UK 150 Pitch Contest $1,000 Winner Announced by Awesome Inc and iNET

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Jan. 16, 2015) —The pitches are in, and the winner was picked for the UK 150 contest, the University of Kentucky’s largest online student pitch competition. Phillip Gordon was selected as the winner with his pitch on Nomad Jeans pickpocket-proof pants.

As the introductory event to create hype about the UK Venture Challenge, the UK 150 contest aimed to collect at least 150 pitches of 150 seconds or less from UK students who posted their ideas on YouTube.  Overall, more than 200 pitches were entered into the competition thanks to iNET partner, Awesome Inc, who also chose the 18 finalists, including the winner, Phillip Gordon, who will receive $1,000 for his idea.

Gordon said he came up with the idea of Nomad Jeans when he was studying abroad in Seville, Spain and had friends who fell victim to pickpocketing.  He wanted to come up with a solution to that problem and landed on the idea of combining his wallet with his pants pocket.  Gordon recently got the first prototype of his jeans made and is currently working on a women’s style.

“It’s really important to be innovative and to solve your own problems,” said Gordon.  “Little by little, you are making a better community for the whole world.  I like knowing not only that entrepreneurship is an option in life instead of a corporate job, but that it’s also possible, because you aren’t usually told that.”

The two runners-up will receive prizes as well. Beau Davis, who pitched GamePhase, an online profile for high school athletes looking to get recruited for college, will receive two free months at Awesome Inc’s coworking space in downtown Lexington, as well as one hour of consulting and pitch coaching at the company. Third place winner, Michael Lewis pitched Finance U, which is a new way to raise money for college through online crowdfunding.

“Congratulations to all of the students who participated and submitted creative ideas,” said University of Kentucky President Eli Capilouto. “Programs such as this and UK Venture Challenge provide students the opportunity to be innovative and entrepreneurial, which is an important part of their educational experience.”

So what’s next for UK’s student entrepreneurs?  The UK Venture Challenge will be held on Saturday, Feb. 28, at the William T. Young Library, UK Athletic Association Auditorium. Students develop their ideas into new ventures and present their business concepts to judges from the local entrepreneurial community. The three winning teams share $3,000 in scholarship prizes, and the top two advance to the state competition, Idea State U. Registration opens Jan. 20 for the 2015 UK Venture Challenge.

You can watch Phillip Gordon’s winning pitch here.

Both the UK 150 Pitch Contest and UK Venture Challenge are iNET programs. iNET, the Innovation Network for Entrepreneurial Thinking, is hosted by the College of Communication and Information.

MEDIA CONTACT: Sarah Geegan, (859) 257-5365; sarah.geegan@uky.edu