StartUp Showcase, the annual entrepreneurship competition, will see four teams compete for seed money in front of a panel of investors. Teams include an inspirational clothing line, an electric motorbike, a networking tool, and a soil sampling robotic rover.
[The StartUp Showcase] truly exhibits the caliber and dedication of our students and faculty as they work together to bring innovative ideas to fruition.
— — Mark Ligas, PhD, interim dean of the Dolan School
Each fall, students who make the cut to participate in Ƭapp’s StartUp Showcase , the annual “Shark Tank”-style entrepreneurship competition, pitch their ideas in front of a panel of investors and a live audience, for real money to get their business off the ground. This year, on Thursday, April 26, the student teams will include a clothing line, an electric motorbike, a networking tool, and a soil sampling robotic rover. This event is free and open to the public.
“The StartUp Showcase has become a for the Dolan School of Business,” said Mark Ligas, PhD, interim dean of the Dolan School. “It truly exhibits the caliber and dedication of our students and faculty as they work together to bring innovative ideas to fruition.”
In order to qualify for a spot in the StartUp Showcase, students take part in several workshops and events designed to help them develop their business ideas. Events include the Elevator Pitch Contest and the Business Model Workshop where students form teams, recruit mentors, and further develop their business plans. In the workshops, students learn all aspects of further refining their business plans and hear from relevant guest speakers. New this year, Brian Harniman ’94, co-founder and managing director of Brand New Matter, who has over 18 years of online commerce experience driving traffic and transactions to websites, served as a StartUp coach for the teams through weekly one-on-one meetings via Skype.
Don’t miss the chance to see these startup teams in action:
Belle is a B Corporation, a for-profit business dedicated to social issues. It serves its mission through workshops centered on timely social issues and Simply Belle, an inspirational clothing line that aims to build a community to empower female adolescents.
EZ Bikes is a company that aims to alleviate the stress of finding and maintaining reliable transportation for college students through the use of an electric bicycle sharing platform, which features dockless ride-sharing and a host of consumer conveniences.
Land Maverick is a robotic rover designed to automate the process of soil sampling for faster and more accurate results. As a B2B company, Land Maverick's goal is to provide the data to take the "trial and error" out of soil management on golf courses, corporate campuses, vineyards, and farms.
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