Auburn baseball left-handed pitcher Brooks Fuller recently made a winning pitch of another kind – for the Harbert College of Business’ third annual Halloween Pitch Competition.

The senior majoring in finance won first place in the competition, which was sponsored by the Harbert College of Business and Auburn University Thomas Walter Center. Twenty finalists pitched business ideas before a panel of judges and competed for a share of $4,000 inside the Broadway Event Space and Theater at Horton-Hardgrave Hall.

Fuller collected $2,000 of the prize money, but perhaps more importantly, his business idea gained important recognition and a stronger foothold in the local business community, giving the young entrepreneur from hometown Auburn encouragement to think bigger with his ideas.

“My experience with moving college students began this summer when I opened my local moving company, Room2Room Movers,” Fuller said. “We hire college students and train them to specialize in safe and efficient moves within the college community.

“After a very successful summer at Room2Room Movers, our team has continued the development of an on-demand moving app. Our app eases the stress of moving season by instantly connecting college students with the best on-demand movers in their area.”

He explained his pitch for why such an idea is needed, especially in a collegiate setting like Auburn.

“Our user will simply swipe through a list of on-demand movers before selecting their mover of choice,” he said. “Their mover of choice could be a fraternity brother, athlete, fireman or anyone else who is fit for moving services and willing to be their own boss!

“Each mover will also be vetted through a number of background and criminal checks to ensure safety on the job-site.

“This app brings instant access to moving assistance while providing our user with the ability to personalize who moves their belongings,” Fuller said, adding, “I grew up in Auburn so I'm looking forward to offering this application to my own community and eventually expanding to similar markets.

“Our team is excited to continue the development of the app and Room2Room Movers. The Halloween Pitch was a great step forward in our journey.”

Play those ‘crazy ideas’

Fuller also credited the New Venture Accelerator program jointly managed by the Harbert College of Business and Auburn Research and Technology Foundation and led by  Lou Bifano, director of Entrepreneurship Strategy at the Harbert.

“The new venture accelerator has been a huge asset to our development team. I encourage students who have that ‘crazy idea’ for a business model to contact Professor Bifano and his team of entrepreneurs,” Fuller said. “Having access to professionals within the entrepreneurship department has allowed our business to grow in various ways.

“It has encouraged me to develop my ‘crazy idea’ of an on-demand moving service into an application with loads of potential.”

He also has seen the benefit of applying lessons learned playing sports in a major collegiate program to needs he might face in the business world.

“I am in my fourth year as a pitcher for the Auburn baseball team. The schedule for Division I student-athletes is very demanding and time consuming,” Fuller said, looking ahead to the team’s 2022 season. “I've learned valuable skills which translate into the business world like time management, hard work, leadership and dedication.

“All of these skills are vital to being successful in the business world and in life.”

One of his biggest fans is Bifano, with the New Venture Accelerator program.

“Brooks is an amazing young man. In addition to pursuing an academic degree and being a student-entrepreneur, he finds the time to also be a student-athlete,” Bifano said. “Brooks’ ability to successfully manage his time across all three activities is most impressive. We look forward to helping him make his startup a success.”

One more pitch…

Looking ahead, Fuller said he expects to graduate from Harbert with his finance degree in May 2022.

“I chose to study finance because I enjoy analyzing companies to understand what makes their operations either successful or unsuccessful,” he said. “My knowledge for finance paired with a brain for entrepreneurship has already shown instances of success in the real world.

“This degree from Auburn will forever give me an advantage over my competition. I look forward to finishing up one last semester this coming spring.”

Oh, and regarding his new company, he offered another quick sales pitch:

“If anyone is interested in discussing Room2Room Movers or the development of our app, email me at moves@r2rmovers.com or visit our website: www.r2rmovers.com.

“We appreciate the Harbert College of Business for hosting the Halloween Pitch Competition and look forward to competing in the next Tiger Cage Pitch Competition as well.

“War Eagle!”