Senior management major Willem Delventhal pitches business plan for interactive greeting card service

Wojtanowski, Alexandria

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Roger Williams UniversityDOCS@RWUFeatured News Story The Week at Roger12-8-2014Inspiration + Presentation: GSB Student CapturesR.I. Elevator Pitch ContestAlexandria WojtanowskiRoger Williams UniversityFollow this and additional works at: https://docs.rwu.edu/weekatroger_featured_newsPart of the Higher Education CommonsThis News Article is brought to you for free and open access by the The Week at Roger at DOCS@RWU. It has been accepted for inclusion in FeaturedNews Story by an authorized administrator of DOCS@RWU. For more information, please contact mwu@rwu.edu.Recommended CitationWojtanowski, Alexandria, "Inspiration + Presentation: GSB Student Captures R.I. Elevator Pitch Contest" (2014). Featured NewsStory. 456.https://docs.rwu.edu/weekatroger_featured_news/456 News ArchiveInspiration + Presentation: GSB Student CapturesR.I. Elevator Pitch ContestSenior management major Willem Delventhal pitches business plan forinteractive greeting card serviceDecember 8, 2014 Alexandria Wojtanowski ’15PROVIDENCE, R.I. – An up-and-coming mode of sending out personal sentiments to friends andloved ones may cause you to discard altogether traditional notions of “greeting cards” – at least ifWillem Delventhal, a senior management major in the Mario J. Gabelli School of Business, gets hisway.Evidently it’s a convincing idea. So much so that Delventhal earned honors as top presenter at theninth annual statewide Elevator Pitch Contest, sponsored by the Rhode Island Business PlanCompetition, for his proposal to create an online greeting card service that enables recipients tointeractively engage in a one-minute game with senders.Delventhal – an East Haddam, Conn., native who is minoring in web development and computerscience – said the service, called Nuanotes, will o er a customizable video experience thatgradually reveals the intended message as the recipient plays the game. For example, Delventhalo ered, a birthday greeting card might include a cake assembly game.Inspiration for the business plan emerged over the summer when a close friend of Delventhalmoved to India. Because the friends are both programmers, rather than write a goodbye letter,Delventhal thought the most  tting send-o  should be coded. He created a game that featuredcharacters delivering farewell messages to the friend.With help from GSB Professor W. Brett McKenzie,representatives for the Elevator Pitch Contest heardabout the campus club founded by Delventhal, theTech-Es (or Technical Entrepreneurs). They invited clubmembers to enter the contest, hosted in Providence bythe startup accelerator Betaspring. Already armed witha working prototype – his original inspiration –Delventhal signed up. Up against 25 other presenters,he had 90 seconds to present his idea to a panel ofeight judges, who then gave verbal feedback aboutthe clarity and persuasiveness of the pitch.Delventhal walked away from the presentation with notonly the top prize, but feedback from judges and aclearer course of action. Over winter break, he plans tocontinue developing the technology for his project. Next steps include devising a marketing plan,building a website and creating more cards.“For customers, it’s going to be a really simple and silly thing – a customizable and uniqueexperience.” Delventhal plans to open the website for business in the next year.

Inspiration + Presentation: GSB Student Captures R.I. Elevator Pitch Contest

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Inspiration + Presentation: GSB Student Captures R.I. Elevator Pitch Contest

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