The Pitch Madness Way

Innovation starts with a great idea, given the right opportunity, that idea can grow into something larger. This week, we're highlighting the 9th annual DePaul Pitch Madness, an exciting entrepreneurship competition that brings together student entrepreneurs from 10 leading institutions across the Midwest, including NIU. Each participating institution sends three undergraduate teams to showcase their business ideas in a trade show format, where attendees can meet the innovators, learn about their ventures, and vote for their favorite team. The top team from each institution advances to a three-minute pitch competition, with every finalist guaranteed prize money. After attracting more than 200 attendees last year, the event is expected to welcome more than 300 this year, providing an outstanding opportunity for students to gain valuable feedback, expand their networks, and compete for funding to advance their ideas.

71 North is proud to support the NIU teams competing in DePaul Pitch Madness this year: Zcrafter (Victor Taiwo), FlowGate Dx (Selina Cervantes and Cindy Carbajal), and FastLRN (Riyan Mohammed and Aidan Hohman). The competition will take place on Tuesday, July 14, 2026, at 3:00 p.m. at the Holtschneider Performance Center. As we celebrate these teams and wish them the best of luck, we also encourage faculty, staff, students, and alumni with innovative ideas to begin preparing for future opportunities.

Every successful venture begins with a single idea, but the best ideas are rarely fully formed from the start. At 71 North, we help innovators refine and validate their ideas, identify market opportunities, strengthen business models, and develop compelling pitches for competitions such as DePaul Pitch Madness, Innovation DuPage's Big Idea Pitch Contest, and NIU College of Business's De La Vega Pitch Competition. If your innovation has commercial potential, the Office of Innovation also provides guidance on intellectual property protection, patenting, licensing, and technology transfer, helping move discoveries from concept to the marketplace.

Whether you have a spark of an idea, preparing for a pitch competition or a fully developed business concept ready for commercialization, 71 North in the Office of Innovation invites you to connect with us to learn how we can support your next steps.