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>> My name is Jessica Muse
and my business Modern Muse Education is designed
to help students who had a non-traditional high school
experience and help them get a more traditional
and comprehensive college preparation experience.
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>> My name is Andrew Maco and my business is called QuickDrop
and we are a food delivery service.
Now with us you could have your favorite food
from your favorite restaurant delivered straight to your door.
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>> My name is Kevin Ventura [phonetic].
>> I'm Evelyn Martinez.
>> My name is Amiralah Nesru.
We are 'Aek and One'.
We designed a machine that sorts small engineering parts
such as screws, nuts and washers.
>> My name is Pouya [phonetic]
and my business is called What the Sock,
and my business changes the way socks are being produced
and designed through crowd funding
and crowd sourcing the designs.
>> My name is Margaret Courtney.
Although I haven't named my magazine as of
yet it is a small-town magazine that's geared toward building
a community.
>> The Raptor Tank is this great new project we have going
on at the school where students actually get
to submit a business idea.
And then if they're selected to move forward
after building a business plan they get to pitch their ideas
to a group of venture capitalists in front
of a very large group of our student body
to hopefully win the prize money from Montgomery College
to help turn their business idea into a reality.
>> The Macklin Business Institute primarily supports MBI
students through the scholarships.
However, we have tried to expand the Macklin umbrella,
for example Raptor Tank; some of our students helped lead
that project from the beginning stages all the way
to the final phase.
>> I found out about Raptor Tank through ENACTUS.
I go to like these business meetings they have,
business clubs they have, so I found out through that
and I just decided to give it a try.
>> So what motivated me to be
in the Raptor Tank was I knew I had a great business
and my friends kept telling me
that there was a Raptor Tank here at Montgomery College
so they-- they all encouraged me.
They said I really had a shot at winning so I went ahead
and applied and I became a finalist.
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>> So who's heard of this thing called an elevator pitch before?
Yeah. So could you mind telling us what the elevator pitch
is Jessica?
>> The students learn about presentation skills
and public speaking, a SWOT analysis.
>> So what are some questions you want
to ask yourself in terms of SWOT?
>> Financial projections.
>> You could also have a price skimming approach.
>> And marketing.
>> What do we do?
What do your markets do and why do they want
to buy this product?
>> If you did not get the market in and the sales and that bit
down you're in trouble.
>> And after working together
and building upon their business plan students create a
business pitch.
>> By attending these Raptor Tank workshops it's really
opening up different ways of how I can grow my business.
>> It seems like there's a lot of risk associated with that,
them not paying up front.
>> Yeah and that's where--
with the help your investment we could get--
we could improve our-- our website.
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>> I did not want to come to the workshop,
I admit that right off the bat,
but it's been the best absolute thing I could have done.
It's really encouraged me and giving me a spark that I needed
so I'm-- I'm glad I did.
>> You might want to just make that part
of your presentation crystal clear.
>> So it would mean a lot if I win the competition
because that-- that shows that my business has a lot
of potential and the investment money will come in handy,
especially considering all the marketing plans that I have.
>> As a team, for us to win it would mean
that all our hard work paid off and that we really know
that we're getting a good start with this product
and that we actually can make a change
and bring this product to the market.
>> It would mean that I've made my friends proud,
my family proud for all of my accomplishments so far.
>> To win this competition would actually mean
that I have a chance of realizing my dream
of actually publishing a local magazine
that can grow a community, a small community in which I live.
>> It would mean a lot to me to win this competition
because this is truly one of the first things that I have come
up with, developed, worked through.
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