2nd Annual "Gryphon's Den"

On November 26, fourth year Guelph students from the Marketing and Consumer Studies’ Entrepreneurship class will be pitching their ideas to a panel of judges for Guelph’s second annual Gryphon’s Den event. The Entrepreneurship course encourages students to think and act like an entrepreneur. Starting with the creation of a business model, these groups will create a new product or service idea that will be pitched at the Gryphon’s Den event.

Course instructor M.J. D’Elia believes Gryphon’s Den is the ultimate test of the students’ business savvy and public speaking skills. “In order to be a successful entrepreneur you have to have the mindset of one. This course teaches students how to channel that way of thinking” said D’Elia. To stimulate the stress and pressure of pitching to investors, Gryphon’s Den partnered with Co-operative Education and Career Services who have recruited representatives from the top-tier organizations to act as judges.

Unlike the TV show, students will not be making an offer to the “Gryphons” or negotiating with them; instead, the judges will be asked to score each pitch according to five criteria: desirability of the idea; feasibility of the idea; viability of the idea; clarity of presentation; and overall professionalism.
When all the teams have pitched their ideas, the judges will deliberate and reward the top three teams with prizes. The judges’ scores will reflect a large part of the students’ grade on their assignment and the top team will be rewarded with $500 from the Co-operators Centre for Business and Social Entrepreneurship.

The “Gryphon’s” judging the students’ pitches will be:

•    Michael Ruff, Vice President & General Manager, PepsiCo
•    Josh Richardson, North American Brand Manager, Boulangerie Grissol
•    Arun Chettiar, Brand Manager at Energizer
•    Kate Galbraith, Senior Marketing Director, Maple Leaf Foods, U of G Marketing Alumni
•    Ian McQueen, Director of Marketing, Vaccines, GlaxoSmithKline, U of G Marketing Alumni

“Gryphon’s Den provides students with an incredible opportunity to shine in front of potential employers” said M.J. D’Elia, course instructor and McLaughlin Library’s Acting Head of Learning & Curriculum Support. “Students in last year’s course commented that this event provided the best real world experience during their undergraduate experience here at U of G.  This is the type of experiential learning future entrepreneurs can really benefit from.”

The event will take place Tuesday, November 26 from 3 p.m. – 5 p.m. on the first floor of the Library in the Academic Town Square. The event is free and open to the public.  For more information, please contact M.J. D’Elia at mdelia@uoguelph.ca.  Click here to learn more about the MCS*4100 course.