Rigby’s ‘Shark Tank:’ Student entrepreneurs take home $10K at Invest Nest competition 

RIGBY, Idaho (KIFI)  – Ten student entrepreneurs hit the stage for a “Shark Tank”-style competition Monday at Rigby High School.

The “Invest Nest” finalists competed for $10,000 in prize money, split among the top three business pitches.

“A bunch of students are competing for a pretty big sum of money – bringing their business ideas in front of a panel of judges,” said Bailey Davis, a contestant and senior at Rigby High School.

First place and a $7,000 check was earned by Brayden Hammer, who pitched HSR Adapters, “a custom-made phone scope adapter for your cell phone to adapt to spotting scopes and binoculars at an affordable price.”

Davis took second place and a $2,000 prize for her photography business, “Photos by Bay.”

“I've been in business for about three years now,” she said. “I've been taking clients, and I take pictures of couples, families, seniors, individuals, weddings and small businesses,” she said.

Third prize and $1,000 was awarded to Ridge Turner for his Multifab Studio.

His goal is to custom manufacture and create products using a “3D printer, laser cutter, pen plotting and sticker cutting.”

Students developed their pitches after school for over four months. To participate in Monday’s main competition, they advanced through two earlier rounds – a 30-second elevator pitch and a 2-3 minute polished pitch.

One took a non-profit twist.

“My business is called Local Life,” said Rigby High School junior Hannah Denning.  “It's basically a nonprofit that would take people on a humanitarian trip in East Idaho instead of in Mexico or somewhere foreign like that.  I think it would be super awesome because I can give a lot more people a chance to go on a humanitarian trip and get that experience, because it's more affordable, it's less time-consuming, and it's so much fun.”

The ten finalists were selected from a pool of more than 30 competitors.

Multiple competitors expressed a desire to launch their businesses – even if they didn’t win seed funding this round.

“My business pitch is a business called ‘Stink Be Gone.’ It's a trash can cleaning business,” said entrepreneur Kade Scott, a junior at Rigby High School. “My goal with the business is just to clean out a bunch of trash cans and make a lot of money.”

The judges were Garrett Foster, a strategist for HK Contractors and Prevail Legacy Builders; Jace Poston, a partner with Poston, Denney Killpack accounting firm; writer and journalist  Brenda Stanley; and Kyle Jensen, a small business lender with Zions Bank. 

The winner will advance to regionals and a chance to compete for $20,000 in Utah later this spring.