Lynbrook High School’s Virtual Enterprise students recently participated in an elevator pitch competition at the Long Island Virtual Enterprise Business and Entrepreneurship Leadership Conference at LIU Post. More than 2,000 students from across Long Island attended the event which was open to all VE high school students.

Students showcased their companies and participated in breakout sessions that focused on social media marketing and the financing of a successful business. Lynbrook High School senior Ethan Marcus represented Lynbrook High School’s VE company “Checkmate,” a financial help app that will track subscriptions, personal finances and stocks to help manage customer’s savings. Marcus serves as the company’s vice president of communications and pitched “Checkmate” against more than 105 other firms. 

“Marcus did a phenomenal job captivating the crowd and he kept spirits high while managing to steal laughs and applause from the audience,” said Lynbrook High School VE teacher Dr. Benedict Tieniber.

Although “Checkmate” did not progress to the final round of the competition, the day was a valuable experience for the students.

“Aside from the competition, a lot of great things happened that day anyway,” said Lynbrook High School senior and “Checkmate” chief executive officer Jane Hoeflinger. “We made strategic networking moves and have since completed a significant amount of sales from companies we met at that competition. Ethan did an amazing job and we are all so proud of him.”
  
Following the pitch competition, the students were divided into breakout sessions to learn about their corresponding departments.

“The breakout sessions were helpful and talking to professionals who have real world experience in the finance sector will help us when we format our official business plan, due Dec. 13,” said Lynbrook High School senior and co-chief financial officer Jared Moreida.

After the event, the students learned that "Checkmate" ranked in the top 25% nationally in the 2019-2020 National Elevator Pitch Competition. The company will participate in their next competition on Jan. 9. Students will be presenting their business plan and competing against other schools.