Long Beach, CA Hosts ‘Shark Tank’ Style Business Contest – Press Telegram

The BookBound team will present their book club app business idea to judges at the 2023 Sunstone Innovation Challenge in Long Beach, CA on Thursday, April 20, 2023. His team of eight young entrepreneurs, including CSULB students, entered the competition to win a prize of $35,000. (Photo by Brittany Murray, Press-Telegram/SCNG)

The Sunstone Innovation Challenge — an annual competition in the style of ABC’s hit show Shark Tank — returned to our Long Beach, California campus earlier this week.

Four teams of young entrepreneurs, including at least one CSULB student or recent graduate, banded together to create and present a business plan for a chance to win a $35,000 prize. Legal services for successful startups.

This is the third year for the university contest. It is provided by CSULB’s Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and private company Sunstone Management and its Sunstone Venture Capital Fund, which invests in early-stage tech entrepreneurs. The organization offers prizes worth approximately $25,000.

After spending the last four months finalizing their business plans and product ideas, the four final teams met for their final presentation on Thursday, April 20th at The Pointe at Walter Pyramid, CSULB.

An app-based book club called BookBound took first place with $35,000, and MyEMSpath took second place with $10,000. His two other competitors, Routine and Penguin Pal, won honorable mentions and $5,000 each.

The team’s second track, made up of students who aren’t ready to bring their ideas to market, also announced their ideas on Thursday.