Newport High School junior Billy Wu had no experience in creating apps — or making pitches — before building and taking his app, ClubWhat, to competitions around the state. In the last year, he says, he has experienced the stress, nerves and frustration of working in the competitive startup industry.

Wu, 17, took home second place and a $500 prize in the high school venture category at Seattle’s SVP Fast Pitch, and won the 2015 Youth Apps Challenge in May.

“Fast Pitch was one of the scariest experiences of my life,” said Wu of the event, which was held in front of more than 800 people at McCaw Hall last fall. “I’m more soft-spoken, so when I stepped up on stage I got really nervous and forgot some of my lines.”

Seattle Fast Pitch started five years ago as an event for entrepreneurs to network, pitch and receive coaching from peers and investors. Participants must create a five-minute video pitch to make it to the semi-final round, where they presented their endeavors at a 2-hour networking event before pitching them on stage.

The Seattle event is the only one across the country that includes a high school and college level. Student innovators are judged on the same rubric as the non-profit and for-profit tracks.

“I remember thinking, ‘holy smokes, a high school kid is presenting at this event?’ ” said Matt Johnston, Wu’s teacher and advisor for the Youth Apps Challenge.

Last year’s winner at the high school level, Eli Weed, walked away with $14,500 in prize money and angel grants. His program, Dyslexi-Type, is now in beta-testing and will be released by the National Dyslexia Foundation.

“This event takes young men and young women and gives them the opportunity to put together a business plan and turn their ideas into a real endeavor,” said SVP Fast Pitch Seattle spokesperson Maureen O’Hara.

Wu, a junior, developed ClubWhat after taking an AP Computer Science course. As an underclassman, Wu said he found it hard to find organized information about school clubs that was up-to-date.

After months of watching and reading videos and webpages about app design, ClubWhat was born.

The app pulls information from each club’s Facebook, and is organized by school and club category. Users can personalize a ‘favorite clubs’ list, as well as discover new organizations through a rotating list of featured clubs.

Wu made several changes to the app based on user reviews and feedback from the various contests he participated in before taking the app to the Youth Apps Challenge, a statewide contest developed by the Tech Alliance to encourage more students to pursue STEM careers. Students work in teams to solve a community problem before pitching it in a one-minute video.

Wu was the first student from the Bellevue School District to compete and win.

“I think the program itself is very worthwhile,” said Johnston. “I’d love to see the school encourage more students to participate.”

Even though pitching in front of an audience of over 800 people didn’t initially go smoothly, Wu says he feels more confident, and has not ruled out taking a marketing course or two in the future.

For now, the Newport student says he is hoping to get the district administration to officially implement ClubWhat in the high schools before he heads off to college in a year.