The DALI+DEN Pitch for Winter 2016 was held at Loew Auditorium on the evening of Wednesday, 24th February. "The Pitch" is a Shark Tank-like competition where 20 teams have two minutes to pitch their big ideas in front of a packed audience and panel of judges. The event saw excellent audience turnout with hundreds of people showing up to offer their support and to vote for their favorites among the pitches.

First Place: FoodShare
Team Representative: Aidan Folbe (D'19)
An app that combines a marketing opportunity for restaurants with food donations to families in need.
Second Place: Lodestone Biomedical, Project Iron Wand
Team Representative: Lidia Valdés (D’14, Th’15), CEO, Lodestone Biomedical
A smart wand that detects iron deficiencies in a non-invasive way.
Third Place: Heartstring
Team Representatives: Pete Mathias (T’16, D’09), Johnny Mathias (T ’16, D’11)
An easy way to add an original music score to social media posts.
Audience Choice: Puke Pocket
Team Representative: Emmanuel A. Hui (D’17)
A better way for EMT personnel to deal with vomit.

Aidan Folbe, whose project placed first said,

"The Pitch is a great way to expose Dartmouth College and the world to the amazing startups being created by Dartmouth entrepreneurs. Students, faculty and alumni get the opportunity to strengthen their pitch skills as well as receive money and resources to get their ideas off the ground."

Patrick Xu, Lead Developer Mentor at the DALI Lab and one of the judges on the panel, said,

"The presenters were so passionate during their two minutes and their ideas reflected creativity and originality. What I found most inspiring was the success already achieved by many of the ideas, from having hundreds of active users to a working prototype."