{"id":305538,"date":"2026-10-13T05:36:07","date_gmt":"2026-10-13T05:36:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/305538\/"},"modified":"2026-10-13T05:36:07","modified_gmt":"2026-10-13T05:36:07","slug":"canadian-entrepreneur-leads-pitch-competition-funds-student-startup-ideas-at-wharton-club-event","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/305538\/","title":{"rendered":"Canadian entrepreneur leads pitch competition, funds student startup ideas at Wharton club event"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ronnen Harary, the co-founder of the Canadian toy company Spin Master, led a pitch competition and discussion at Penn last week.\u00a0<\/p>\n

During an Oct. 8 fireside chat hosted by the Wharton Undergraduate Entrepreneurship Club, Harary discussed his experience growing a global business and encouraged students to pursue their own startups. Prior to the event, 15 students were each awarded $500 to kickstart a startup within one week after presenting a one-minute pitch.<\/p>\n

The discussion is part of Harary\u2019s campus tour following his first book\u2019s July publication. Penn was his first stop, and students were able to join his larger \u201cNo Experience Necessary\u201d campus challenge.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The challenge<\/a> allows students at 22 different campus stops on the tour to participate in a small competition among peers at their schools to win a $500 grant. Using that money, they have one week to build a startup and submit their fully fledged pitch. Finally, 30 of those students will be chosen to participate in the larger competition for a change to access a $25,000 grant.<\/p>\n

In an interview, Harary expressed belief that with the right momentum on a project, \u201cmagical things happen.\u201d He added that people in their 20s can harness an \u201cincredible energy\u201d from being \u201cso close to the zeitgeist.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Harary began Spin Master, an entertainment company, at 23 years old. He later co-created PAW Patrol and Bakugan.<\/p>\n

He said that he was amazed by the \u201chigh amount of passion\u201d at Penn, where he listened to 32 student pitches.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYou hear that people are very despondent about their futures, but not here on this campus,\u201d Harary said. \u201cWhat surprised me was the consistency of the message of people wanting to do something for themselves in the future, and had a lot of vigor and passion to make it happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

College junior Meilun Yu, co-president of WUEC, was in charge of organizing the event.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In an interview, she expressed hope that Harary\u2019s competition and speech \u201cencourage students to be able to start their business right now, even before they finish their degree.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added that although there are many resources for entrepreneurs on Penn\u2019s campus, she doesn\u2019t \u201cthink the culture on campus promotes entrepreneurship as much as it promotes other industries.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wharton and Engineering sophomore Alice Jiang, co-president of WUEC, was the event moderator.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She expressed a similar sentiment \u2014\u00a0explaining that although some students can \u201chit the ground running,\u201d others are much more \u201crisk averse\u201d and plan to seek \u201cexperience and exposure\u201d in the business world before designing their own startup.<\/p>\n

The fireside chat attracted many students from Penn, along with several undergraduates from Temple and Villanova University.\u00a0<\/p>\n

During the event, Harary began by discussing his new book \u2014\u00a0which was freely distributed to all students in attendance. He expressed hope that his book will act \u201clike a supportive parent,\u201d because \u201csomeone rooting for you is the most important thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harary then provided insights into his journey growing Spin Master alongside business partners Anton Rabie and Ben Varadi.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can all play out the downside risk, but the upside is beyond all our imaginations,\u201d he emphasized. \u201cMaking the decision to go into business for yourself is the number one decision you need to make.\u201d<\/p>\n

The event concluded with a question and answer session and book signing, during which students shared their own startup ideas and asked Harary for advice on numerous topics including creativity, marketing, and investors.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jiang said that she was happy to help Harary\u2019s team \u201cencourage the younger generation\u201d to pursue their passions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey really want to help encourage the younger generation to explore their passions,\u201d she added, when reflecting on the event. \u201cWe\u2019re really excited to be able to help them do this through Penn.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ronnen Harary, the co-founder of the Canadian toy company Spin Master, led a pitch competition and discussion at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":305539,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[69,71,70],"class_list":["post-305538","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305538","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=305538"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305538\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/305539"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=305538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=305538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=305538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}