MSMS students got down to business as they presented their pitches during the sixth annual Business Plan Competition held Feb. 28 in Nissan Auditorium.

Five teams showcased months of preparation in front of a panel of judges and the MSMS student body. Seniors JD Hagood and Richard Zheng’s business, xViro, placed first, winning $3,000. Seniors CJ Mason, CJ Jordan, Sephora Poteau and Mandy Sun’s business, Sieve, placed second, winning $1,500. Juniors Sydney Beane and Iris Xue’s business, Mint Technologies, placed third, winning $750.

Among the competing teams, two other groups passed the preliminary rounds of judging to compete. Seniors George Utz and Nicolas Neal competed with their business, Premier Cricket Food Group, and juniors Julia Nguyen, Maple Griffin and Ashton Lollis competed with their business, FabFlex 3D.

The competition was judged by a panel of experts, including Hagan Walker, Jan Miller and Macaulay Whitaker. Walker is the co-founder and chief executive officer of Glo, a company that makes liquid-activated light-up drink cubes. Miller recently retired from serving as director of the Columbus Arts Council. Before that, she was executive director of Main Street Columbus for seven years. Whitaker is the vice president of talent and culture at Burns Dirt Construction in Columbus.

The Business Plan Competition challenges groups of students to create an original business plan. Through several rounds of judging, mentoring and workshops, students refine their plan over the school year to present in the spring. The top five winners can earn a cash prize of up to $3,000.

Beane said she decided to join the competition to hone her skills and earn those bills. 

“I thought it would be a good experience,” Beane said, “especially since I am looking to go into business as a career. Plus, that prize money is pretty big. $3,000 for first place is a lot even after you split it up with your partner.”

Despite the attractive reward, the process of getting to that point would prove to be difficult for many. Griffin said preparing for the competition was a lot harder and more time-consuming than she anticipated. 

“I regret not managing our time better,” Griffin said. “Especially toward the end, there were a lot of deadlines to meet. I guess it was especially bad for my group because during the weeks leading up to the final pitch, we decided to change our entire idea and redo everything.”

Despite these tribulations, Walker complimented the competitors and said he was looking for passion in their work.

“I wanted to find people that would really stick with the plan that they had come up with,” he said. “The second thing was simplicity. You really can’t do everything, so I wanted to see realistic approaches to how they’d get their product on the market. The first three placing teams had really cohesive plans in this regard.”

The announcement of the final winning teams shocked many students in the audience, including the team members themselves.

“Richard and I were not expecting to win,” Hagood said. “Before the actual competition, he and I had said to each other, ‘We know we tried our best, and we should be proud of our work no matter what the judges think.’ When we ended up winning first place, it was a shock.”

Regardless of the results, Beane said the competition gave her an experience she will never forget. 

“I thought that Business Plan was really worth it,” Beane said. “Not only did I learn how to research, but I [also] discovered all the intricacies involved in creating a business. I would do it all again just for the experience.”