DISCOVERY FOUNDATION'S
DISCOVER YOUR PITCH FINAL REPORT 2021 - 2022
PITCH YOUR BUSINESS. WIN MONEY.
DISCOVER YOUR PITCH: FINAL REPORT
2021 - 2022
DISCOVER YOUR PITCH GIVES STUDENTS THE EXPERIENCE OF A LIFETIME JABC was delighted to host the fourth annual Discovery Foundation’s Discover your Pitch competition in Spring 2022. Discover your Pitch (DYP) is an exclusive investor pitch competition for B.C. high school students to take their business presentation skills and knowledge to the next level. Upon successful completion of JA Be Entrepreneurial or JA Company Program, students are invited to refine their business ideas through their participation in the over the six week-long program, comprised of pitch foundation workshops and practice sessions. A total of $6,600 in cash prizes was handed out over the course of the program. DYP is accessible to students anywhere in B.C. as virtual participation is provided for all program components. JABC hosted an in-person finale this year where the finalists pitched to a panel of seasoned business leaders and entrepreneurs at the Terminal City Club in downtown Vancouver. We are grateful for the support, leadership, and commitment of our partners who have made this opportunity possible.
“[These student pitches are] every bit as good as some of the best pitches you will see anywhere.” – Dr. David Harper, CEO, Discovery Foundation
“You have to be able to communicate and be able to sell, not only your business, but yourself.” – Paul Geyer, CEO, Discovery Parks and Nimbus Synergies JABC Board Member
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Program Components Pitch Foundations A chance for students to learn about the art of pitching and communicating their ideas to a business audience. Facilitators
Pitch Practice with SFU Business Students A chance for students to seek constructive feedback and advice on their pitches, presentation format, and communication. Student teams met 1:1 with volunteers from SFU Beedie School of Business to receive tailored advice and expertise.
Jennifer Wilnechenko
Sean Verret
Global Marketing Manager Ballard Power Systems
Associate Partner Ernst & Young
Preliminary Competition
Final Competition
A learning opportunity for students not only to present their compelling pitches in front of a panel of judges, but also receive direct feedback from the judges on how to refine their pitches and presentation skills.
Top teams advance to the final round.
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Final Competition
Six student teams pitched live to a panel of seasoned business leaders and entrepreneurs at the Terminal City Club in downtown Vancouver on May 25, 2022. Parents, teachers and JABC partners came out to watch the pitches and meet the students. The event was co-hosted by JA Alumni, Maria Smith and Sheila Wang, who also happen to be past participants of DYP. All of the teams were outstanding and demonstrated significant growth from when they started their DYP journeys. The judges shared that all of the pitches were excellent, making the task of selecting a winner quite challenging.
The Prize Winners *prizes were also given out during the preliminary round
StormShine
1
1st Place + Fan Favourite $3,000 + $500
Ponderosa
2
2nd Place $1,500
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View photos from the 2022 Final Competition
Edible Utensils 3rd Place $500 03
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2022 Judges Provincial Final Round Judges
Abi Coman-Walker Chief Operating Officer, Acuitas Therapeutics
Paul Geyer CEO, Discovery Parks & Nimbus Synergies
Stuart Louie Governor, London Drugs Ltd.
Preliminary Round Judges
Dr. David Harper CEO, Discovery Foundation
Mark Betteridge CEO, Mark Betteridge and Associates Inc.
Fanny Laguna Sage Foundation Manager for North America, Sage
"I must say, they were all difficult to choose from. You all did phenomenally well. I see lots of pitches and you can blow the doors out of some of the other ones I have seen before from people who are supposed to know how to do it right.” – Paul Geyer, CEO, Discovery Parks and Nimbus Synergies JABC Board Member
“All of the ideas were so good. They were just amazing ideas that you created, just by thinking about solving problems.” – Dr. David Harper, CEO, Discovery Foundation
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Photo Highlights
Presenting Partner Remarks
Opening Remarks
David Harper President and CEO, Discovery Foundation
Sheila Biggers President & CEO, JABC
Welcome remarks & entrepreneurial journey stories Maria Smith and Sheila Wang, JA Alums
Student Pitches: Ponderosa, DripBop Technologies, No Thumbs for Us Pajamas, ECORivalry, Edible Utensils, StormShine
Winners of Discover Your Pitch 2022
Networking Reception
StormShine with Sheila Biggers and David Harper
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Student Feedback Delivering impactful and relevant programs to students is JABC's top priority. We regularly collect feedback from participants to help us continue to adjust and improve the overall learning experience.
I learned... Definitely how to manage the pressure and nervousness of having to pitch an idea in front of business leaders. It is very rare for high school students to have such an opportunity, and this genuine experience taught me how to be more confident in both my abilities and my ideas. What teamwork meant when building our presentation with my fellow partners. Afterschool for months we would dedicate time to practice our pitch and figure out a perfect set up for our visual presentation. We struggled through many problems but ended up succeeding in the end. What goes into starting a business and pitching an idea. The importance of teamwork, communication and the need for dedication. It’s definitely not a common experience to pitch in a professional setting. I enjoyed getting to collaborate with my teammates and brainstorm presentation ideas!
Highlight of the program…the in-person pitching at the finale! Seeing all of the other amazing pitches! To be completely honest, each and every pitch blew my expectations away regarding what high school students can accomplish. It was an exciting and highly educational experience seeing so many amazing ideas come to life through engaging and interesting presentations.
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Total number of students that have participated in DYP since its launch in 2019.
Workshop
Preliminary Round
Finals
Number of students
250 200 150 100 50 0
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A Year of Reflection Now in its fourth year, DYP continues to provide a platform for students to learn and develop the essential presentation skills for career success. JABC is pleased to be partnering with the Discovery Foundation once again to offer this unique experience for B.C. youth. The 2021-22 school year was a year to celebrate success in challenging times, especially for students and educators who had to continue to adapt and pivot to a hybrid remote and in-class learning approach. The overall experience that JABC provided to students continued to be engaging and exciting, especially with the final competition, where students pitched in-person to a panel of seasoned business leaders, fellow students, and their parents.
“The highlight was the in person pitching! It was a really eye-opening experience to hear different companies pitch their products in a way that's different from yours.” – 2022 Student Participant
Moving forward, JABC would like to explore program growth to ensure we continue to provide a platform for our next generation of leaders and entrepreneurs to realize their dreams, as well as to equip them with the tools and skills needed to make a business presentation. We look forward to continuing our partnership with Discovery Foundation in the 2022-23 school year.
“Love the foundation and the cause, excited for next year!” – 2022 Student Participant
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Thank you to our Partners
PRESENTING PARTNER
SUPPORTING PARTNERS
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Appendix A: Finalists and their Companies Company
Description
Ponderosa
Ponderosa is dedicated to supporting your sustainable lifestyle with our hand-sewn and fashionable totes with locally sourced eco-friendly materials. Our tote bags are created by determined students who share a passion for the environment. To honor our values, 15% of the profit earned will be donated to the "Environmental Youth Alliance" to reinforce Vancouver’s eco-friendly initiatives.
DripBop
DripBop is a portable, waterproof phone mount that sticks to your wall. It provides effortless
Technologies
convenience and allows you to use your phone in the shower or bath without fear of risking water damage. Our product is composed of a waterproof phone pouch, magnet pieces, a 3D printed base (using recycled filament), and reusable double-sided nano tape for mounting.
No Thumbs for
No Thumbs for Us Pajamas provides a unique product for children age three and under.
Us Pajamas
The pajama has an all natural cotton pocket on the end of each pajama sleeve, which prevents the child from having access to their thumbs. Thumb-sucking can impact jaw and facial development, and contribute to an overbite. This innovative design not only saves parents money in orthodontic care but also allows for their child’s jaw to develop properly. The natural fabric that my product is made of makes it a sustainable and safe product for use in Canada.
ECORivalry
ECORivalry is an easy-to-use application which aims to foster competitiveness - for a great cause! Utilizing our app, users can create and join teams of eco-conscious individuals from all parts of their lives - from school to their local park stewards. By completing innovative challenges, users contribute towards our planet’s health, socialize, and gain reward points for their team!
Edible
Plastic Utensils are becoming an increasingly more prevalent problem in our society today,
Utensils
but not one that can't be solved. Our company, Edible Utensils, aims to help resolve this issue by bringing inexpensive and sustainable cutlery to the table. Our utensils are quick and easy to make, only using four ethically sourced ingredients, as well as natural flavouring so the utensils go with any meal you eat. We believe that we can solve the problem of utensils in the landfill.
StormShine
StormShine is a company that sells all weather solar panels to individual households, corporations, and solar farms. On top of being a conventional solar panel, our product features new solar-cell technology developed by researchers from Suzhou University, which can use the kinetic energy from rainfall to produce electricity. On both sunny and rainy days, this solar panel can generate energy. 10
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Appendix B: Student Letter Thank you letter from StormShine
Dear Dr. David Harper, Our names are Yiheng Li, Owen Hu, and Richard Min, and we are all rising seniors at Burnaby North Secondary School. We are representing Team StormShine, an all-whether solar panel company, and would like to take a moment to appreciate and thank you, Dr. David Harper, along with the rest of the Discovery Foundation team for the generous support in making the fourth iteration of Discover Your Pitch possible. We won’t lie: we walked into the Terminal City Club with our palms sweaty at the prospect of pitching not just in person rather than through a screen, but also to real, experienced company executives. The nerves stayed right up until we were called to present StormShine, but the moment we took the stage, we knew we were ready. Although the presentation felt both significantly longer and shorter than five minutes at the same time, we walked off the stage feeling empowered and more confident than ever in our ability to preserve the thoughts of greatness through speech, presentation, and pitching. Now, we feel encouraged to enter even more pitching-related competitions going forward, and are aiming for a future in the world of business. Moreover, the connections we gained and the networking skills we acquired only further solidified our understanding of business. It was difficult and challenging to put ourselves in front of so many people to share our idea, but it would be even more difficult to overstate just how transformative Discover Your Pitch has been on our futures. As such, we cannot thank you and the Foundation enough. Thank you for taking the words “business is not a spectator sport” and bringing them to life. Thank you for the immense dedication in planning and executing this event. Thank you for allowing us to learn today so that we may lead tomorrow. Words cannot express our gratitude for the experience we had on May 24, 2022. With thanks, Yiheng Li, Owen Hu, and Richard Min Team StormShine
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360 - 475 West Georgia Street Vancouver, BC V6B 4M9 T: 604.688.3887 jabc.ca | jabc.ca/discoveryourpitch
Our purpose is to inspire, prepare and empower B.C. youth for lifelong success. We deliver financial literacy, work readiness and entrepreneurship programs to B.C. students in metro, urban, rural, and Indigenous communities. We acknowledge that our work spans many Territories and that our head office is located on the shared traditional territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh peoples.