CNBC star Marcus Lemonis judged a startup pitch event at Summerfest -- and gave $10K to second-place winner
OneChart Health, a startup aimed at providing a centralized place for medical documents, won $7,500 in a pitch competition Wednesday at Summerfest Tech.
The second place winner of the competition was Fiveable, a startup streaming company connecting students to lessons outside of the classroom while bringing additional income to teachers.
That team received $5,000 — and was surprised when contest judge Marcus Lemonis gave them $10,000 of his own money.
Lemonis, star of CNBC's "The Profit," critiqued four finalists of the 5 Lakes Pitch competition, held at Discovery World. The other two finalists were BookLive and Otologic Technologies.
Lemonis is also the CEO of many businesses, including Gander Outdoors, which had filed for bankruptcy before he bought it and took over as CEO.
Having Lemonis participate added some celebrity fire-power to the pre-Summerfest event, which is in its second year.
“A critical component of Summerfest Tech is the chance for regional startups to showcase the talent and innovation happening in the Midwest,” said Don Smiley, president and CEO of Milwaukee World Festival Inc.
“Given his expertise and tremendous success in business and entrepreneurship, having Marcus involved only furthers Summerfest’s level of commitment to help give notoriety to this event and our very talented region.”
The first day of the tech event, Tuesday, included a discussion with two-time Grammy-nominated DJ Steve Aoki on how technology intersects with music.
Also appearing was Dennis Hoffman, senior vice president corporate strategy of Dell, who discussed about how businesses can adapt to the tech world.
"The next industrial revolution has started," Hoffman said. "It's impacting every industry on earth."
On Wednesday, keynote speaker Sudhi Sinha, Johnson Controls vice president and general manager of Digital Solutions, spoke about building businesses digitally in the Great Lakes region.
“What is underappreciated locally is how much technology really happens in the regions, really happening here,” he said.
Sinha said businesses must create updates every 18 to 24 months to keep up with new developments in technology.
“(Customers) have increasing expectations from their technology. … They expect more out of it every day,” he said. He added that companies need to invest in the enhancement of their product before the product is even released.
A “Women in Technology” panel discussion explored the importance of having different perspectives in technology companies.
“Innovation happens when you bring people from diverse backgrounds and experiences,” said Kristina Ropella, Opus College of Engineering dean at Marquette University.
Lisa Roy, vice president of commercial operations at Johnson Controls, said most people aren’t aware of the bias against women built into company events that men typically enjoy, such as football games or golf outings.
The panel also discussed how important it is to have leadership that represents the workers.
“Diverse leaders attract diverse workers,” Roy said.