Windsor Central High School senior Ryan Kristof’s finance career is off to a great start after taking 2nd place in the New Visions Start Up Summit Entrepreneurship Competition at SUNY Broome on Wednesday.
Kristof and his partner pitched their product, a battery-powered, heated ice scraper made from a plastic that wouldn’t damage the windshield.
“The point is to speed up the process of getting ice off your car. A lot of people will forget to turn on their car beforehand. And, for older people, the manual labor of getting the ice off your windshield is tough,” said Kristof. “Even if it saves five minutes, it’s more efficient.”
The contest didn’t include actually building the product, but everything else was a realistic simulation. Competitors needed to research the types of licenses and permits they needed for their products. They also had to create a breakdown of finances, from materials to advertising to projected sales. They also created a commercial to market their product.
“I was very pleased with how it went. A lot of it was presentation. We had a solid one. No bumps or anything. We presented it very well. We spent a lot of time on our commercial, too. I was proud of how we worked.”
Kristof split a $1,000 second-place prize with his partner. He will attend Niagara University in the fall and major in finance.
“(The competition) gave me a deeper understanding of the ins and outs of a company, especially the financial aspect, how every penny needs to be tracked, from the cost of goods to startup capital. It gave me more experience in overseeing the financials of a business. Also, it’s always good to present and work on your public speaking skills. In the business world, you’re always going to need that,” said Kristof.