Purdue Northwest Hosts Annual The PNW Big Sell Contest

The Purdue University Northwest College of Business and the College of Technology successfully held the final pitches in The PNW Big Sell competition live on April 27, 2019, where the top three winners were announced.

Flykeart was awarded first place and won $10,000 for their business idea. FlyKeART is a smart airplane food cart that connects to the cabin via Wi-Fi. This idea came about because airlines carry carts on the plane and roll them around the plane, potentially bumping or hitting passengers unintentionally. FlykeArt was created so passengers can easily order food from the menu and select the time they want it, thus avoiding the attendants unnecessarily moving the cart up and down the aisle.

Troy Smith, owner of The Layman Bench, took second place. Troy is a Personal Trainer and has already begun creating a metal prototype of the Layman Bench through a safety agreement with Purdue University Northwest. He’s also secured $3,500 in prize money and is pursuing 20 patent claims to further develop the product.

Faith Spencer, Alex Termini and Andrew Remes of RearVue earned third place and $2,500 in prizes.

This year’s event, under the direction of Mont Handley, Associate Director of the Commercialization and Manufacturing Excellence Center, and Alexandra Moran, Clinical Instructor of Entrepreneurship at PNW, was streamed live from WJOB housed inside PNW’s Commercialization and Manufacturing Excellence Center in Hammond. The 12 finalists each delivered a six-minute pitch to a three-member panel of judges made up of local entrepreneurs,