The Zingale Big Idea Competition

Allegheny College's Julien Voisey, Chance Haber and Kobe Coleman place first in the 2023 Zingale Big Idea Competition with GrandSlam AI, an artificial intelligence application that helps improve the play of advanced tennis players.
Allegheny College’s Julien Voisey, Chance Hager and Kobe Coleman place first in the 2023 Zingale Big Idea Competition with GrandSlam AI, an artificial intelligence application that helps to improve the play of advanced tennis players.

Breaking News! The Zingale Big Idea Competition Prize Pool Will Increase To $30,000 in 2024!

The Zingale Big Idea Competition focuses on seed-level new business ideas.  The Annual Competition will award a whopping total of $30,000 in prize money among the student winners. This contest emulates the experiences seen on the popular CNBC broadcast, Shark Tank, but with a heart. Unlike Shark Tank, the Zingale Big Idea distinguished panel of judges do more than evaluate business models – they offer constructive feedback, coaching and encouragement.

Please note: Up-and-running small businesses with revenue are not eligible for the competition.

The next Big Idea Competition will be held on April 26-27, 2024

2023 Competitor Profiles | Meet the 2023 Judges | 2023 Finalists

How can you participate?

Workshops are scheduled to help participants prepare for the competition. Those interested in competing in the Zingale Big Idea Competition and/or attend the workshops should contact Entrepreneur in Residence, Professor Chris Allison at callison@allegheny.edu.

To be eligible to compete in the Zingale Big Idea Competition, all contestants must submit an Executive Summary of a business plan to Chris Allison.  The Executive Summaries must include an overview of the company’s financials, including monthly operating costs, startup costs and at least a 1-year income statement.  A three year outlook is preferable.  A template for the Executive Summary can be found among the handy contest templates at the bottom of this page.

 Zingale Big Idea Workshops, 12:30 – 1:15 p.m., Quigley Auditorium

  • Creating A Big Idea
  • From Big Idea To A Company
  • Marketing Your Big Idea
  • Your Big Idea’s Finances
  • Pitching Your Big Idea

Workshop  Slides

  1. Download Week #1 Slides: Finding A Relevant Problem to Solve
  2. Download Week #2 Slides: Creating A Big Idea To Solve The Problem
  3. Download Week #3 Slides:  Marketing Your Big Idea
  4. Download Week #4 Slides:  Developing Your Big Idea’s Financial Plan
  5. Download Week #5 Slides:  The Pitch

Working with your team, you’ll develop a presentation using the 10-20-30 Rule; that is, you’ll prepare 10 Powerpoint slides for a pitch that is 20 minutes long, using text no smaller than 30-point type on each slide. Here are the templates that you will need to complete prior to your presentation:

Zingale-Big-Idea-Competition-Executive-Summary-Template
Zingale Big Idea Competition ’20 – 1 Year Financial Plan Template
Zingale Big Idea Competition ’20 – 3 Year Financial Plan Template 
Zingale Big Idea Competition ’20 – Annual Revenue Worksheet
Zingale Big Idea Competition ’20 – Monthly Expense Worksheet
Zingale Big Idea Competition ’20 – Startup Cost Estimator
Zingale Big Idea Competition ’20 – Presentation Template

The Zingale Big Idea Competition has been made possible through the generous support of Lance & Karen Zingale.

What kind of ideas have won in the past? Check out the results of previous competitions:

Here are the results of our 2022 competition!| Meet the judges | 2022 Photo Album

2021 Big Idea Winners | 2021 Judges

The 2020 competition was cancelled due to Covid 19.

Follow this link to see the 2019 Big Ideas, Winners & Judges

Meet the 2018 Big Idea Judges | Read about the 2018 Winners | View photos from 2018 competition