First Youngstown entrepreneur pitch event sees promising turnout, enthusiasm
By Bruce Walton
YOUNGSTOWN
Tyler Richter, a junior business college student at Youngstown State University, presented his invention to a room of more than 50 potential investors, entrepreneurs as well as local movers and shakers.
Though he doesn’t have a name for it yet, Richter, 20, presented a design for a surge protector and cord organizer, which is able to keep cords off the ground or from getting tangled.
He passed around a prototype made of polypropylene and told the audience he was looking for someone to invest $10,000 into his product, if possible, and help further develop his idea.
“They way I look at it, even if I didn’t get any investments, it was still the actual opportunity to present,” said Richter, who was born in Baltimore. His parents live in Boardman.
Richter was the youngest presenter Wednesday night for the inaugural SunDown RunDown event for Youngstown at Cassese’s MVR near the YSU campus.
Paul Hugenberg, one of the event’s organizers, said he and other organizers were surprised by the attendance they got at their first event.
“I think that people in Youngstown are eager to hear good news,” he said. “They’re eager to see that things are happening at home that they can get behind.”
Richter’s entrepreneurship professor, Joseph Angelo, asked him to apply for the event to show his invention, hoping to give him a first step to selling his idea.
Richter has had this idea since he was 15, and he received the patent for the design in November.
The SunDown Group helps entrepreneurs make connections with investors, mentors and talent in Northeast Ohio to bring their idea to the next level. The group has chapters in Akron, Canton, New Albany, Columbus and Mansfield, with Youngstown joining as the newest member.
Hugenberg said people who pitch their ideas aren’t only necessarily presenting just to get money from investors but also for opportunities and networking that can prove to be invaluable.
The event does better at making connections than finding investors to provide money for an idea or invention, Hugenberg said, but everything is possible as long as you have important guests at the event.
Adam Wray, who presented his patented drinking arcade game, Tipsy Raccoons, said he came from his hometown of Tallmadge, near Akron, deciding to stay in Ohio for his invention because he wanted to bring success back to this part of the Rust Belt.
To find information on the group, visit sundownrundown.org.