God, seeking forgiveness, and be united to Him through Christ.” Like everything at Cedarville, this biblical message has been at the heart of The Pitch from the beginning. “Because of their leadership and visibility, Christian business leaders have an outsized Gospel opportunity in their communities,” said Dr. Jeffrey Haymond, Professor of Economics and Dean of the Robert W. Plaster School of Business. “The Pitch helps us build up more marketplace leaders who can impact their communities for Christ.” After Smith’s Gospel presentation, attention returns to Colburn, who holds the judges’ decision in her hands. Colburn announces third and second place — Peace Counseling and Rider Aspect, respectively — and then pauses, feeling the room’s anticipation. “And in first place, we have NEOCHIC, Lainy Humes!” The audience erupts. Humes, smiling ear to ear, rushes on stage and receives a giant check made out to NEOCHIC. Judges and hosts crowd around for a photo. Humes has just joined the growing list of Pitch success stories. Timothy Davis ’25 and Luise Schmidt-Krayer ’26, for example, won the fall 2023 cycle with their laNora Breast Pillow, a medical device that helps women recovering from breast surgeries or suffering from breast pain achieve comfortable and safe sleep. Already registered as a medical device in a number of European countries, laNora recently partnered with MediCorp to pursue its registration in the US. And in the spring 2023 cycle, Cooper Peterson ’23 came in 4th place and received $200 for his company runGLUBZ, an athletic brand specializing in uniquely shaped gloves that allow athletes to maintain proper running form in the cold months. Less than a year later, in February 2024, Peterson had obtained his LLC and recorded over 3,000 sales. Also in the spring 2023 cycle, Luke Rykbost ’25 won the top prize of $1000 to put toward software development for his property management software, Prime Properties — but what Rykbost found even more fruitful from his Pitch experience were the connections he formed. Following the event, Rykbost teamed up with Peterson and judge Scott Moffat to cofound the KingdomKommerce podcast, a business resource focused on biblically-based entrepreneurship. Since its inception, Kingdom Kommerce has produced 25 episodes and continues to release new content. Clearly, The Pitch is more than just a game show; it’s an opportunity — a jumping-off point — that’s bolstering student entrepreneurs and prompting audience members to consider if they, too, could have a future in marketplace leadership. “The Pitch is inspiring,” Colburn said. “I’ve never considered myself the entrepreneurial type, but sitting in the audience and listening to my peers, I couldn’t help but think, ‘That’s an incredible idea. I wonder if I could do something similar. I wonder what I could create.’” “ Because of their leadership and visibility, Christian business leaders have an outsized Gospel opportunity in their communities,” said Dr. Jeffrey Haymond, Professor of Economics and Dean of the Robert W. Plaster School of Business. “The Pitch helps us build up more marketplace leaders who can impact their communities for Christ.” Heidie (Raine) Senseman ’23 is currently pursuing a Master of Fine Arts degree in creative writing at the University of Iowa. 19
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