Peanut butter pitch winners

Creators hoping to launch with Kickstarter

Peanut butter pitch winners

Dana Hockbein, Staff Reporter

Senior Sam Lepak and University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee student Evan Laird took home first place and a $1,000 bonus on April 4 after winning the Warhawk Business Plan Competition with their organic peanut butter called Pintful.

The UW-Whitewater CEO Chapter said this competition pushes “student entrepreneurs forward by providing them with a means to realize their ideas and goals.”

Lepak and Laird each explained they have prior experience pitching business ideas at more than 15 competitions, both as a team and individually.

“We didn’t have any nerves going into the pitch competition,” Lepak said. “We knew what we needed to do, and it came down to execution.”

Their startup, Pintful, is an all-natural peanut butter that is non-GMO, gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free and contains no oils, preservatives or added sugars.

“Our plan is to bring our healthy and delicious peanut butter to high-endurance athletes, vegans, and farmer markets,” Lepak said.

The Kickstarter campaign has raised more than $9,000. Lepak and Laird said they both plan to use the funds to cover startup costs from equipment, product design and automation software.

In the future, if the kickstarter is successful, they plan to bring on different flavors like chocolate or cookie dough. In addition to new flavors, Pintful intends to create power-packs for on-the-go consumption.