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The Pitch

This year’s Pitch winner Connor Quinn ’23 (left) is joined by finalists Hagen Morris ’23, Zaheer Bowen ’23 and Christopher Bass ’23, each of whom connected with a mentor from the HWS community who helped them prepare for the competition.

Big Ideas

Innovation was on full display at the 12th annual Todd Feldman ’89 and Family Pitch Contest.

BY NATALIA ST. LAWRENCE ’16

The winner of this year’s entrepreneurial leadership competition — and a $10,000 grant to make his idea a reality — is Connor Quinn ’23, the creator of Water Watts. Water Watts uses a series of turbines placed inside water pipes in buildings to deliver renewable energy.

“This solution to our energy crisis is hiding right beneath our feet,” Quinn said during his pitch. “Currently, each American citizen uses an average of 82 gallons of water per day. And this flow of water provides an untapped source of energy.”

The Pitch included a special holographic experience, made possible by Todd Feldman ’89 and Proto, the original, patented, selfcontained interactive hologram device. The technology allows viewers to see, hear and interact with one another from anywhere in the world. While in Los Angeles physically, Feldman and the Inventor and CEO of Proto David Nussbaum were beamed onto the HWS Pitch stage for a Q&A about entrepreneurship. Howie Mandel, the host of America’s Got Talent, also made a special appearance.

This year’s judges included: Charlie Brind ’84, P’22, president of Westwood Benefits, Inc.; Deb Hauser ’83, P’22, P’24, residential real estate executive; Jason Magna ’95, P’27, founder and president of Riverside Partners; and Rafe Mattingly ’08, senior solutions consultant at TiER1 Performance and founder of Class IV Coffee Company. After every pitch presentation, the judges had the opportunity to vet the business plans. Hauser, during her questioning, said to Quinn, “This is a big idea, Connor. And we like big ideas.”