All SF State undergraduate or graduate students with an innovative business idea or startup are invited to compete in the annual Innovation Pitch Competition. This year, the top three pitches share $7,000 in cash prizes!
Whether your entrepreneurial idea is in the ideation phase or ready for angels and seed, this is a great opportunity to get feedback from seasoned entrepreneurs, investors and business faculty. Put your idea to paper and see if it’s got wings to take off! (A little prize money doesn’t hurt either!)
| First Place | Second Place | Third Place |
|---|---|---|
| $4000 | $2000 | $1000 |
IMPORTANT DATES
- Applications Close: April 4, 2026
- Acceptance Notification: April 13, 2026
- Innovation Pitch Competition Day: April 17, 2026 (2:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.)
How It Works
The founder or co-founder must be a currently enrolled SF State student. The pitch competition is open to business and entrepreneurial ideas and startups from all industries and at any stage in the startup cycle.
Submit an application and pitch deck by April 4, 2026
- All entries will be reviewed, and finalists will be notified via email by April 13, 2026
- Selected entries will be invited to present live, in front of a panel of judges on April 17, 2026 from (2:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.)
- Winners will be announced on the same day as the competition.
- Review the full list of Terms & Conditions.
The preliminary round of judging focuses on finding a compelling and convincing innovation or entrepreneurial story, based on what is presented on a 10-15 side pitch deck (PDF and PPT files accepted only).
The most successful entries have typically demonstrated:
- A clear value proposition for a clearly defined target market
Who is the prototypical consumer of your innovation, and why would they pay for your solution? What problem of theirs does your innovation solve? What need(s) does your innovation fulfill? - A clear explanation of how you are able to solve the consumer’s problem
How or why does your solution work? What enables your solution to fulfill customer needs better than anything/anyone else out there? - Technical proof of concept
Has a prototype or MVP been created, tested, and iterated with users? Does the technology or innovation work? How realistic and achievable is the underlying solution given the work that has already been done, the technical expertise of the founders, and the existing research and development that has already taken place? - Traction in the marketplace
Is there demonstrated product-market fit? Do you have evidence that your idea or prototype is desirable to, adopted by, or sought after by a market? - A well-articulated revenue model
How does this innovation generate revenue? What recurring revenues streams are created? Who’s paying, and how are they paying for your offering? - A founding team that is set up for success
Does the founding team have the right technical expertise to execute on the innovation? Is this something that the founders will continue to pursue after graduation?
Judges
Nancy Hayes
Nancy Hayes has been an active angel investor since 2014. She serves as a mentor to entrepreneurs - with a focus on women entrepreneurs and founders of color. Nancy is a frequent guest speaker, panelist, and judge at pitch events and presenter to entrepreneur groups. She also conducts training sessions for women who are considering becoming angel/venture investors.
Nancy was a senior executive of the IBM Corporation and then served as CEO of two nonprofit organizations. She was the Dean of the College of Business at San Francisco State University for 6 years and then was Vice President of Finance/CFO of San Francisco State. Nancy was cofounder in 2013 of a rewards-based crowdfunding site for women with small businesses and later served as a Managing Director of the Golden Seeds angel group Silicon Valley chapter.
Nancy has an MBA from the University of Chicago and lives in San Francisco.
Abhinoor Dhull
Abhinoor is the VP of Operations and the first non-founder executive at SewerAI, a VC backed Series C startup, where she scaled it from an early stage startup (Series A) to growth stage (Series C), driving 5X growth in <3 years and raised 2 funding rounds. As an engineer turned operator, she has worked alongside blue collar workforce and led board room meetings with CEOs of Fortune 50 companies. Now, at the intersection of AI, operations and infrastructure, she is on a mission to modernize U.S. cities and make communities safer. SewerAI is an AI and SaaS platform for underground infrastructure that is building the operating system for cities and municipalities to run their communities for the next 100 years. Outside of SewerAI, Abhinoor sits on the board of AI courses at universities, other early stage startups and contributes actively to Forbes as part of its Business Council.
Bernard Mendoza
Bernard Mendoza is a senior finance leader and Director of Customer Solutions with the Management Resources Practice at Robert Half. He brings over 15 years of experience leading finance organizations in high‑growth technology and SaaS companies, including serving as VP of Finance for a VC‑backed AI firm. Bernard has built and scaled finance teams through funding rounds, Private Equity transactions, ERP and AI transformations, and IPO readiness. Today, he partners with CFOs and executive teams to help organizations navigate growth, change, and critical inflection points in their business.
How to Watch the Innovation Pitch Competition
Come join us virtually to help promote the spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship at State. Show your support for SFSU students with great business ideas or startups, who were selected to participate in the SFSU Innovation Pitch Competition this year!