CREDIT: STEWART WEST / ISTOCK / THINKSTOCK
Pitch your start-up business in 60 seconds and leap your way to the $1,000 grand prize.

Leap Junction is giving Fanshawe students the chance to pitch a 60-second start-up business idea and be put in the running to win $1,000 on Jan. 28.

The event is called Trampoline: Launch Your Leap and it is a twopart session. The first section of the event will be held on Jan. 21, where students will be able to attend a workshop to learn how to master the perfect pitch.

“[At the workshop], Anna Foat, [from Big Dog Sales Consulting], is going to come in and help students know what is a good thing to put in a pitch, make sure they are reaching the right audience, make sure that they are making it fun and interesting,” said Annette Markvoort, entrepreneurial animator at Leap Junction.

According to Markvoort, this is not an event solely for students.

“We are open to every student across every category in Fanshawe, not only students but youth aged 18 to 29; if you have a friend you know who has a business idea or who wants to make a pitch, they are welcome to join us as well.”

Anyone who attends the workshop on the 21st is then eligible to sign up for the pitch on the 28th. “Anyone who participates [in the pitch] has to go to the workshop, but everyone who goes to the workshop does not have to participate [in the pitch],” Markvoort said.

Both of the events will be held in Fanshawe’s Welcome Lounge, located in F1010.

“Trampoline is all about helping you launch your leap into a new business; creating a 60-second pitch, you need to be able to articulate what it is you want to do in a very short time so people understand what your business model is,” Markvoort said.

And for this pitch, there will be no props allowed, just one-minute of you talking to the judges, who will be a mix of professors and entrepreneurs from the community, about your idea.

“Leap Junction is here to help any student who is interested in starting their own business by connecting them to things in the community, connecting them to the funding that is available [and also] by connecting them to the workshops.”

And according to Markvoort, she believes an event like this is just what students need to be able to leap into their dream start-up business.