Springfield, IL  (CAPITOL CITY NOW) – Innovate Springfield, the University of Illinois Springfield’s business incubator, hosted a pitch competition Monday evening at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. The location was chosen because Abraham Lincoln is the only president to hold a patent. 

3 teams pitched their businesses for a chance to win $10,000 and the winner was TredBase, a company that seeks to make payment processing for schools more efficient.

When asked about the win, CEO and Co-Founder Kayode Ojedele said it was very encouraging for the business and that the next step was to continue to grow and acquire more customers.

The second part of the event featured a keynote address by Mark Achler, a venture capitalist and former senior vice president at Redbox. He spoke about his successes and his failures, that were all learning experiences. He also stated that having a vision was important, but having a vision with urgency, or nothing would ever get done. His advice is to know your why and be committed to working on your business for the long term.