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Chapman University’s Leatherby Center for Entrepreneurship and Business Ethics hosted the Panther Cage Match, a “Shark Tank”-style business pitching competition, on April 12, 2024.
For the first time, this year’s event welcomed entrepreneurs from the broader Orange County community, fostering innovation and collaboration beyond the university’s campus.
More than 40 teams and individuals vied for the chance to present their business ideas at the competition. Five finalists from both student and non-student categories were chosen to showcase their entrepreneurial prowess in front of a panel of eight judges and the winner in each category received $1,500 and judges’ feedback.
The winners in the student category were Beckman High School, Irvine CA seniors Mandy Shi and Lauren Cho, who designed a unified travel app called SimplyFly. The non-student pitch winner was Cornelius Hojatkashani, who designed a bandanna that keeps a dog leash from tangling. His company is The Lucky Dog Brand.
Although they didn’t win, Chapman student finalists Isaac Persky and Ben Shafter learned from the experience. The two, who expect to graduate in 2026, pitched Dormpour, a boxy water filter that fits in a dorm-sized fridge.
“It was a great experience getting up, being able to pitch, hearing feedback and being forced to put together a pitch,” said Persky, an economics and public relations major.
Persky said he was drawn to the possibility of being an entrepreneur after an internship at venture capital firm Gaingels in New York. Shafter, an undeclared major, used computer design skills he learned in an engineering class. Participating in Cage Match, the students learned how to channel their passion for their idea and work ethic into honing a pitch.
The Panther Cage Match was the culmination of a series of pitching events at the Leatherby Center. In November, Tech Coast Angels chair David Friedman spoke about the “perfect pitch.” In December, students gave three-minute pitches to a professional panel.
This year, some Panther Cage Match competitors were also participants in the Leatherby Center’s startup incubator program. The center has been expanding its community reach through a $1 million state grant designating it Orange County’s Inclusive Innovation Hub.
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About Chapman University’s Leatherby Center for Entrepreneurship and Business Ethics
The vision of the Leatherby Center for Entrepreneurship is to inspire, educate, and empower the next generation of talent to have an entrepreneurial mindset. To teach students how to innovate and take risks, whether they are starting their own venture, or working inside a corporation. Through our curriculum and our incubator, we provide hands-on experience to the next generation of talent, teaching them how to develop, scale, and launch their own ventures as future global citizens in the world economy. Learn More: Ralph W. Leatherby Center for Entrepreneurship and Business Ethics | Chapman University
About Chapman University
Founded in 1861, Chapman University is a nationally ranked private university in Orange, California, about 30 miles south of Los Angeles. Chapman serves nearly 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students, with a 12:1 student-to-faculty ratio. Students can choose from 123 areas of study within 11 colleges for a personalized education. Chapman is categorized by the Carnegie Classification as an R2 “high research activity” institution. Students at Chapman learn directly from distinguished world-class faculty including Nobel Prize winners, MacArthur fellows, published authors and Academy Award winners. The campus has produced a Rhodes Scholar, been named a top producer of Fulbright Scholars and hosts a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, the nation’s oldest and most prestigious honor society. Chapman also includes the Harry and Diane Rinker Health Science Campus in Irvine. The university features the No. 4 film school and No. 60 business school in the U.S. Learn more about Chapman University: www.chapman.edu.
