above five bucks. we're only going to displaythat we have a book for $5.

and what it's gonna dois that when the purchase is made, then that's whenthe book is sent. um, so, then,what we do is that... the algorithmthat's been written basically rounds upto the nearest dollar, and then adds a dollar. so, you pay a flat rate. so, you see, let's say somebodylisted their book $4.58. on the other end, the person that'spurchasing the book is gonna see,

"this book is for salefor $6." we're buying it fromthis person for $4.58, so we profit $1.42to make this happen. obviously, we gotshipping costs, so it'll be factoredinto the algorithm. >> i think it's a very good idea. it reminded me of wheni first came here to college. after each semester, the librarywould have something like this, in which everyonebrought in their books--

their used books, and then,that's where the matching occurred. so, i think there'sa big need for this, and it's a good thingfor the students. so, i really like the idea. would you also limitthe price of the book before you accepta book to come in? because i noticed you complainedabout the prices of it being $200, $300. >> well, that's the beauty about this. when people listtheir books online,

they're competing withother people with that book. if you don't list yoursat a reasonable price, you'll never sell that book. at the same time, if you think about it,we go to the bookstore and we sell our books for 20 buckswhen we paid $200. people are going to seethere's a rational-- "there's a pricei'm willing to pay." and so, they'll see,"okay, this book is 20 bucks. "i can sell my bookfor 20 bucks at the bookstore,

"or i can go on ‘bookhippie’and sell my book for 60 bucks, "which is a fair valuebecause i paid $200." so, there's going to bean equitable value there for both the sellerand the buyer... to pay less.>> so, you won't have any limit then? you're going to go whateverthe demand is, then? >> yup, exactly--the demand and the supply. >> now, the other questionthat i had is why "hippie”? why “bookhippie”?

>> well, actually,it came from a very creative idea. um, we thoughtabout google+, you know, how everybodyhas their little circles. um, community colleges,grand valley, davenport, those are gonna be “circles,” but they're going to be in bigger circlesand then bigger circles. and so, we kind of thought about,"oh, there's all these hippies that are, "you know, trading one thingfor another, and these circles-- "we call themthe hippie circles.”

um, and i just thoughtit was a cute idea, you know? >> have you put any thoughtinto having different categories, different grades of a specific book,as far as the value-- if i look at a math textbookand it's beat up versus mid-qualityversus a high-quality, and having differentprice points at that. >> well, i wouldn't even say itwith the price points, because it all dependson who the person-- the person that bought that bookis going to determine,

"is this going to be acceptablefor me to use in my classes?" if within that three days, they say,"no, this is not the book that i need," or "this book is way too damagedfor me to use," within those three days,those three e-mails, they click, "no," it prints out a return shipping label,they send it right back to the seller. >> i guess my questionbeyond that is, you know, you say you're going to showwhatever the best priced book is. you've got one of these booksavailable for $5, so you're going to say,"we have this book available for $5.”

but, you know, if i'm going on there,and if there's a consistent problem with hearing about, "my friendshave ordered books and they come-- "they show up and they're in rough condition," you know, would it bemaybe advantageous, where you could say, "well, we havean ‘a,’ a ‘b,’ and a ‘c’ quality book, "and ones availablefor this price. "you know, we've got $5,we've got $10, we got $25, "you know, and we've gotthe three different categories." >> yeah, that is actuallya pretty good idea,

to make, like,a star rating system. um, you can even do thatbased on the seller. um, the person that's selling the books,they're going to be reviewed by the people that are buying their books,kind of like with ebay, where we have 40 peoplethat said, "great," but this one person said,"this book was terrible." i guess, not necessarily rating the books,but more so, who's selling the books. >> and that could be-- one of my thoughtswas on the grading system.

it'd be similar to, like,at an auto trader, where you go on there and you,you know, look at “good condition,” “poor condition,” you know,“excellent condition.” you can look at your bookand go, "well, you know, "yeah, my cover's a bit tatteredand i've got some torn pages, "so this one then qualifiesas a ‘b’-rated book,” and you know,go into that category. >> yeah, i didn't specifically implementthat into the web design itself, but speaking about it here,it's entirely possible.

the algorithmis very easily changed, to where the buyers and the sellerscan add any type of attributes to their names or even for the product they're selling, because it's allthrough e-commerce. >> let's give a roundof applause for jeff. for the entrepreneur, it takesthe support of family and friends. you're hearing a lotof great ideas today. whether we go throughthe history books and we take a look at such namesas vanderbilt, scott,

rockefeller,ford, carnegie, or we take a lookat the new names of jobs, gates, sergei brin,and larry page, or mark zuckerberg. if you go backthrough the history, you find out that they hada lot of different ideas, and they tried a lotof different things. one of the things that we proposeis that you go through various iterations, and then you landon that one big idea.

so, again, a lot of courageto step forward with these ideas. uh, richard devos-- we had some timeto spend with him a few summers ago, the students here at grcc. in fact, the three generationsof the devos family, and what we reallyenjoyed and valued was when mr. devos went throughall the businesses that him and mr. van andelstarted that didn't work, uh, leading up to, finally,the creation of amway. and if you listen to all those storiesof trying and success and failure,

and then having the courageto get up again, it's just fascinating. and so, again,we never know. we might have the next steve jobsor larry brin right here in our audienceor presenting with us today. so, again, thank you very much. the other thing i'd like to dois also think all the faculty at grand rapidscommunity college. we believe at grand rapidscommunity college that we have a university-qualityexperience for our students,

yet at a community college price, which really is an excellentvalue proposition that can't be foundelsewhere, anywhere in the united statesthat we see. we only recruitthe very best of faculty and the very bestof staff here to help grow our economythrough you, the students. our futureis with you. i'd like to also acknowledgethe former business department head,

professor glenn gelderloos,who's at the back there. thank you very muchfor coming with us. if we could have a roundof applause for him, please. i grow every day in appreciationof what a department head goes through, uh, and i should have been much nicerto you, glenn, through all those years. you did a wonderful job. thank you very much for everythingyou did for our department. and we have a steven spielbergat grand rapids community college. we don't know whatwe would do with him--

he's helped us produce a lot of film,today's idea pitch-- the 2012 idea pitch will be on the grandrapids community college youtube channel. and, in fact, it you cansee 2011 and the 2010-- you can find that on our business department homepage. so, please visit it, and we have many videos-- and that's klaas kwant and his wonderful crew of filmmakers here at grand rapidscommunity college. if we could have a very special,warm applause for him... it’s just amazing.

it's just really amazingwhat he can do. uh, thank you for staying with usand not going to hollywood. all right, next up… damion harden,“glow n walk.” damion, share with us your idea. >> hello, everybody. damion harden. um, how many of usdrive at night? i'm sure everybody in heredrives at night.

i'm sure everybody at leastknows one person that owns a dog. well, put those twoin the scenario for you. say, how many timeshas anybody ever been driving down a city or a rural streetand-- boom! out of nowhere, a pedestrian and their petare, like, two or three car lengths from being madea hood ornament. i have a simple solution for helpingpeople see these animals at night. it's called the “glow n walk,”a.k.a. “duke night-walker.” it is a leash and harness combomade of l.e.d. lights,

and the characteristics-- the neon characteristicsof deep-sea creatures known as bioluminescence. the harness lights will promotesafety and awareness, and also,it will help visibility of these pedestriansand their pets at night. the idea came to me when i-- actually, probably 20 minutesbefore the deadline for this pitch, and i almost hit somebody--and it almost--

it's a real thing to almost hita pedestrian and their pet. and it's a verybig life-changer, so i think this will promote safety and help people who haveto walk their dogs after dusk, 'cause sometimes people have to walk--(bell dinging) after night. “glow n walk”...thank you. >> well done.(applause) >> how would you plan on raisingawareness about your product?

>> um, actually, just come upwith a clever marketing scheme-- if you producethe item, um, only give itto a certain amount-- a fixed group of people, maybe 25,and have them walk their dog. and i'm pretty sure that it--from seeing this, it's a cool idea, and i'm pretty sure that other peoplewill want to know, "where did you getthis idea from?” or, "where did you getthe item from?” and i think that,with the way trends are,

everybody's trying to bethe next trendsetter. i think that thiswould be a good idea. >> now, you mentioned l.e.d. lighting,as well as bioluminescence. how did you plan on integratingthe bioluminescence? or what was the purposeof that be versus the l.e.d., or would they work together? >> uh, i think that wouldbe this patent strong point, with the bioluminescencefrom the deep-sea creatures. it would make it different from justthe l.e.d. lights or the microfiber--

i mean, the fiber optics andthings like that you have today. >> now, these l.e.d.s--are you using batteries? or, i mean, i how are yougonna energize them or... >> oh, the-- well, i think a lotof research needs to be done by marine biologistsand things of that sort, but mainly, i think the... the most thing, i think,would be aa batteries, but keep it away from the petand closer to the pedestrian, so it would be pet-safe.

>> would both persons--er, including the animal, as well as the personwould have to wear this? >> no, no, it's just a leashand harness combo. just the harnessand leash for the dog. >> uh, back to one of the originalquestions with the bioluminescence and the l.e.d.s, you know, it sounds like when you're sayingyou need to talk to marine biologists and do research on this, it sounds like-->> just to make it pet-safe. >> okay, to make it pet-safe.

a couple of thingsthat pop into my mind is... uh, would you be actually extractingsomething from the marine creatures to be able to putinto your product? >> no, just the characteristics of those,just the characteristics. >> okay, 'cause that's what i was going to say-- is a lot of times,people who are pet owners wouldn't want anythingwith an animal product. you know, where you'veharmed an animal to-- >> most definitely,just the characteristics

of the brightglow in the dark-- i almost want it to be reminiscentof the luke skywalker light saber... just the glowingcapabilities of it. >> all right, very good.(applause) excellent. our next presenter... with the idea"hollywood styles for less,” a welcome applausefor ashley calvert. >> good evening, everybody.

how is everybody doing? now, i know everybodylook at celebrities and they’re like, "oh, look at kim kardashian hair "or lala anthonyor beyonce." i know, ladies-- i know you wonder like,“oh, my gosh, her hair is so beautiful, "i wish my hairwas like that... "but i bet it cost a fortune." well, with my business feature,"hollywood looks for less," you can get that-- you can getthat style at everyday people prices.

this salon would be a expressnatural hair care services to add extensionsto the hair, by either braidingor weaving. now, hair extensionsis not anything new. women have been wearing themfor years. obviously, wigs and thingsof that nature. so, just adding convenience and price to this particular items, would make this business unique. now, most salons charge, um--

to apply instant extensionsinto the hair, it ranges from $120 to $200, and the processto insert them, it can go all the way upfrom three or more hours. with this vision with my particular"hollywood looks for less," it would cut price down,with prices starting at $50, and making maximum timeto be two hours, depending on the client andhairstyle desired, obviously. but we would just gofor two hours.

let’s see… so yeah, just with that-- just adding those two things in there, that would-- you know, either it's timeand convenience. as you know, ladies will spend money...(bell dinging) on, you know, making--enhancing their beauty. so, confidenceis the best accessory, so having a new hairstylewill make everything-- want the hollywood lookfor less. >> is there somethingabout your product

and the technique that you wouldbe using that would allow you to greatly reduce the costof doing the process? or is it that you'd justbe cutting your profit margins compared to what peopleare normally used to paying? >> actually, that's somethingi didn't get to hit. um, actually, in order to cut the process,you would put it into a dual-- it's a dual process. you have a personcalled a "braider," who would braid the hairinto the pattern

to whatever the stylethe client would like. um, with that,that can cut down time. i know i have a friend that can braid somebody's hair just… braiding it in a basic patternin 30 minutes. and then, you would havesomebody called the "stylist,” which would weave the hair in,apply it with the needle and thread, and then they go from there. so, you make ita dual process, and also, learning the correct techniques to put--

to insert into certain patterns to make it efficient, time efficient, and to have it come out nice as well. >> so, you're cutting downon the time that it takes, but in essence, you're also doubling the staff that it takes to do it by having two peopledo the process instead of one. um, is there still goingto be a cost savings there? or is there going to beenough profit left over? >> um, actually, there has beendifferent prototypes of shops like this that are very successful...very, very successful.

um, there is, for instance--there is a shop i know of. i used to personallydrive from grand rapids to go down to detroit to go get my hair down-- my hair done-- and like i said, if you like particular shops here in grand rapids, if you go and ask--you gonna charge me $200, of course, with a particular price range that you're offering, you're going to getmore people, you know? because, "oh, i can afford $50, $60 to get it in," versus the $200. “oh, girl, where you get your hair?"“oh, i went to, you know--"

you know, that can bring in--especially with a particular service, you can either do,like, a walk-in service, with that type of-- i think with that price point and having two people. obviously, with the stylists,i had put in the plan, they would get-- the braiders,since it's so basic, they wouldn't get paid as muchas the stylists, obviously, 'cause they're not doingas much work. um, and actually, in michigan,you do not have to have a license

to do this type of work,'cause there's no chemicals. so, that cuts down a lot of price, in general. somebody doesn't haveto pay to go to school to do these particular services,you know? more people braiding and threadingand learning technique is, you know, it's more efficientand more people can do this. >> and i think it's a great idea,i just want to make sure you don't undercut yourselfwith such a huge difference between what the market is currentlysupporting and what you're offering.

you know, doing a lot of volume is a great thing, but, you know, just make surethe money is there for you. >> right. >> (indistinct speaking).>> sorry. >> you know, the way youwere going to reduce the costs is becauseof your dual process? um, now, your audience--or your clients-- is it pretty mucha broad clientele? or is it a specific to a given typeof hairstyle?

>> it would be broad.>> it would be broad? >> um, something similarto what i am speaking of is something i haveon my head right now. it's, um-- you would normallybraid the hair… it could either be cornrowsor in a circle, french braids, and then you wouldnormally buy hair-- it comes, like,on a track. some-- there's other type--but there's different type of ways you can actuallyput extensions into hair.

they have a thing called"fusion," that's with glue. um, they have a lot ofdifferent type of styles-- a lot of different techniques howyou can insert the particular thing. um, most hair typesuse the same type of hair. but obviously, we wouldn’t be providingthe hair that the client would use. they would bringtheir own hair, so it would fit to what their needswould particularly be. we would just beinstalling the hair. >> now, if the clients are goingto be bringing their own hair in,

is that something that's readilyavailable other places? or might that be another marketfor you to tap into, in order to sell that? >> actually, that's anotherpart of my whole spiel. um, i have a friend thatlives down in atlanta. she works at a shop that'sreally similar to this prototype. she's worked there for three years as a head stylist. so, as i was speaking of techniques andthings of that nature-- she knows that. that's no issue.

and then, um, we also--she also knows a girl-- or a girlwhere you can get hair. obviously, they buy themfrom different countries, 'cause that normally comes frommalaysia, brazil, things of that nature. and you know, obviously,with any type of product you buy, if you go straight to the middleman,it's going to be cheaper. um, you know, if you buy itin bulk, obviously, that would be anotherservice i was also-- i would also marketinside the salon as well--

is hair as well. (applause)>> thank you. i also like to acknowledge--we wouldn't be able to a lot of this, these things withinour department, if we didn't havethe proper staff and support, and i'd like to acknowledgemary gunderson. there is mary right there--if we could give her, please, a nice round of applause. for our final presenter,nicholas whyatt,

with "employee review." >> imagine yourselfin a retail store. you’re shopping but you're having troublefinding exactly what you're looking for, so you go up to an employeeand you ask them for help. they give you friendly,good service, they take you exactlyto where the item is, and maybe they give youa few tips on how to use it. you've had this greatexperience with this customer but, other than word-of-mouth, you reallyhave no way to relay that to others.

and as the employee, you haveno way to record this experience and make a record of itfor other people. "employee review" is my idea fora new type of social network, um... that will remedy this. it would be a website wherethe customer can go on and seek outthe employee's profile. they would have previous job experience, current job experience, maybe some qualificationsthey have--

their skills, their knowledge,their abilities. kind of like a resume snapshot. but more importantly, it would bea hub for these positive reactions. the user, on the other end, would log-in,find the helpful employee's profile, go in there and use a rating systemto rate their level of satisfaction, and utilize comments to saywhat exactly they helped them with, how well they didat their job, and just in general, how goodof an experience they had, or potentially bad.

um, so, after a period of time, hopefully this helpful employee would have collected a large base of positive comments and reviews about the workthat they do. you could then equipyourself with this-- these reviewsfrom these customers, and go to an employer anduse it alongside your resume to create a powerful tool--(bell dinging) um, as an additional wayto sell yourself. it's a way to makethe intangible tangible,

and it's a way to add value to yourselfwhile you're looking for a new job. >> now, one of the things would be,as a customer coming in, what would be the incentivefor me to be able to go online and rate the personthat i just dealt with... 'cause we all know that,typically, you're not going to hear from anyoneunless they have a complaint to say about anyone. what's going to encourage me,if i had a positive experience, to make sure that youremployer is aware of it,

so that the statisticsdon't look lopsided, so that all you're hearingthe complaints all the time? >> sure, um... my main inspiration for thiswas that when i go to a store and i do havea positive experience, there's no system in place for meto complement these people, even though i may want themor their employers to know that they’redoing a good job. there's really nowhere to do that.

um, another thingthat i thought about was that if they do go on thereand leave a review, perhaps some type of discount solutioncould be used, if you were in associationwith different type of stores-- they could get a coupon for that storewhere that employee worked, but mainly it was the thoughtthat if people had an outlet for their good reactions, that they would seek it outand use it, if they knew about it. >> in the eventof a negative experience that i have,

does the employee have the opportunityto offer an explanation as to-- you know, to their employer, for instance. maybe not make it public, butat least be able to enter something in if they receivea negative review, and say, you know,"this is my view of the situation "is this is how i thoughti handled it properly, "and you know, perhaps, you know,i could be given some further instruction "as to how to do betternext time." >> yeah, absolutely,if you go to an employer

and you're trying to seek a job andthey see all these negative comments, i think you should have a chance to explain yourself. i've also think that it's importantfor the negative comments, because without them, you justhave 100 percent positive comments, and i kind of-- it dilutes the value of the positive comments that people receive, andit kind of takes away from that. there would be an auditing system,where you could-- if someone was harassingor just being very egregious with their negative comments,

you could go in and createan audit through the website and remove that, but like i said,the negative comments are also very important becausethey add more value to the positive. >> and is this going tobe just a common courtesy or an actual business? and if it is a business, how are yougoing to make money off of it? through traditionalweb ads-- they would be placed on there,as well as-- if it is successful, people do have interest in it,a premium service would be offered.

while while you're on there, if you pay perhaps a membership, you could get accessto a video series where people can help youkind of tailor your resume, perhaps an exclusive forum thatnonmembers wouldn't be able to access, where you could have industryprofessionals come in there and answer your questions. um, but... those are the two outlets,mainly, through web advertising-- you know, traditionalbanner ads and paid links, and then the premiummemberships as well.

>> yeah, so obviously, you have to-- to make this work, you need to... build up an employee database. and so, what would your plan beto attract employees to register themselves,so to speak, on the site. >> uh, i think it's just a matter ofgetting it out there and making it known. just advertising itand letting people know that this is a good wayto add value to yourself. like myself, i havea pretty limited resume, so this is anotheroutlet for me,

if i had, like, a profileof good comments-- i can go to an employer and say,"hey, you should look at this. "this is what all these peoplesaid about my work." like i said, people would use itto make the intangible tangible, you know? these comments are just being lostand employers don't know about them. so, i think people wouldseek it out and like to use. i know i would. >> did you ever consider actuallytalking with business establishments, in terms of...

offering this sortof internet service, and they would actually encourage,maybe, their employees to sign up. >> yeah, if we could-->> or maybe even mandate them to sign-up. >> sure. if i could partner with certain companiesto kind of get the word out, it would allow the employeesmore confidence because they could seehow they were doing, how people viewed them, and it would give employers a uniqueperspective on what really is going on.

like i said, you don't alwaysget the positive comments and sometimesnot the negative, so it would give theman additional outlet to investigate how well their employersare actually doing. and on another note, if youare seeking for a place to go, i know i would rather paya little bit more for a product or service if the customersatisfaction was higher, you know, as opposed to cheaper pricewithout customer satisfaction. so, you could kindof use to review outlets

that have high ratings. >> from a business owner’sstandpoint, one of the concerns that i wouldhave about the system is, is there any deterrent from my employeesoffering discounts to customers, just to improvetheir ratings? you know, suddenly,it's costing me money, as a business, because they're cutting dealsso that their ratings can go up. so, sorta safeguard for that?>> sure.

like i said, it doesn't necessarilyhave to be those discounts offered, but, um,if those were there, um, i'd like to have sometype of system in place-- kind of like ebay, where you see peoplewho are leaving these comments-- um, the frequency of the commentsthey make, and kind of the length-- that could be taken into accountto offer these discounts. maybe you have to leave ten reviewsin order to get the coupon, something like that...um... >> well, what i'm referring tois more from an employee standpoint.

so, i'm trying to sell youan item of clothing and i say to you, "hey, you know,i can offer you a 15 percent off discount, "you know, if you're willing to go on "and give me a positive reviewwith my company." you know, now, suddenly, it's costingmy employer money in order-- you know, because i am kindof been a little bit backhanded and trying to work aroundthe system for my own benefit. but as i was saying, is thereany sort of thought to a safeguard, so that the employer doesn'tactually lose money in a situation?

i guess i hadn't thoughttoo much about that. the main tie-in with that was kind of like when you get a receipt, and you call in and do a survey,then you do get a coupon like that. so, my thought was that wouldbe more of a promotional thing then kind of deep cuts in cost.>> sure. unfortunately, not everyonein the world is honest, so... >> so, what's next? now we've heard all the presenterspresent their great ideas. let's give one big round of applauseto all the presenters.

you're all winners…(applause) in our eyes.(applause) it takes a lot of courage to come up hereand present your ideas. um, on behalfof the business department, we are providing refreshments and food just outside the auditorium while the judges deliberate. i would ask that you allowthe judges to maybe grab a refreshment and some food as they go intoa special room that we have for them. and then, we'll announcethe return of the judges,

and the awards will be givento first, second, and third place. thank you very much. we're back... and with some exciting news. first of all, just a big round of applause for all of you, please. if you could just give yourselvesa round of applause. no matter what happens tonight,first place, second place-- great, you moveonto regionals. third place, you get some money,but then, also keep in mind

that the people who did not winat the idea pitch were ones that went onto develop businesses and get quite a bit of seed capitalas well, so don't let this deter you. uh, the make-up of an entrepreneuris tenaciousness, right? and keep working on your idea,keep believing in yourself. i'm going to turn the micover now to the judges, and each judge would liketo share a little bit with you about whatthey thought of tonight, and your presentations.

and then, they'llgive me back the mic, and then i'll announcethe winners for tonight. >> should i stand?>> yeah. >> all right. well, first off, i'd like to thankeverybody for coming tonight. you guys had great ideas. you know, there's a lot of potentialfor some of the ideas we heard tonight, whether they end upplacing or not. um, you know i wouldjust encourage you guys

to pursue the ideasthat you have-- research 'em some more,see if there's other people out there, see if you can learnfrom what you find, what mistakes other peoplehave made trying in this business-- and that's one of the thingsthat, you know, i would say has beenone of my strong points is looking at how other peoplehave done things wrong and learning from their mistakesand listening, you know, to what other peoplehave to say about it.

but again, i just encourage you guys alland wish you the best of luck. >> well, uh, i agreea lot with justin here-- we heard a lotof great ideas. and i think a wise man once saidthat the only bad idea is the one that'snot explored. and i just want to say that within g.e.,in our engineering, we actually do brainstorming sessionswhere we go around the table and ask for ideas,just at the spur of the moment, and it's justa process we use.

so, we get a lot of different ideasout on the table, and then we talk about them, and basically decidewhich ones are best to go with. and so, it's a reallyimportant process-- to have ideasand to express ideas. and so, i thinkthis competition is very relevantto the real world. and, uh, thanksfor letting me be a part of it. >> all right, i would like to...(chuckling)

i would like to thankthe grcc staff, including felix pereirofor inviting us to be judges today. this has been a wonderful experience, and i second justinas well as randy as far as encouraging youto continue to brainstorm or come up with ideas,and to be persuasive, and to stick with your ideasand your gut feeling kind of thing with these ideas thatyou’re coming up with. so, try and sell it.

and i just wanted to share with youone of the things that i was reading before coming herethis afternoon, was about the president of france,charles de gaulle… uh, algeria was havingkind of a revolution, and it was a colony for francefor many years, and charles de gaullewent to algeria and convincedhis compatriots that did not wantto leave algeria... and he was very persuasive.

he had the idea and he persuaded all his compatriotsto leave the country, because fighting and winningwas not going to avoid the independenceof algeria. but he was able to convincehis compatriots to leave algeriaby persuading them. he had this idea, even though, at the time, they did not wantto leave algeria. they were very happy there.

so, be persuasive,just like how he was... with your ideas. and thanks againfor having me. >> that's fantastic--i mean, to have justin-- i met him whenhe was very young, and he's built three orfour different businesses, he's a job creator in michigan,creating over 50 jobs. especially in this economy,it's been very tough. so, let's give him a specialround of applause for justin.

randy is an incredible engineer at general electricand an incredible friend, and he's given a lot to help peoplesolve technology problems, and also to thinkwith reason and logic, and he's justa fabulous friend. could we give randy waltera round of applause as well? and then, tony bowie and igo back a long, long way, and again, it shows that tony and iare immigrants to this country, that this is a great country,

uh, that if you come herewith your ideas and you're willing to workand study hard, and put in the clock time, thatgood things will happen for you. and tony does thatnot only at general electric, but also does that for charity,and in his own time as well. so, a big round of applausefor tony. you know, it's really interestingthat we have the idea pitch competition, and we came up with the light bulb-- and this was some of our studentsthat came up with this.

and also, if you take a lookat the front of your program, it's a quote fromthomas edison, and we really thank general electricfor being very, very supportive of us, you know, especially withthomas edison, of course, and general electrichaving such close ties. well, enough of that! now, we get down to whatyou would like to know, is who took first, who took second,and who took third place. so, again, here we go.

let me get the first checkready here. in third place...jennifer vanderploeg. come up here. here we go-- let's get a--let's get a picture. let's get a picture here. it's a close-up here. there we go--thank you. >> thank you.>> thank you, thank you. second place…

what might it be,what might it be? here we go--damion harden! damion harden--he's moving onto regionals! (applause)all right! fantastic--way to go, sir! that's right, damion, if you takethat check to any chase bank, if you hand it to them...(laughing) no, amy-- amy, i think,will do a trade for you. how do we do that, amy?

they trade you the check andthen they get something, okay? all right, well, we've been waitingfor this first place, right? very persuasive argument,great idea, and great ability to sharethe idea-- jeffrey noel! >> oh, my god!>> first place! with “bookhippie.” there you go--excellent, excellent. both jeffrey and damion willbe moving on to the competition. we invite many of you,if you'd like to come.

it's wednesday, august 7--(chuckling) august 7-- wednesday-- i'm still inthe summer department head duties here. it's november 7--wednesday, next week. it starts, amy,at 6 o'clock? at 6 o'clock,so you know, please keep themin your thoughts and maybe come out andsupport damion and jeffrey, and we hope that they takefirst or second place, or both, at the aquinas competition,when they'll be competing

against six other universitiesthat are sending their two best as well. again, a big round of applausefor all of you! thank you very much.(applause) god bless... drive safe...(applause) keep those in mindon the east coast that are going throughsome storms right now. take care.(bell dinging)