Kraebel wins Southeastern Entrepreneurship Conference with polished pitch
Kasie Corley |
Lipscomb University College of Business entrepreneurship major Hannah Kraebel made college history as the first student to win a national pitch competition at the 2018 Southeastern Entrepreneurship Conference.
Kraebel experienced a string of second place finishes at pitch competitions. “I really like coming in second,” Kraebel laughed. The win required advancing through three rounds and 50 contestants at the start. The third round concluded with six contestants and 90 seconds to pitch. “It’s a hard cutoff at 90 seconds. They will stop you,” Kraebel said.
Her ability to field questions clinched the victory. “Part of that is being in the third year of this startup, I know my product.” Kraebel reflected. Her product, Kapped, was born her freshman year. “I love my mug. I’m a big traveler being from Hong Kong. It’s where I grew up and went to high school,” she explained.
“I have collected mugs from all of these places, but they are so much more than merely mugs. I visited Dharamsala in north India, and they have these huge slate mountains. You can buy mugs that are carved out of these huge pieces of slate, but I can’t take them anywhere and show them to people because they aren’t portable,” Kraebel shared.
Kraebel received what she called “atypical divine inspiration.”
“I had a Bible professor who would bring his mug to class. He would always end up with tea on his shirt,” she said. Inspired, she ordered pourable silicone and used her brothers’ 3D printer to make the mould for a Kapp. “That was the first Kapped, and it did not look good,” she reminisced.
Kraebel identified a notable market among young women after conducting extensive research. She learned the value of time invested to sound research early in her business studies.
“We have an entrepreneur’s introduction to business course. We have this trend of young people coming to college and wanting to change the world, but they think business is bad,” said Ray Eldridge, dean of the College of Business. “I like to blame the Lego movie. The villain is named ‘Lord Business.’ Kids are impressionable,” he joked.
The course is structured to provide students about $200 to use to use to turn a profit. The collective profits support the Business as Mission program led by Rob Touchstone, co-founder of the Well Coffeehouses and director of the college’s Business as Mission program.
“Interestingly enough, I believe the only team that has failed was one that did Lipscomb underwear,” Eldridge explained. “Ironically, Hannah was part of that team.”
Kraebel clarified. “There was a niche in the market. There is all of this sales stuff, but no underwear,” she prefaced. “We did not do well! There are groups who haven’t made back their capital,” said Kraebel. “We sold just enough to make about $80 in profit. Really, we didn’t do well by any means! But, we did learn a lot.”
“Market testing is very important. Just asking your friend if they think it is a good idea is not enough,” she laughed. Kraebel took the lesson and utilized pitch competitions strategically to fund her venture. “I see pitching as a way to raise funds,” she explained. “I think pitching is misperceived throughout the college. People think I go to these competitions like staged theater. It’s not.”
“It’s one of the best ways to bootstrap a startup: win money. I would love for that to be the perception of pitching,” said Kraebel. Her strategic approach to pitching demonstrates maturity and a desire to succeed. Her mentor, Lipscomb entrepreneur-in-residence Jerry Stubblefield, spoke of her preparation.
“We have great students here and Hannah is certainly one of them. She stands out because of her successes,” said Stubblefield, affectionately known as “Papa Stubbs” by his students.
“She is significantly prepared for these pitches. We give her mock pitches before competitions. She’ll be up all night running through her pitch, and then have me meet her early in the morning to practice some more,” he said. “I would prefer she just slept. But, that just speaks to the motivation of Hannah.”
Motivated hardly describes Kraebel, who currently holds presidential and vice presidential positions on five of six clubs and a 4.0 GPA within the College of Business. “I student really hard,” said Kraebel.
“The college has given a lot to me, so I feel I can give back by playing a role in these clubs. I feel these are the things that build future alumni allegiance while students are here. Hopefully the College of Business gets to cash in on those relationships in 20 years.”
Kraebel will compete in the upcoming Kittrell Pitch Competition on April 11 at Lipscomb. After, she will end her collegiate pitching career in Detroit. As a 2017 Women’s Business Enterprise National Council Female Founder award winner, Kraebel will participate in their conference, receive mentorship by a Fortune 500 female CEO, and have a chance to win $10,000 at the competition.
Students indecisive of pitching at the Kittrell Pitch Competition should do it, Kraebel says. In addition to the $10,000 first place, $3,000 second place and $2,000 third place prizes, the experience is worth participation.
“Anyone with an idea should pitch at Kittrell. If the first time you do something it’s perfect, you have waited too long. Go actually fail and learn from it,” she said. “Put it out there, let people beat it up for a second, and then see what it needs. Be brave.”
For more information on the College of Business, click here. To learn more about the upcoming Kittrell Pitch Competition, visit the website.