A pair of Cal Poly Mechanical Engineering alums are the winners of this year's Tech Pitch competition held last night at the Alex Madonna Expo Center in San Luis Obispo.
It was 22-year-old Justin Russo who gave the presentation for his company's removable LiftGator device designed for pickup trucks. He runs Superior Solutions Manufacturing with fellow Cal Poly grad Marty Affentranger. Their device is a product out of the HotHouse incubator. The Lift Gator makes it easy to load heavy items into truck beds.
Russo says the $5000 prize will help a lot, but he's more excited about the event's networking component.
"Really what's invaluable here is the the connections we made," said Russo. "Business is all about connections, and that's what we're here for is to meet the people that we need to work with, so we can work together to succeed."
Other competitors included a website for RV rentals, a charging solution for mobile devices, a seafood distribution platform, wall climbing robots, and children's furniture made out of cardboard.