Panther Cage Match Draws Community Entrepreneurs

For the first time, Chapman University’s annual Panther Cage Match was opened to the community this year.

More than 40 teams and individuals applied to enter Cage Match, a “Shark Tank”-style business pitching competition held April 12 at Chapman’s Leatherby Center for Entrepreneurship and Business Ethics. Five teams were chosen as finalists for the student and non-student categories. Eight judges evaluated each pitch, and the winner in each category received $1,500 and judges’ feedback.

The winners in the student category were Beckman High School seniors Mandy Shi and Lauren Cho, who designed a travel app called SimplyFly. The non-student pitch winner was Cornelius Hojatkashani, who designed a bandanna that keeps a dog leash from tangling. 

Although they didn’t win, Chapman student finalists Isaac Persky and Ben Shafter learned from the experience. The two, who expect to graduate in 2026, pitched DormPour, a boxy water filter that fits in a dorm-sized fridge.

“It was a great experience getting up, being able to pitch, hearing feedback and being forced to put together a pitch,” said Persky, an economics and public relations major. 

The students came up with DormPour after bad experiences with Brita pitchers. They had to remove shelves to fit the pitcher in the fridge and constant refilling was time consuming. They began working on their idea for the water filter, which they said holds more than a pitcher, at the beginning of the school year. They describe the product as “reimagining hydration one college student at a time.” 

Persky said he was drawn to the possibility of being an entrepreneur after an internship at venture capital firm Gaingels in New York. Shafter, an undeclared major, used computer design skills he learned in an engineering class. By participating in Cage Match, the students learned how to hone a pitch through channeling their passion for their idea and work ethic.

“We’re going to keep working on it and keep going forward — if there’s an opportunity to pitch more, we’re definitely doing it,” Persky said.

Cage Match was the culmination of a series of pitching events at the Leatherby Center. In November, Tech Coast Angels chair David Friedman spoke about the “perfect pitch.” In December, students gave three-minute pitches to a professional panel.

This year, some Cage Match competitors were also participants in the Leatherby Center’s incubator program. The center has been expanding its community reach through a $1 million state grant designating it Orange County’s Inclusive Innovation Hub.