Sarah Pruys
Of the 93 elevator pitch videos entered in the entrepreneurial “Make Your Pitch” contest, Tanner Bell’s is the only one from Northwestern Ontario.
And he’s hoping everyone will go to makeyourpitch.ca, watch his idea for a new company, and vote so he can become a semi-finalist and attend a two-day business convention in Toronto at the end of May.
“It’s a contest where you create a two-minute video and pitch your idea,” explained Bell, a busy Grade 12 student doing a quick interview for his proposed business during his lunch break before rushing back to the Fort Frances High School to complete his co-op placement in the music classroom.
“They ask for students to do [the pitch] for anything; for technology, for retail, for creating a new product,” he noted.
“So I created one called ‘Social Torch Media,’ and it’s one that will build your website, will get you on Facebook, will get you on Twitter, on Pinterest.
“I’ll upload photos, make updates on your timeline, and make you go viral,” he pledged.
Bell said his company differentiates itself “because what I would do is have a continuous repertoire with [companies],” whereas other firms like his often create the social media platforms and then leave the updating to the company that issued the contract.
“What I’m doing is solving the problem for people who don’t have time to do it,” he reasoned.
Bell said his company will be a cheaper alternative because companies will pay less over a longer period of time, ending whenever the company wants, rather than one fee for the original start-up creation only.
Still, he will have to consider how to stop companies from using his cheaper alternative to start up their social media outlets, and not quit once their website and other online activity is up and running—deciding they can do the updating themselves.
The contest, which was open to Ontario high school students returning to school in the fall, includes six categories: technology, environment, social enterprise, retail goods, services, and arts, culture, and tourism.
“There’s a whole group of people that submitted videos, and then they choose 18 semi-finalists,” Bell said.
“Forty percent of your judgment is based on voting from the public and the other 60 percent is based on a panel of judges who vote,” he explained.
“Those 18 people go to Toronto for the [Ontario Centres of Excellence Discovery Conference],” where “we pitch our business idea in front of entrepreneurs, CEOs, and professors.”
“You submit the same pitch, but you get mentoring and tools that will help you make it a plausible business,” Bell noted.
From there, six finalists are chosen (one from each category).
“Those people who win get a position in a program called ‘Summer Company,’” Bell added. “You are awarded $3,000 for the summer to actually make your business plausible.
“You also get $750 from ‘Desire2Learn’ for your post-secondary education.”
Bell said he just really wants to get this idea out there and get people to vote—and help make it come true.
“You can vote once a day until the contest is over on May 17,” he remarked.
“I really want people to see it,” he stressed. “It’s a 1:50 [long] video, and you can view it on makeyourpitch.ca
“Go to the gallery of videos, I’m under ‘Technology,’ or you can search ‘Social Torch Media.’
“I think you just log in with Facebook to vote.”
If Bell wins, he plans on using the money towards the business, “getting office supplies and server space; and having it so I wouldn’t have to outsource and it would be all privatized with me.”
And if he doesn’t win, he still would like to pursue his concept.
“I would really, really like to,” he remarked. “It would just be the availability of funding to make it plausible to start.”
Whatever happens, Bell’s plans following graduation also include business.
“I’m going to Thunder Bay for Business Administration, majoring in Human Resources, and my end goal is to get my MBA and take a year of education,” he noted.
“Those are my main goals that I think I want to do.”
