Big Reveal: $50K winner announced in 2018 MYPN Start-Up Challenge

MANCHESTER, NH — Four New Hampshire entrepreneurs competed for a $50,000 prize on May 16 at FIRST in the Millyard. “The Big Reveal” drew an overflow crowd to hear the finalists give their pitches.

Emily Bolton, committee chair of the Manchester Young Professionals Network (MYPN) and Mayor Joyce Craig presented the award to Rita Toth of Laconia.

The four finalists of the months’ long competition included:

• Tim Near of Cyborg, Inc. (Newfields) claims to “reimagine” fitness with a “gamified,” activity-tracking app and wearables that aid movement.
• Rita Toth of SkinGreat, LLC. (Laconia) created the “Stretch Patch,” a large, lotion-infused dermal delivery system for the treatment of scars.
• Haris Kudrolli of QuadraSquare, Inc. (Derry)  is developing a device to increase cancer breast detection rates and lower false positives from mammography and ultrasound.
• Mitch Marchand of Vybe Software, LLC (Nashua) designed a web development product that turns users’ voice commands into custom websites.

Jay Jacobs, former CEO and founder of RAPID, a sheet metal prototype business in Nashua, gave the keynote speech. He was awarded Entrepreneur of the Year in 2017 by the NH High Tech Council.

David Lemaire, Director of Technical Operations for Oracle Dyn, shares his thoughts about messaging for Manchester.

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Tony Matos, Owner of Altos, and Anthony Poole, Director of Sales for Trivantus, Inc. share their thoughts about attracting talent to Manchester and retaining local talent.

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The MYPN Start-Up Challenge is a statewide business plan competition designed to encourage entrepreneurship and social innovation. The competition was created in 2008 by MYPN, New Hampshire’s first and largest young professional networking organization with over 4,000 members. Over the past 11 years, MYPN has awarded over $550,000 in cash and in-kind services to New Hampshire startups.

The Start-Up Challenge judges were: Court Klein of Howe, Riley & Howe; Matt Benson of Cook, Little, Rosenblatt & Manson, PLLC; Nathan Saller of Bellwether Community Credit Union; and Greg Bryant of Bedford Cost Segregation.

The May 16 event was co-hosted by MYPN and the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce.