Finance students in the past have participated in national student competitions. They are a great opportunity to practice and further your knowledge and skills you learned in the finance program at PSU. Because not all of you are finance major, grading will be generous as long as you follow the instructions (e.g., number counts for answers). In addition, it’s not a technical assignment. It’s an opportunity to look back and evaluate what you have learned, how they can be useful, and what else you should learn. Remember you chose finance as your major because you like something about finance. Follow your passion and keep learning what excites you, and you will have a bright future ahead of you. This is the last assignment of this course. Thank you for working hard in this course for the past 7 weeks.
Q1 What is the title of the finance student competition you may consider competing? Hint: You may Google search something like “student competitions in finance”.
Future Founders - U.Pitch
Q2 Describe the eligibility requirements, if any (e.g., undergraduate college student).
Undergraduate college students, Grad Students, and recent graduates.
Q3 What are the competition criteria?
Must have an idea for a company, or have an already created company to pitch to a board of judges. The business can not have already raised over 1 million dollars in funding.
Q4 What is the deadline for the submission?
Applications open in Fall 2021, there is no deadline at the moment.
Q5 Why are you interested in this competition?
I am someone who always has many different business ideas. It would be really cool to pitch one of them and receive support on a project.
Q6 What would be a possible project you may turn in for the competition? Describe it in at least 100 words.
A possible project that I might submit for this competition would be my idea to help people “cut the cord” on cable. I created a small business to help people get away from cable and switch to more affordable streaming services. The business would consult with clients to find the best solution for them. Then we would go in and set up all of the necessary equipment for them to be able to stream live tv. This would include a new router, modem, and a streaming device such as a roku. This business would make money by charging the clients a small fee for our services, but in the long run the client would save lots of money.
Q7 List things that you learned in financial modeling course that could be helpful for your project in Q6. Describe it in at least 100 words.
The best way that I think the financial modeling course would help me and my business would be using it to analyze different numbers. I could import different data on potential clients and then organize them into certain groups. I could also analyze the stocks of different companies in streaming markets in order to find out the demand for a company such as mine. Using a program such as RStudio would allow me to run through all of the different data and quickly determine the best options for my company. I could let the software solve issues for me so that I can put all of my energy into making the company the company as great as it can be.
Q8 List things that you learned in other finance courses at PSU that could be helpful for your project in Q6. Describe it in at least 100 words.
Another finance course that I have taken was financial accounting. I have also taken a similar class which was managerial accounting. With the knowledge from both of these classes I will be able to make the right financial decisions for my business. Knowing how to manage different expenses and forecast profits is essential to someone who is looking to start a business or is currently running one. In my case I would need to keep track of my expenses in labor, equipment and marketing costs. If I can manage the funds correctly it will allow my business to make a profit and allow me to expand it further.
Q9 Check the finance blog below and see if you see any post that may be helpful for your project in Q6. Discuss how it can be helpful in at least 100 words. Hint: The author of the blog writes articles on financial analysis using R. https://rviews.rstudio.com/categories/reproducible-finance-with-r/
I looked at the blog post regarding state unemployment claims and found a way that it could help my business. Since my business is founded on saving people money, by examining unemployment rates I can see where people would need my help the most. Someone who is unemployed may be looking for ways to save them money and my service could be exactly what they need in order to do so. Most homes in the country have cable within them, so by looking at the unemployment rates I can help to narrow down which people in the country I might want to speak with first about how my services can save them money.
Q10 List things that you think could be helpful but not taught/offered at PSU finance courses. Discuss how it can be helpful in at least 100 words.
At the moment I am only a sophomore so there may be a class that already offers this. If not though, I would love a class that teaches students about trading platforms. Bloomberg is a platform that is used around the financial world and I would love to use and learn it before I graduate from college. Learning about trading platforms before graduating can give students a great advantage when they are going for their first job out in the financial sector. It is something that can help them in the near and distant future in their careers as well.