The first GISSV Shark Tank event took place, featuring two amazing presentations from parents of our school, sharing their professional experiences.
Written by Rebecca Baumann, Hanna Meister & Anna Weiss, grade 10
On Wednesday, May 23 the first GISSV Shark Tank event took place, featuring two amazing presentations from parents of our school, sharing their professional experiences.
First, Inka Tews gave the audience an insight into her job at Infineon in the Department of Human Resource Management and stunned students with the variety of jobs that come with Human Resources. Afterward, Martin Barthel shared a breath-taking presentation on what his job at Facebook is about and explained other aspects of his path.Both Inka Tews and Martin Barthel were part of our GISSV Shark Tank Panel.
Together with Friedrich Sulk, from the German Accelerator and Dr. Ulrich Quay who works for BMW i Ventures, they rated all of the pitches and awarded the best three teams. The teams and individuals were challenged to finish their pitch within five minutes. After the pitch, they gave their best to answer the panel's questions.
The presenting students were either from the GISSV Entrepreneur Club or 8th, 10th and 11th grade who worked on startup ideas as part of a project in economics class.
There were a total of nine different teams and individuals who presented prototypes of their ideas in form of products, websites or apps.
The first pitch of the evening was professionally presented by Rebecca Baumann from tenth grade, who presented her prototype of "Vie", an app that creates a nutrition plan based on your lifestyle. Anna Weiss and Hanna Meister from tenth grade, very strong competitors, convinced the audience of their app "SMACLO" which organizes the users closet and plans their perfect outfits for every day. The youngest participants, Bennet Lueth and Lucian Kempf, presented their modernly designed website "UStyle" which helps users to find trendy clothes in stores nearby, adapted to the users taste. Svenja Schmidthals, from 8th grade, also contributed with much effort to the prototype. As a member of the GISSV Entrepreneur club, Finn Lueth impressed everyone with his idea "Technetium" of a cryptocurrency to make trading with digital art safer. The 10th graders Odin Lee and Paul Zhuromskyy cleverly designed a prototype of a solar-powered cooling box Solarice for outdoor fans. A confident pitch was given by Kim Sophie Bestvater and Noah Scheffold from 11th grade who are part of the GISSV Entrepreneur Club as well. They designed a beautiful prototype of an app for relaxation and meditation. Steen Wittner found the perfect solution for classrooms that were messed up by teachers in a conference the day before. He came up with a smart home solution "Intelligent Education" for schools. Cameras and automatically unlocking doors could help prevent a messy looking classroom.
A refined app to minimize food waste was passionately presented by Nina Hölzl in form of "Heyy Fridge", an app that shows the content of the fridge, making sure nothing is wasted by suggesting recipes. Last but not least the 11th graders Nico Schapeler and Julian Bouchard presented their carpooling app "Shlingl" which is especially for schools. The engaged duo plans on actually launching their app and already have potential customers.
While the GISSV Shark Tank Panel decided which pitches were the most convincing, everyone enjoyed the variety of refreshments and snacks. The panel took some time to consider the ranking of the teams and individuals who pitched, making the tension in the room increase. The participants were invited to come on the stage to roll in the glory they deserved. Supported with drum-rolls Mr. Lueth announced the winners. Kim Sophie Bestvater and Noah Scheffold from 11th grade were awarded $50 for the third place of the first GISSV Shark Tank. The second place was taken by Rebecca Baumann from 10th grade who was awarded $100. The 11th graders Nico Schapeler and Julian Bouchard made the first place with their brilliant carpooling app Shlingl and received $150 for their work.
We want to thank Michael Koops, Head of School, Martin Lentzen, our Economics teacher, Dr. Dirk Lueth and the Entrepreneur Club of the GISSV, for making this special event possible.