entrepreneurship

Four Startup Lab Students Selected for 2025 Immersive Cohort at SXSW

dgivens8 — Fri, 04 Apr 2025 14:10:41 +0000

Four Startup Lab Students Selected for 2025 Immersive Cohort at SXSW dgivens8 Fri, 04/04/2025 - 10:10

Four students from Startup Lab have been selected to join the 2025 immersive cohort at South by Southwest (SXSW) in Austin, Texas. Alex Aridgides (mechanical engineering and economics), Shinhai Chen (industrial engineering), Varuni Chopra (industrial engineering), and Christie Peng (computer science) are the first Georgia Tech students to be invited to the program.

The weeklong, all-expenses-paid program offers university-affiliated innovators the chance to refine their innovations, engage in customer discovery, and network with industry leaders and peers at SXSW. The annual festival celebrates technology, film, music, education, and culture. Students participated in a competitive application process, which involved submitting applications, meeting specific evaluation criteria, and being selected by a panel of industry experts, mentors, and SXSW organizers.

Yolanda Payne, the students’ Startup Lab instructor, presented the SXSW opportunity in class.

"My goal is to be their biggest cheerleader,” she explained. “I had great teachers who helped me get to where I am today, and I strive to emulate their support. I’m always willing to guide students toward new opportunities."

She learned about the SXSW immersive cohort from Nakia Melecio, director of the National Science Foundation I-Corps Southeast Hub. The $15 million initiative crosses nine major research universities in the southern U.S. and accelerates the translation of deep tech research into commercial ventures. The hub works closely with entrepreneurial faculty, students, and researchers to equip them with the tools, networks, and support to bring their innovations to market.

Melecio plays a central role in identifying and advancing strategic opportunities for university partners and their entrepreneurial teams. “When the opportunity to participate in SXSW arose, I recognized it as an ideal platform to showcase the talent and innovation coming out of our region.”

Melecio added that Startup Lab is ideal for amplifying NSF I-Corps’ goals because of the course’s proven track record of fostering hands-on learning and commercialization readiness. “Startup Lab helps prepare students not just to think entrepreneurially, but to act on their ideas with confidence and a structured path forward. It was a natural fit for this opportunity.”

Payne says the experience students gained in Startup Lab helped prepare them for the immersive cohort. “The knowledge is being solidified by an experience you’re having in my class and the real world.”

Chopra agrees that Startup Lab teaches essential business development fundamentals and customer discovery principles, skills that are relevant to the SXSW program. She recommends the course to other students and emphasizes the value of combining engineering or technical backgrounds with entrepreneurship skills.

“We take a lot of classes that are directly related to our major, and they're very technical. But when it comes to wanting to start something of your own or even understanding how startups work, it's completely different than the rest of our coursework.”

Startup Lab is a three-credit course that focuses on evidence-based entrepreneurship. This hands-on class covers ideation, teamwork, customer discovery, minimum viable products, the business model canvas, and other topics. Students learn how to launch a startup by integrating in-class lectures with practical, out-of-class activities, including interviewing potential customers and refining their startup ideas based on real-world feedback.

The program provides access to valuable resources, mentorship from seasoned entrepreneurs, and a supportive community to help students develop their startups. Startup Lab and NSF I-Corps are also exploring other industry showcases for student entrepreneurs like SXSW.

Chen chose Startup Lab to pursue his entrepreneurial interests. “I knew that Georgia Tech had a really good startup culture, so I researched what they had to offer, and Startup Lab was the first step." He also noted Payne's impact as an instructor. "The best part is how much she cares about the topic. She has a lot of background knowledge and is passionate.”

Startup Lab is unique because it "de-risks the business model,” Payne says. Many entrepreneurs first build their products and then talk to potential customers. However, Startup Lab students perform customer discovery, sharing their ideas with potential end users, listening to their needs and feedback, and then building the product.

Peng recalls a powerful moment of pitching an idea for an app to streamline MARTA operations. “I had a fun time coming up with this idea. We learned a lot about interviewing, coming up with possible solutions, and refining our idea,” she says. "Being surrounded by so many brilliant individuals at Georgia Tech makes it easy to get idea formation or networking connections you need for your idea to succeed."

Aridgides has ambitious post-program goals, envisioning creating change through entrepreneurship. "I want to start a company to change the world for the better and make a big impact. That's my life goal. I think through a company, I can achieve that."

Payne reminds students that they possess something many adults lack: time to explore different ideas. She also says Startup Lab can help students value and see their ideas in new ways.

“They don't recognize that the product they're working on could be pursued through entrepreneurship or think of themselves as entrepreneurs. And even if they don't pursue it, it helps them in all aspects of life because business and capitalism are part of what we do every day.”

If you’re a student interested in adding entrepreneurship to your course schedule, registration for the summer and fall semesters opens on April 15. In addition to Startup Lab, students also have the opportunity to build a prototype with support through Idea to Prototype and CREATE-X Capstone Design.

Summary sentence

Four Georgia Tech students—Alex Aridgides, Shinhai Chen, Varuni Chopra, and Christie Peng—have been selected for the 2025 immersive cohort at South by Southwest (SXSW) in Austin, Texas, where they will refine their innovations and network with industry le

Summary

Four Georgia Tech students from Startup Lab—Alex Aridgides, Shinhai Chen, Varuni Chopra, and Christie Peng—have been selected for the 2025 immersive cohort at South by Southwest (SXSW) in Austin, Texas. This weeklong, all-expenses-paid program allows university-affiliated innovators to refine their innovations, engage in customer discovery, and network with industry leaders. The students were chosen through a competitive application process and are the first from Georgia Tech to be invited. Their instructor, Yolanda Payne, emphasizes the importance of hands-on learning and entrepreneurial skills gained through Startup Lab.

Dateline

Fri, 04/04/2025 - 12:00

breanna.durham@gatech.edu

Contact

Contact

Article by Alyson Key

CREATE-X Contact:

Breanna Durham

Marketing Strategist

Keywords

go-commercializationnews

startup lab

SXSW

innovators

customer discovery

networking

entrepreneurship

hands-on learning

application

NSF I-Corps

Research

commercialization

entrepreneurial skills

business development

startups

gt-commercialization

Categories

Business

Education

Student and Faculty

Student Competition WInners (academic, innovation, and research)

Mercury ID

681600

Source updated

Fri, 04/04/2025 - 10:10

Finding Niche Problems to Solve with SuperStream

dgivens8 — Fri, 28 Mar 2025 15:25:41 +0000

Finding Niche Problems to Solve with SuperStream dgivens8 Fri, 03/28/2025 - 11:25

While Idea to Prototype (I2P) students gear up to demonstrate their innovations during this spring’s I2P Showcase, let's revisit the fall showcase with last semester’s third-place winning team, SuperStream.

Founded by John-Wright Stanly, a fourth-year computer science major, SuperStream addresses companies’ audience engagement problem by enabling video previews through shared URLs.

Q&A With SuperStream's Sole Founder, John Wright Stanly

What made you want to pursue this idea?
Stanly: I did a startup three years ago, and we failed miserably. While doing that, I was trying to build in-house and share videos through links. I realized that nothing currently on the internet that I could find was actually solving this issue. Basically, the standard around sharing videos and links is very complicated, and we simplify that process for companies. Even though it's very small and particular, I wanted to be the first person that would solve this problem.

What surprised you about the I2P process?
I did I2P last semester, and I've already pivoted once in the idea. I don’t have all the answers. I’m just starting, and I think it's really cool that a course like this exists at George Tech, where you can be supported and figure things out in the first stages, maybe in three months.

What was your favorite part of I2P?

I think it's the meetups. We get to see what everyone else is working on.

What was the most challenging part of I2P?
I think the most challenging part was being a solo entrepreneur. Honestly, just finding the time in my day.

What advice would you give to other students considering entrepreneurship?
I think entrepreneurship is not as scary as it seems. We're really lucky that we go to a university where it’s supported. I think that Georgia Tech students take it for granted how enriched the ecosystem is here. My friends at other schools don't really have the same support. So, when you go to a school that is as supportive as that, I think you should totally take the leap of faith.

Want to be part of the next wave of technological advancements? Register for the Spring 2025 I2P Showcase to see our latest cohort of I2P inventors and their prototypes. The event takes place April 21, 5 p.m., in the Marcus Nanotechnology Building Atrium.

For those interested in taking I2P, course registration opens for the summer and fall semesters on April 14. The I2P course offers undergraduate students research credit, up to $500 in reimbursement for physical material expenses, faculty mentorship, and the opportunity to compete in the I2P Showcase. Winners receive golden tickets to CREATE-X’s Startup Launch program, a summer accelerator that provides $5,000 in optional seed funding; $150,000 in in-kind services (including accounting and legal support); mentorship; entrepreneurial education; and more. Winners also advance directly to the semifinal round of the InVenture Prize, a faculty-led innovation competition.

The I2P course opens three times a year: in the spring, summer, and fall. Both undergraduate and graduate students can take the course, and undergraduate students can take it up two times. For more information, visit the I2P program website.

Subtitle

Summary sentence

SuperStream, founded by John-Wright Stanly, a fourth-year computer science major, won third place in last semester's Idea to Prototype (I2P) Showcase by tackling the challenge of audience engagement through video previews via shared URLs.

Summary

SuperStream, founded by John-Wright Stanly, a fourth-year computer science major, won third place in last semester's Idea to Prototype (I2P) Showcase. SuperStream tackles the challenge of audience engagement by enabling video previews through shared URLs. Stanly's journey began with a failed startup, which inspired him to simplify the process of sharing videos and links.

Dateline

Fri, 03/28/2025 - 12:00

breanna.durham@gatech.edu

Contact

Breanna Durham

Marketing Strategist

Keywords

SuperStream

John-Wright Stanly

Computer Science

audience engagement

video previews

shared URLs

startup

Idea to Prototype Showcase

Georgia Tech

entrepreneurship

research credit

material reimbursement

faculty mentorship

I2P course

technological advancements

CREATE-X

startup launch

accelerator

seed funding

in-kind services

mentorship

entrepreneurial education

InVenture Prize

Competition

founders

Categories

Business

Exhibitions

Student and Faculty

Student Competition WInners (academic, innovation, and research)

Mercury ID

681429

Source updated

Fri, 03/28/2025 - 11:25

Leading the Charge in Additive Manufacturing: Team Convexity

dgivens8 — Mon, 03 Mar 2025 18:02:47 +0000

Leading the Charge in Additive Manufacturing: Team Convexity dgivens8 Mon, 03/03/2025 - 13:02

On April 21 at 5 p.m. in the Marcus Nanotechnology Building Atrium, dozens of teams will present prototypes at the Spring 2025 Idea to Prototype (I2P) Showcase. They will be vying for a chance to get a golden ticket in CREATE-X’s Startup Launch program, which gives participants $5,000 in optional seed funding and $150,000 in in-kind services like accounting and legal services, mentorship, and entrepreneurial education, among other benefits.

The I2P course, where these students develop their prototypes, offers research credit for undergraduate students up to $500 in reimbursement for physical material expenses and faculty mentorship. It’s open three times a year, in the spring, summer, and fall. Both undergraduate and graduate students can take the course, and students can take it up two times.

Convexity Electronics finished in second place at the Fall 2024 I2P Showcase. The company delivers smaller, faster, and more cost-effective circuit boards compared to traditional lithography-based methods. We delved into the team’s journey, challenges, and aspirations in this exclusive Q&A with one of its founders, Calla Scotch.

Q&A with Team Convexity's Calla Scotch

Team Members:

Calla Scotch, Sophomore, Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering

Atharva Lele, Sophomore, Engineering

Anuj Pandey, Junior, Mechanical Engineering

Why did you pursue your startup?

It’s so complex. There are so many routes, and it's so new in terms of how many people are working on it. One day I woke up and couldn't stop thinking about it, then I couldn't sleep about it, and then I couldn't stop working on it. It was one of those things where I couldn't stop.

Traditionally, circuit boards — the stuff that's in your phones, computers, cameras, cars, everything — are made entirely subtractively. You have your block of material and cut away the stuff you don't want. It's a well-thought-out manufacturing process, but it's mostly very expensive and very slow. The materials and electronics manufacturing industry hasn't changed in about 30 years because it's been optimized as much as it can be.

What is your goal with Convexity?

To take that subtractive process and, instead of doing that, build the same circuits additively. I'm working on 3D printing the insulative base material, then 3D printing the conductive material, then using an electrical process to take those conductive materials and convert them into copper. And then doing layer after layer after layer to make the same circuits that someone in a subtractive process would do.

If you have traditional manufacturing, it takes about two weeks to ship from China, and it takes about a week to make a lab. My goal would be to make them in about five hours and then courier them over the same day. You don't need a big serial manufacturing facility if someone needs 6,000 boards. You don't have 6,000 printers in one room; all your printers are connected to the cloud. You could even go from 2D electronics to three-dimensional electronics. We just want to make more, smaller, faster, and cheaper than traditional manufacturing.

What surprised you about I2P?
How much time it took out of my day and how much I didn't want to do as much homework anymore. It made me want to focus all of my time on this and on how many different avenues there were to do what I wanted to do. I probably went through 30 different iterations of completely different scientific topics. I think because of how many options there were and how crazy scientifically advanced each of them was, it is what keeps me going.

What was your favorite part about I2P?

I did I2P for two semesters, and the best thing about it is getting to work on your own project and your own research for class credit.

What was challenging about building your prototype over the semester?

Sifting through all the research and development that has gone into this field. Electronics manufacturing has been around for a long time, and there's a lot of research and patents to work through and build on. I feel like I spent half my time coming up with ideas and the other half building the physical printer.

What would you say to students who are interested in entrepreneurship?
I can't tell you how much I've learned just by doing. Outside of that, talk to people. Just go out and talk to people. Ask people questions. Have your problem and get their input and insight on it, because how we make smart decisions and make startups that people want is by asking people what they want.

Cheer on Convexity as they pitch their prototype at the final round of the InVenture Prize, on March 12, at 7:30p.m., in the Ferst Theater of Arts. During this competition, the largest of its kind in the nation, a panel of celebrity judges and experts in science, technology, and venture capital will judge undergraduate teams competing for $35,000, including $5,000 for the People’s Choice award. Through audience voting, you get to advance the projects you support. Request your free InVenture Prize tickets today.

Want to be part of the next wave of technological advancements? Register for the Spring 2025 I2P Showcase to see our latest cohort of I2P inventors and their prototypes. Consider joining I2P for Summer or Fall 2025. For more information, visit the I2P program website.

Summary sentence

Convexity finished second in the Fall 2024 I2P Showcase and will now compete in the InVenture Prize for a chance to win $35,000.

Summary

Convexity Electronics, founded by Georgia Tech students Calla Scotch, Atharva Lele, and Anuj Pandey, aims to revolutionize circuit board manufacturing by using additive processes instead of traditional subtractive methods. Their approach involves 3D printing insulative and conductive materials to create faster, smaller, and more cost-effective circuit boards. The team has faced challenges in research and development but remains driven by their passion for innovation. Convexity finished second in the Fall 2024 I2P Showcase and will compete in the InVenture Prize for a chance to win $35,000.

Dateline

Mon, 03/03/2025 - 12:00

breanna.durham@gatech.edu

Contact

Breanna Durham

Marketing Strategist

Keywords

I2P Showcase

CREATE-X

startup launch

prototypes

entrepreneurial education

research credit

Convexity Electronics

InVenture Prize

innovation

startup

Competition

entrepreneurship

prototype development

go-commercializationnews

Categories

Business

Computer Science/Information Technology and Security

Student and Faculty

Student Competition WInners (academic, innovation, and research)

Mercury ID

680848

Source updated

Mon, 03/03/2025 - 13:02

Double Victories at the Fall 2024 I2P Showcase

dgivens8 — Wed, 08 Jan 2025 21:49:37 +0000

Double Victories at the Fall 2024 I2P Showcase dgivens8 Wed, 01/08/2025 - 16:49

Two teams tied for Best Overall projects of the Fall 2024 I2P Showcase. Over two hours, 49 teams displayed prototypes that they developed over the semester to hundreds of attendees, while judges circulated the room. The showcase is the last event of their Idea-to-Prototype (I2P) course, where Georgia Tech students earn research credit (for undergraduate students only), receive up to $500 in reimbursement for physical material expenses, and build a working product with faculty mentorship. The course is held in the spring, summer, and fall. Graduate students can also take the course, and student can take it up two times.

As a part of the showcase, the winning team, or teams in this case, also receive a golden ticket into the CREATE-X summer startup accelerator, Startup Launch. This program provides founders with $5,000 in optional seed funding, $150,000 in in-kind services like accounting and legal services, mentorship, and entrepreneurial education, among other benefits. At the end of that experience, startup teams can present their products to investors and industry partners at Demo Day, which attracts over a thousand attendees each year.

Additionally, winners of the showcase advance directly to the semifinal round of the InVenture Prize, a faculty-led innovation competition for undergraduate students and recent BS graduates of Georgia Tech.

This semester, the first place teams were Allez Go and Soul. Team Allez Go’s founders, Adam Kulikowski and Jason Mo, created a real-time visualization system for fencing blades using infrared light and reflectors to accurately track positions during a bout. Team Soul, made up of Ashraf Mansour, Benjamin Wilson, and Michal Gregus, developed fitness-tracking soles and shoes, combining the functions of a smart scale, a workout tracker, and a diet tracker into a singular device.

Second place was awarded to Team Convexity Electronics, consisting of Calla Scotch, Levi Bloch, and Phi Cai. Convexity Electronics produces 3D-printed circuit boards that aim to be smaller, faster, and cheaper than lithography-based circuitry.

Team SuperStream, made up of solo-preneur John-Wright Stanly, took home third place. SuperStream adds video previews to URLs to increase engagement.

Read our Q&A with Team Allez Go and Soul below, and stay tuned for our interviews with the other winning teams!

Q&As

Team AllezGo

Adam Kulikowski, Sophomores, Computer Science

Jason Mo, Sophomores, Computer Science

Why did you pursue your startup?
Kulikowski: We're both fencers. I've been fencing for 10 years, and Jason's been fencing close to 10 as well. So, fencing as a sport is really hard to view for non-fencers, and so the idea that we wanted to do is use visualizations, animations, and replays in a similar way that other kinds of sport visualization companies did.

What was the I2P course like for you all?
Mo: So, this prototype actually started over the summer. I was in Startup Lab and just did a study abroad program. During that class, they mentioned that I2P is a great opportunity, and I had this prototype already in the works.

What surprised you about I2P?

Mo: I2P was very generous with funding; we never had any issues with using up our $500. It was just really helpful because our prototype was pretty heavy hardware.

What was your favorite part about I2P?
Mo: Our weekly meetings with Aaron Hillegass, our mentor, were always very, very insightful. I just shot him an email for I2P, hoping that we could work together on this. Sometimes we would talk about prototypes or updates. He had some really good insights, but our mentor also has a lot of industry experience and a lot of experience with his own startups. It was really fun to just ask him general questions and career advice. He was always very responsive, very supportive for us.

Kulikowski: In addition, I really liked seeing the iterations each week. I think the weekly updates kept us accountable to do at least one small thing every week. So, it was cool to see how the ideas slowly started to formulate each week, small steps and small progresses.

What was challenging about building your prototype over the semester?
Mo: There's a lot of technical challenges. One of the things we did this semester is we changed from a 30 frames per second (FPS) camera to a camera that shoots at 120 FPS. And with that, we could detect a lot more processing power. The camera that we're using is only limited to Windows. I've been using a very old laptop, and that's sort of been a bit problematic when we're trying to do very compute intensive tasks.

What would you say to students that are interested in entrepreneurship?
Kulikowski: There are a lot of people that came by our booth, and a lot of them were freshmen students. Every one of them we told, “If you have an idea, if you're really passionate about something, I2P is a fantastic opportunity.” This semester, with the hands-off approach, really felt like you could just work on this idea, and everything was there to support you working on it. That was fantastic because it's we could take full advantage of the time, the resources, and truly flesh out this idea. I really love the support we had and how we had the bonding with the other students.

Team Soul

Ashraf Mansour, Senior, Computer Science

Benjamin Wilson, Junior, Computer Science

Michal Gregus, Junior, Physics and Electrical Engineering

What’s the thought behind the name?
Mansour: We're kind of bringing life through our electronics, back into the shoe, and building a better fitness tracker and a more holistic picture of human health.

What was the showcase like for your team?
Wilson: It was a little nerve wracking. I have full faith in our ideas and concepts, but I feel personally like we still have a long way to go for our project. I’m still satisfied with where we are now, but we never really anticipated that we we're going to win anything.

Mansour: The showcase made me realize how much faster all this moves, even compared to my expectations. We came in with a very basic prototype that we wanted to improve on, but I think the potential was enough to sell the judges in this case. Now we have a big responsibility to deliver on that potential.

What was your favorite thing about I2P Showcase?

Mansour: It really reminds you how much of a tech hub Georgia Tech really is. Seeing how entrepreneurship boosts in real time, especially at the early stages, is something that’s really awe inspiring.

What was challenging about building your prototype over the semester?

Mansour: There are a lot of unique engineering challenges with the product that we’re building, some we anticipated and others we didn’t, but I think that speaks to the true soul of engineering. That adaptability and sense of problem solving is really important.

Wilson: I’m very grateful to have the other people that were involved in this project for brainstorming and making the design better.

What would you say to students that are interested in entrepreneurship?

Wilson: I definitely would encourage anyone that wants to pursue their own startup or has a new idea to just start. It’s far more efficient and far more rewarding to put your ideas out there and try. You’ll learn a lot more through that process of failing than you will contemplating.

A photo gallery from the Fall 2024 I2P Showcase can be viewed on the CREATE-X Flickr page.

CREATE-X is now accepting applications for the summer and fall semesters of the I2P course, and applications for their summer accelerator, Startup Launch. The deadline for I2P applications for Summer 2025 is May 12. The deadline for Startup Launch applications is March 19, 2025. For questions, please email create-x@groups.gatech.edu.

Summary sentence

Allez Go and Soul tied for Best Overall projects at the Fall 2024 I2P Showcase, earning spots in the CREATE-X summer startup accelerator and advancing to the InVenture Prize semifinals.

Summary

Two teams, Allez Go and Soul, tied for Best Overall projects at the Fall 2024 I2P Showcase, where 49 teams displayed their semester-long prototypes. The winners receive a golden ticket to the CREATE-X summer startup accelerator and advance to the semifinal round of the InVenture Prize. Allez Go developed a real-time visualization system for fencing blades, while Soul created fitness-tracking soles and shoes. Second and third places went to Convexity Electronics and SuperStream, respectively.

Dateline

Wed, 01/08/2025 - 12:00

breanna.durham@gatech.edu

Contact

Breanna Durham

Marketing Strategist

Keywords

I2P Showcase

Georgia Tech

Best Overall projects

Allez Go

soul

CREATE-X

startup launch

InVenture Prize

prototypes

student innovation

entrepreneurship

Fencing visualization

Fitness-tracking shoes

Convexity Electronics

SuperStream

startups

Categories

Exhibitions

Special Events and Guest Speakers

Student and Faculty

Student Competition WInners (academic, innovation, and research)

Mercury ID

679323

Source updated

Wed, 01/08/2025 - 16:47

Iterating Better Therapy Support: Electrosuit

dgivens8 — Fri, 19 Jul 2024 14:24:41 +0000

Iterating Better Therapy Support: Electrosuit dgivens8 Fri, 07/19/2024 - 10:24

CREATE-X is built to help students integrate entrepreneurship into their academic journey through courses, workshops, and a startup accelerator. This spring, a new set of students displayed their solutions to real-world problems at the I2P Showcase. It’s our privilege to shine a light on and celebrate those journeys. Today’s spotlight focuses on the spring I2P Showcase third-place winners.

Electrosuit

Aubrey Hall, a first-year biomedical student, and Sherya Chakraborty, a first-year computer science major, founded a startup to produce a garment that eases the use of at-home, prescribed electrical stimulation for people with chronic pain, stroke, and motor impairments.

What made you interested in building this solution?

“I did research at Northwestern for a couple of years before this, and some of the patients I worked with had severe stroke and spasticity in their arms,” Chakraborty said. “I found out that when they tried using at-home prescribed electrical stimulation, they had trouble setting it off themselves. So, we created a garment to ease pressure on that.”

What part of the course was most helpful to you?

“One of our mentors, Sun Mi Park, was the first person to patent printable wires on fabric, and that gave us some inspiration to make our garment even more compact, easier to use, and integrate some interesting ideas that we wouldn’t have been able to without our mentors. So, our mentors are honestly the best part of the program,” Chakraborty said.

“For me, you don’t get a lot of chances to apply these engineering courses outside of the classroom,” said Hall. “This course is a really interesting way to get firsthand experience building a prototype and really understand the engineering process.”

What’s so special about CREATE-X?

“I think these student projects are the future, and a lot of these projects make it out of college and become actual companies. Giving students that possibility to make a change just from a simple idea and fueling that with funding so we don’t have to take risks out of our own pockets is a, really big deal,” Chakraborty said.

“It’s helpful to have that safety net, knowing that you have your mentors to back you, and also the people of the program to back you. It brings a lot of security and opportunity to try different things out and not have to be so fearful of failure. Even if you fail a million times, you can get back up and try again,” Hall said.

What’s the best insight you’ve gained from doing this?

“I think one big misconception is that entrepreneurship has a lot to do with finance and business and just lucrative ideas, but it’s pretty important to understand that you can solve a seemingly everyday problem,” said Chakraborty. “If it affects you or your friends, it’s still worth trying to find a way to solve it, especially backed up with money and mentors from CREATE-X. What’s the harm in trying something out?”

“Don’t try to make it feel like it’s an all-or-nothing project,” Hall said. “You’re allowed to live your life as a college student but also pursue these interesting ideas and figure out if you enjoy entrepreneurship. It shouldn’t be this daunting task where if you don’t put everything in, you’re going to fail.”

“It’s also important to keep an open mind. We might come in with an idea and a very specific way of executing that idea, but we found out through talking with mentors, and with other students and people who gave us advice, that sometimes the idea you come in with is not going to be the same thing you end up with,” Chakraborty said.

Next Steps

“We’ve only done four or five prototypes so far,” she noted. “We want to do at least 12 of those prototypes and keep working with our mentors, keep making connections at Emory, and just constantly getting more and more feedback about our prototypes until we get to a state where we’re satisfied, and we can demo our product and work with physical therapists across Atlanta.”

If you’re a student interested in building your own product for college credit, apply for I2P. And join us for Demo Day, Aug. 29, at 5 p.m., in the Georgia Tech Exhibition Hall to see new CREATE-X founders launch products in a variety of industries. Tickets are free but limited. Register today to secure your spot.

Subtitle

Summary sentence

Electrosuit, a startup by Aubrey Hall and Sherya Chakraborty, secured third place in the Spring 2024 I2P Showcase, and their product, a garment for at-home electrical stimulation, targets individuals with chronic pain or motor impairments.

Summary

Electrosuit, a startup founded by first-year students Aubrey Hall and Sherya Chakraborty, won third place in the Spring 2024 I2P Showcase. Their product aims to develop a garment to facilitate at-home electrical stimulation for individuals with chronic pain or motor impairments. The founders speak about common misconceptions around entrepreneurship, pressure, and being open to feedback in a Q&A.

Dateline

Fri, 08/02/2024 - 12:00

breanna.durham@gatech.edu

Contact

Breanna Durham

Marketing Strategist

Keywords

female founders

entrepreneurship

startup

Business

CREATE-X

founders

Competition

Categories

Business

Community

Exhibitions

Institute and Campus

Student and Faculty

Student Competition WInners (academic, innovation, and research)

Mercury ID

675523

Source updated

Fri, 07/19/2024 - 10:24

Team iManhole Wins Fall 2023 EGHI/GT Global Health Hackathon

dgivens8 — Fri, 22 Mar 2024 15:23:41 +0000

Team iManhole Wins Fall 2023 EGHI/GT Global Health Hackathon dgivens8 Fri, 03/22/2024 - 11:23

Students tackled climate change in the Fall 2023 Emory Global Health Institute (EGHI) /Georgia Institute of Technology (GT) Global Health Hackathon, Nov. 11, at Tech Square ATL Social. Competing for cash prizes and a spot in GT Startup Launch, first place went to Team iManhole. The team created an integrated system that gathers real-time data from manholes and uses machine learning algorithms to predict flooding to manage traffic and evacuation routes.

“The effects of climate change are felt in every country with the brunt and burden of an unmanaged climate crises threatening to set back global health progress by eroding decades of poverty eradication and health equity efforts worldwide,” said Dr. Rebecca Martin, EGHI director of Emory Global Health Institute. “Students are an important partner in our work as a global community to mitigate the impacts of climate change on health, safety, and security.”

The EGHI/GT Global Health Hackathon is a partner event between EGHI and CREATE-X. It provides multidisciplinary student teams from Emory University and the Georgia Institute of Technology an opportunity to create technology-based product solutions for global health problems. The target for this fall’s event was creating solutions that address urban flooding, urban heat, or global sea level rise in densely populated, low-resource urban settings. Prizes included $4,000 and a golden ticket into CREATE-X Startup Launch for first place winners, $3,000 for second place winners, $2,000 for third place winners, and $500 each for two honorable mention winners.

“This hackathon continues to be a wonderful partnership between our two institutions that gives these talented students the platform and support to put forward solutions to the most pressing issues we face today,” Rahul Saxena, director of CREATE-X, said. “Each hackathon, I’m increasingly impressed with their ingenuity and their dedication to build something of impact.”

Check out the event program on the EGHI website and see photos from the event on the CREATE-X Flickr account. The full list of the winners of this year’s event includes:

1st Place: iManhole

An integrated system that gathers real-time data from manholes and uses machine learning algorithms to predict flooding to manage traffic and evacuation routes

Team Members: Imran Shah, Leonardo Molinari, and Jiaqi Yang

2nd Place: Canopy

A climate-tech software platform for democratizing climate analytics using machine learning for urban development planning.

Team Members: Deesha Panchal, Kruthik Ravikanti, Vaibhav Mishra, Nicholas Swanson, Jennifer Samuel, and Vaishnavi Sanjeev

3rd Place: Floodwise

A package of effective simulations and an informed chatbot that help facilitate wise decisions during floods.

Team Members: Ansh Gupta, Dimi Deju, Mukund Chidambaram, and Sahit Mamidipaka

Honorable Mention

Conquering Heat Islands

Process and hardware that uses excess solar power to mine crypto

Team Members: Rida Akbar, DJ Louis, Edward Zheng, Dmitri Kalinin, and Jade Bondy

Real-Time Computational Modeling of Urban Flooding and Evacuation in Local Atlanta Communities

Integrated system to gather real-time data from manholes and use machine learning algorithms to predict flooding and optimize traffic/evacuation.

Team Members: Imran Shah, Leonardo Molinari, and Jiaqi Yang

Subtitle

Summary sentence

Students tackled climate change in the Fall 2023 Emory Global Health Institute (EGHI) /Georgia Institute of Technology (GT) Global Health Hackathon, Nov. 11, at Tech Square ATL Social.

Summary

Dateline

Thu, 12/07/2023 - 12:00

breanna.durham@gatech.edu

Contact

Breanna Durham

Marketing Strategist

breanna.durham@gatech.edu

Keywords

Hackathon

entrepreneurship

startup

CREATE-X

Business

sustainability

climate change

Competition

EGHI

Emory

Categories

Business

Environment

Exhibitions

Institute and Campus

Student and Faculty

Student Competition WInners (academic, innovation, and research)

Mercury ID

671463

Source updated

Fri, 03/22/2024 - 11:22

Fall 2023 I2P Showcase Teams Debut Prototypes

dgivens8 — Wed, 20 Mar 2024 16:49:20 +0000

Fall 2023 I2P Showcase Teams Debut Prototypes dgivens8 Wed, 03/20/2024 - 12:49

Over 40 student teams showcased products at the Fall 2023 I2P Showcase. The event was the final piece of the Idea-to-Prototype (I2P) course, a CREATE-X Make class where both undergraduate and graduate students have the opportunity to advance an invention idea toward a real product by performing basic research, analysis, building, and testing. Teams accepted into I2P receive a $500 reimbursement for physical expenses, course credit (undergraduate students only), and mentorship from a Georgia Tech faculty member.

The winners for this semester’s competition include:

1st Place: NueroChamp

2nd Place: QTACK

3rd Place: BloodSight.AI

Q&A With the Winning Teams

Team BloodSight.AI

A personalized AI medical application enhancing insight by providing analytics-driven reports for patients and physicians featuring medical insights such as vulnerabilities to diseases and lifestyle recommendations based on current blood work.

Founder: Adhira Choudhury, computer science, undergraduate student

How has CREATE-X helped you?

Working with CREATE-X, I had the privilege of being mentored by Melissa Heffner [co-director of Female Founders]. From my first Idea-to-Prototype experience as a freshman last fall, Melissa has been an invaluable guide. She has not only helped me brainstorm and refine my ideas but also supported me in understanding the intricate process of transforming a product concept into a viable startup.

What made you pursue entrepreneurship?

Since I was a kid, I’ve been interested in the intersection between business and computer science. To me, entrepreneurship is a gateway to the intersection by leveraging technology to solve people-centric issues. And at the end of the day, I want to know I've had a true impact on the world.

What was the best interaction you had at I2P?

I got to have a one-on-one with a physician at the showcase, which helped provide invaluable insights to BloodSight.AI. It was incredible to get end-user feedback on the spot.

What should students know about I2P or entrepreneurship?

Don’t give up. I did this exact program as a first-year student in the Fall 2022 Idea-to-Prototype program and learned firsthand the power of hands-on experience. Working live on a prototype doesn't just spark ideas; it reveals the precise steps needed to evolve them into a minimum viable product.

Entrepreneurship is within reach—just a leap of faith away. At Georgia Tech, you're never alone. There's always a community ready to support and guide you through the journey of idea creation.

QTACK

Developing intuitive and affordable analytics solutions for logistics companies, empowering them to compete effectively without the need for in-house data science expertise.

Founders: Pranav Devarinti, undergraduate student, computer science; William “Bryce” Pardo, undergraduate student, computer science

What made you all pursue entrepreneurship?

Devarinti: We both have extensive backgrounds in data science and a shared interest in entrepreneurship. My interest came from my mom, who has her own business.

How did you learn about CREATE-X?

Pardo: For me, it was Demo Day during freshman year. Looking at all the different companies there, I was so amazed. I started talking to founders, figuring out how they got started, and one recommended the Klaus Startup Challenge. In the spring, I participated and then took Startup Lab over the summer, which is where I met Pranav, my partner.

We’re so thankful for our mentor Greg Mihalik. He’s been such a huge help.

What was the best advice you received in I2P?

Pardo: How to negotiate a deal, or how to convert them from people you’re working with to people who are paying, and also how to discover that product market fit. The advice he gave us was to cast a wide net. He advised working with companies in different areas, and then narrowing in on where we could provide the most value.

What was your biggest take away?

Pardo: Go to a lot of these events, at least to I2P Showcase. You don’t know what can come of it.

What should students know about I2P or entrepreneurship?

Pardo: A lot of it has to be very self-driven. You need to be able to motivate yourself to do the work. You won’t have someone to tell you to do all these things. Some people will tell you what you should do, but you need to be the one to take the initiative and do it.

Devarinti: With a lot of things in life, you put in X amount of effort and get Y amount of return. However, especially with startup stuff, you can put in a ton of effort, and get nothing in return, and other times you work for half a day, and things work out. You have to keep going. It’s not fair, but it’s fun.

NueroChamp

A concealed and comfortable non-invasive EEG monitoring device for effective long-term pediatric seizure detection to improve the quality and health of children with epilepsy.

Founders: Caitlin Van Zyl, undergraduate, biomedical engineering; Jacqueline “Jacqui” Van Zyl, undergraduate student, mechanical engineering; and, Meg Weaver, undergraduate student biomedical engineering

What was the best interaction you had at I2P?

Caitlin Van Zyl: One of the first [people who] came up to us was a chemical researcher, and he was just looking at our project. He loved it. He was giving us a bunch of other applications where we could apply our device for epileptic seizures.

What made you all pursue entrepreneurship?

Caitlin Van Zyl: We joined Tech knowing that we would want to do entrepreneurship and CREATE-X was the biggest entrepreneurship program on campus. I’ve been loving all of this mentorship with other teams and getting to see all these cool projects. Professor [Craig] Forest has been an incredible mentor and energizer. Seeing his passion brought out this attitude of We Can Do It.

Jacqui Van Zyl: I’m a huge researcher, and over the years I’ve recognized the real way to have an impact is being able to translate research into practical prototypes.

Meg Weaver: Being a student at Tech and working on projects and completing internships, I’ve seen where there can be gaps in the medical device field. There’s so much research to be done, and so having the opportunity to be a part of that and moving it forward is exciting.

What was your biggest take away?

Jacqui Van Zyl: Being able to iteratively prototype and being OK with failing, being OK with people coming back and saying, "That’s flawed” — that’s been a good experience for learning.

Caitlin Van Zyl: We’ve been under the mentorship of doctors. It kind of blew my mind how excited they were about our technology and how willing they were to advance it.

What should students know about I2P or entrepreneurship?

Meg Weaver: Go for it! Do I2P, at least to start learning the process. It’s going to be a great experience to learn what goes all into this.

Jacqui Van Zyl: It’s more than OK to fail and have these sets backs. You don’t really have a robust product or a successful product until you have quite a few failures, and I think that’s something that people should embrace.

Caitlin Van Zyl: No idea is too small. Any idea, take it and go into I2P, and see how it goes. One semester can mean so much.

Applications for I2P are accepted each semester and are now open for Spring 2024.

This semester’s winners earned a golden ticket to directly advance to the semifinal round of the Inventure Prize, an innovation competition for undergraduate students. The top team also earned a spot in the 2024 GT Startup Launch program, a 12-week summer accelerator that takes startups from the idea to market stage.

Interested in building your own startup to solve real-world problems while you’re still in college? Apply for GT Startup Launch today an get the support you need to make a viable product. Applications close March 19,2024.

Summary sentence

CREATE-X hosted its fall I2P Showcase, highlighting 40 student teams with products they made during the semester.

Summary

Dateline

Thu, 12/07/2023 - 12:00

breanna.durham@gatech.edu

Contact

Breanna Durham

Marketing Strategist

Associated importer

Keywords

showcase

entrepreneurship

startups

Business

exhibition

i2p

idea to prototype

CREATE-X

Categories

Business

Exhibitions

Institute and Campus

Student and Faculty

Student Competition WInners (academic, innovation, and research)

Mercury ID

671466

Source updated

Wed, 03/20/2024 - 12:49

InVenture Prize Brings Innovation for 2024

dgivens8 — Fri, 08 Mar 2024 22:04:41 +0000

InVenture Prize Brings Innovation for 2024 dgivens8 Fri, 03/08/2024 - 17:04

In March 2023, Jeff Mao and Tyler Ma won first place in the Georgia Tech InVenture Prize with their web-based platform SellRaze, a solution to simplify the online resale listing process. Read “Where Are They Now? 2023 InVenture Prize Winners on the Past Year, Entrepreneurship, and Iterating” to see what this pair is doing now.

Join Georgia Tech on March 13th, 7:30-9:00 p.m., to watch a new batch of undergraduate students pitch their innovative creations in this year’s InVenture Prize competition. Read “Elevating Ideas, Transforming Futures: Watch the InVenture Prize 2024 Finalists in Action” to hear about the finalists and the competition overall.

For in-state viewers, tune in to Georgia Public Broadcasting (GPB) from 7:30 pm to 9:00 p.m. on March 13, 2024, to catch the live broadcast of the InVenture Prize.

Online Streaming:
Can't make it to the theater or don't live in Georgia? Stream the entire event online via this streaming link to immerse yourself in the innovative spirit of the InVenture Prize from wherever you are.

Summary sentence

Join Georgia Tech on March 13th, 7:30-9:00 p.m., to watch a new batch of undergraduate students pitch their innovative creations in this year’s InVenture Prize competition.

Summary

Join Georgia Tech on March 13th, 7:30-9:00 p.m., to watch a new batch of undergraduate students pitch their innovative creations in this year’s InVenture Prize competition. For in-state viewers, tune in to Georgia Public Broadcasting (GPB) from 7:30 pm to 9:00 p.m. on March 13, 2024, to catch the live broadcast of the InVenture Prize. You can also stream the entire event online via this streaming link to immerse yourself in the innovative spirit of the InVenture Prize from wherever you are.

Dateline

Fri, 03/08/2024 - 12:00

rachael.greene@gatech.edu

Contact

Rachael Greene

Assistant Director for Communications

Associated importer

Keywords

startups

entrepreneurship

Business

CREATE-X

InVenture Prize

go-commercializationnews

Categories

Exhibitions

Institute and Campus

Student and Faculty

Student Competition WInners (academic, innovation, and research)

Mercury ID

673436

Source updated

Fri, 03/08/2024 - 17:04

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