Orange Tank Pitch Competition
The Whitman School of Management’s tenth annual Orange Tank business pitch competition will be held on Oct. 17, 2025, at 3 p.m. in the Helaine and Marvin Lender Auditorium.
Thanks to the generosity of John Couri ’63 (A&S), a Whitman Advisory Council member and lifetime Syracuse University Trustee, current students and alumni entrepreneurs will pitch their ventures to a panel of esteemed judges, competing for a share of the $35,000 in cash prizes.”. Monetary awards will be given to the ventures finishing in first ($25,000), second ($7,500) and third ($2,500) place.
Application for the Competition
- Applications will close on Friday, September 26, 2025.
- Notifications of pitching teams will be done by Friday, Oct. 3, 2025.
- Pitch decks must be submitted as final on Friday Oct. 10, 2025.
- The top five ventures will be selected to pitch on TBA at Whitman.
- Submit applications to hatchery@syr.edu.
Note:
- Previous Orange Tank applicants may apply to pitch in Orange Tank 2025 as long as your venture has not won a cash prize in previous Orange Tank competitions.
- Need support? The Couri Hatchery is offering support Tuesday through Thursday from 1 to 3 p.m. to help refine your executive summary and pitch deck.
Ventures (both student and alumni) will be selected from the applicants to pitch at the competition. Those chosen will have five minutes to pitch, followed by five minutes of Q&A from the judges, who will be looking for:
- Market potential
- Differentiation and economic feasibility
- Ability to protect intellectual property, technology
- Sound execution strategy
- Scalability of the business
- Proposed use of finances
- Expertise and abilities of the founder(s)
- Quality of pitch
If you would like to be apart of our Orange Tank viewing audience please register here. Registration to watch the competition via Zoom will be coming soon.