CUNY IVE Goes Global: The London 2012 MarketMaker Challenge

November 26, 2012 Tagged With: , ,
By Santiago Perez

This year, the CUNY IVE has greatly expanded its scope by taking its SmartPitch and MarketMaker business plan competitions international. The London MarketMaker Challenge had its successful finalist event on Monday Nov 12th, raising the prospect of the NYC Smartpitch Challenge becoming part of a global network of entrepreneurial students.

With more than 600 students making up 164 teams, the scale of the London competition was significant. And with only the 20 best business concepts continuing to the finals, competition was fierce. To rise above, students had the support of a diverse host of mentors to work with them on their ideas, and of over 80 members of staff across all participating colleges who were trained on the Market Maker platform: www.ivefinancial.com

The winning team was Retinue Ltd from New College Nottingham, who developed a chip that can be inserted into any article of an infant’s clothing, allowing the parents to locate them via a mobile app. From losing a child in a crowd to kidnapping, this innovation will help soothe the worst fears of any parent with young children.

The winning team was selected in part through a market simulation process. Students set up a stall to promote their products and business, which guests can purchase with virtual funds allotted to them through an event credit card. The different companies stock is tracked and traded based on their sales volume, all culminating in a terrific learning experience for the students and to thrilling moments as the leaders began to separate from the pack.

“We are absolutely amazed at the level of quality and detail that has gone into these projects in such a short time,” Jason Choy, Chairman of the Central London Branch of the Institute of Directors said.  ”My only wish is that we could do this over the entire year. I know these are ideas that can actually lead to young people setting up their own businesses. To see this competition grow over the last 12 months is phenomenal. We’re very privileged to have IVE MarketMaker here.”

Check out the event video here:

Santiago Perez
MBA Candidate/Field Fellow, Baruch SBDC/Field Center

 

 

Entrepreneurial Concept Competition

July 30, 2012 Tagged With: , ,

CUNY students with an entrepreneurial idea are invited to enter the Entrepreneurial Concept Competition (ECC), a CUNY-wide competition and initiative created by the Black Male Leadership and Mentoring Program at The City College of New York and the New York City Louis Stokes Alliance to encourage entrepreneurial thinking.

In order to enter the competition, students need to submit an abstract describing the idea, a 60-second YouTube video pitch and fill out required registration forms.  The submission deadline is 11:59pm on September 17, 2012.  The final presentations and awards will occur December 3, 2012.

For more information, visit the ECC site here: http://www.cunyecc.org/howtoenter.php

 

 

 

SmartPitch 2012 Competition Winners

June 8, 2012 Tagged With: ,

Smart Pitch winners, finalists and partners from CUNY IVE, Baruch, Sunshine Bronx and IBM

 

Congratulations to the five teams who won the SmartPitch 2012 competition!  The creators of these ventures, chosen from over 200 entrants, will participate in  Entrepreneurship Bootcamp June 15, 2012 at Baruch College and Sunshine Bronx.  After completing bootcamp, the teams will have access to incubator space at Sunshine Bronx over the duration of the summer, and be paired with a mentor from IBM.  The students will also receive support from CUNY IVE and the Field Center for Entrepreneurship through various activities and workshops.  The winners of the SmartPitch 2012 competition are:

SmartPitch 2012 1st Place winner William Doyle-Capitman and CUNY IVE founder Stuart Schulman

1st Place – CoMotion ($1,000 prize): CoMotion, created by Baruch MBA (CIS and Marketing) William Doyle-Capitman, is a program that makes solo exercise fun by turning it into a team sport.  CoMotion allows users to create teams with their friends and use their favorite exercise tracking application to track progress as they undertake coordinated fitness missions.

 

2nd Place – U Bridge Me ($500 prize): Queens College CUNY computer science student Hang Pan is the creator of UBridgeMe, a service that helps to bridge the communication gap between teachers and students by breaking down language barriers existing in our educational communities. With UBridgeMe teachers can relay translated messages which can then be accessed by phone or computer. Students will also have online access to study materials and language tools to better help them understand the content.

3rd Place – Juice Me ($250 prize): Aminata Clason-Diop, an entrepreneurship student at Baruch, is the founder of mobile app Juice Me.  Juice Me is an innovative holistic health company that seeks to capitalize on two growing sectors: social networking and juicing. Juice Me consists of two platforms, an online community and a smartphone application that are integrated to help juicers in New York City network, find juice bars, exchange juice recipes, and live healthier lives.

4th Place – Dirt Works: CUNY neuroscience graduate student Eathan Janney and Emily Osgood, an urban planning graduate student at NYU, are the creators of Dirt Works, an organization that seeks to facilitate urban composting by collecting and transporting food refuse, improving the sustainability and efficiency of cities.

5th Place – Boutique Express: Matt Caruso (MBA Entrepreneurship and Information Systems) is the creator of Boutique Express, which provides consumers with a “fashion studio,” to try clothing on, order in store knowing the items will fit perfectly and pay as little as a third the cost of other boutique clothing shops.  This is accomplished through our partnerships with discount online retailers.

Meet the SmartPitch Finalists

June 5, 2012 Tagged With: ,

After three months of competition, the SmartPitch entrepreneurship competition is winding down, with the nine final teams set to present their businesses to a panel of judges tomorrow, June 6, 2012.  The final SmartPitch competition event will be held at 6pm on the 12th floor of the IBM building at 590 Madison Avenue, New York, NY.   Interested in attending?  RVSP here http://bit.ly/SmartPitchFinals2012.

During the SmartPitch final event, nine teams will have four minutes to present their business pitch deck to a panel of judges.  The top five teams will be awarded the SmartPitch Summer Incubator Program, which includes entrepreneurship bootcamp with Sunshine Bronx, mentorship with an IBM executive, office space at the Sunshine Bronx incubator and a stipend for their company.

Here are the finalists:

AstrologyMe: Baruch MBA Marketing and International Business candidate Shengnan Yang and Baruch MBA Marketing candidate Chukwunweike Chukwuma created AstrologyMe, a mobile app to help users better understand themselves and others through astrological charts and analysis. AstrologyMe aims to use astrology to help users make more meaningful connections with friends and possibly help them find a soul mate. The app also serves to build a community that provides a rich learning environment for those who are interested in astrology.

Boutique Express:  Matt Caruso (MBA Entrepreneurship and Information Systems) is the creator of Boutique Express, which provides consumers with a “fashion studio,” to try clothing on, order in store knowing the items will fit perfectly and pay as little as a third the cost of other boutique clothing shops.  This is accomplished through our partnerships with discount online retailers.

Dirt Works:  CUNY neuroscience graduate student Eathan Janney and Emily Osgood, an urban planning graduate student at NYU, are the creators of Dirt Works, an organization that seeks to facilitate urban composting by collecting and transporting food refuse, improving the sustainability and efficiency of cities.

CoMotion:  CoMotion, created by Baruch MBA (CIS and Marketing) William Doyle-Capitman, is a program that makes solo exercise fun by turning it into a team sport.  CoMotion allows users to create teams with their friends and use their favorite exercise tracking application to track progress as they undertake coordinated fitness missions.

Kalel Educational Software: CUNY Economics student Nicholas Gentile is the creator of Kalel Educational Software, a company dedicated toward maximizing consumer satisfaction through accessible pricing and simplified user interfaces.  The company’s first project is a course management website in which students and teachers can continue class discussion and communications outside the classroom.

Green4Web:  Information architecture and HCI Baruch student Lex Dreitser is the creator of green4web, a company that provides small businesses with sustainable web solutions.  Green4Web uses carbon neutral servers on 100% wind powered servers to help reduce companies’ carbon footprint, community based software and local labor.

Juice Me: Aminata Clason-Diop, an entrepreneurship student at Baruch, is the founder of mobile app Juice Me.  Juice Me is an innovative holistic health company that seeks to capitalize on two growing sectors: social networking and juicing. Juice Me consists of two platforms, an online community and a smartphone application that are integrated to help juicers in New York City network, find juice bars, exchange juice recipes, and live healthier lives.

The Lazy Place:  The Lazy Place, created by Eugene Tarasov, offers midday rest facilities, providing a comfortable, private and secure environment for personal rejuvenation. Tarasov is a Baruch entrepreneurship student.

U Bridge Me:  Queens College CUNY computer science student Hang Pan is the creator of UBridgeMe, a service that helps to bridge the communication gap between teachers and students by breaking down language barriers existing in our educational communities. With UBridgeMe teachers can relay translated messages which can then be accessed by phone or computer. Students will also have online access to study materials and language tools to better help them understand the content.

If you’re interested in attending tomorrow’s event, RVSP here http://bit.ly/SmartPitchFinals2012.

SmartPitch Finalists Announced

May 31, 2012 Tagged With: , ,

Next week the SmartPitch challenge comes to a close as nine student teams pitch their businesses and compete for the final prize – a summer full of start-up business support and mentorship.  Over 200 students entered the SmartPitch Challenge, an entrepreneurial pitch competition for students launched in February and sponsored by IBM, CUNY Institute for Virtual Enterprise, Sunshine Bronx and Baruch College.  Over the past three months the teams participated in a series of milestone and mentorship events designed to fine-tune their business plans and ready them for the final competition.  The SmartPitch finalists are:

AstrologyMe – By: Shengnan Yang
Boutique Express – By: Matt Caruso
Dirt Works – By: Eathan Janney
CoMotion – By: William Doyle-Capitman
Kalel Educational Software – By: Nicholas Gentile
Green4Web – By: Lex Dreitser
Juice Me – By: Aminata Clason- Diop
The Lazy Place – By: Eugene Tarasov
U Bridge Me – By: Hang Pan

The nine teams will have four minutes to present their business pitch deck to a panel of judges.  The top five teams will be awarded the SmartPitch Summer Incubator Program, which includes entrepreneurship bootcamp at the Sunshine Bronx summer home in Vermont, mentorship with an IBM executive, office space at the Sunshine Bronx incubator and a stipend for their company.

The final event will be held Wednesday June 6, 2012 at 6pm on the 12th floor of the IBM building at 590 Madison Avenue, New York, NY.   Interested in attending?  RVSP here http://bit.ly/SmartPitchFinals2012.

 

 

Competition THRIVE Award Winners

May 17, 2012 Tagged With: , ,

The NYCEDC, the Deutsche Bank Americas Foundation, and the Lawrence N. Field Center for Entrepreneurship awarded $100,000 to the Queens Economic Development Corporation as part of the Competition THRIVE award ceremony on May 17, 2012.  The five finalists for Competition THRIVE were selected in September 2011 – they were awarded $25,000 in seed funding to pilot their program and create a business plan.  Over the past six months, ACCION USA, BOC Network, Make the Road NY, Queens Economic Development Corporation, and the Washington Heights and Inwood Development Corporation have been piloting five new innovative programs to support New York City’s immigrant entrepreneurs.

In addition to $100,000 in funding, the Queens Economic Development Corporation will receive promotional services to further scale their program.

The Queens Economic Development Corporation, winners of the 2012 Competition THRIVE

 

 

Winners of the AT&T Baruch Fast Pitch Event

May 15, 2012 Tagged With: ,

The AT&T Baruch Fast Pitch final event has come to a close. Congrats to Estimize CEO Leigh Drogen, GZ Points CEO Kofi Frimpong, James Martinez of Zazum and Baruch student and CEO of Pixlee Awad Sayeed, winners of the 2012 competition!!  More photos from today can be seen on our Facebook page here:

Winners of the 2012 AT&T Baruch Fast Pitch competition. (L-R) Pixlee, Estimize, Zazum and GZ Points

Meet the AT&T Fast Pitch Finalists

May 15, 2012 Tagged With: ,

Eight finalists will face off this morning as the AT&T and Baruch College Fast Pitch competition comes to a close.  Over 100 submissions were received from across the U.S. in the two-month-long competition.  Company pitches had to fit one of three categories: Wealth, Education & Health or Enjoyment.  Tuesday morning the eight finalists – representing industries from financial services to entertainment – will deliver their final 5-minute pitches to a panel of esteemed judges from the tech and entrepreneurship community.  There’s still time to register here - the event starts at 11am.  Be sure to follow us on Twitter (@EShipBaruch #ATTBaruchFastPitch) and Facebook for competition updates.

Meet the Finalists

ESTIMIZE
Industry: Web Services
Category: Wealth
Employees: 3
Location: New York City

Estimize is a platform built to facilitate the sharing and discovery of a more comprehensive set of earnings and economic estimates.  Estimize makes it easy for buy side and independent traders to share estimates in a structured way with the social finance community. Participate in Estimize to build your name as a star analyst, or simply discover a more complete view of market expectations.

ZAZUM INC
Industry: Marketing/Advertising
Category: Enjoyment
Employees: 3
Location:  Redwood City, California

Zazum introduces a revolutionary new ACR technology that triggers mobile devices when they’re within hearing of a TV, Film, OOH screen or other speaker. Unlike fingerprinting or watermarking, our patent-pending audio barcodes are short, inaudible, and instantly trigger mobile phones and tablets. We use our technology on our product SeeLoveBuy, the mCommerce app for shopping from TV.

LOVETHATFIT
Industry: Internet/Web Services
Category:  Wealth
Employees: 4
Location: New York City

LoveThatFit is a virtual online shopping platform that allows users to try clothes on, see how they fit and look, and addresses the social aspect of shopping. Consumers are frustrated with constantly returning items and retailers spend billions of dollars per year on returns.  LoveThatFit solves this and gives users a realistic experience.

PIXLEE
Industry: Media and Entertainment
Category: Enjoyment
Employees: 3
Location: New York City

Pixlee is a Flickr for businesses. We help companies with branding and marketing through pictures. We provide a third party photo organization and sharing service with front end design and back end analytics so companies can more effectively use their photos to engage with consumers. We have a product, customers, and hope to have paying costumer very soon. http://pixlee.com/awad is an example. “Random Photos” is crowd-sourced. You can add to it.

GZ POINTS
Industry: Education
Category: Education & Health
Employees: 4
Location: New York City

GZpoints.com rewards students with deals to businesses based on their grades in school, attendance and community service.  Our online platform makes it easy for schools to upload their student excel sheets and convert student grades into GZpoints. Students can easily check their points and print out coupons with QR codes which can be scanned and redeemed by our partnering businesses. We also have an app for kids to redeem coupons on their mobile devices.

NESTEGG
Industry: Financial Services
Category: Wealth
Employees: 6
Location: New York City

NestEgg’s vision is a world where regular people can access the most sophisticated investment tools used by Wall Street for its wealthiest clients.  We help investors understand their money across accounts, create and monitor diversified portfolios, build personalized financial plans, and connect them with financial institutions to implement our recommendations. Our algorithmic investment guru takes the emotion out of investing and protects your wealth.

INSTREMIA
Industry: Education
Category: Education & Health
Employees: 3
Location: New York City

Instreamia takes the best language learning resources and methods on the Internet, and intelligently connects them in one place. Learners can learn from videos and blogs with integrated reference materials, have conversations with native speakers, and interact with content through intelligent, adaptive exercises.

TACTONIC TECHNOLOGIES
Industry: Technology
Category: Education & Health
Employees: 4
Location: New York City

Tactonic Technologies makes next-generation Touch 2.0 products and applications possible by enabling surface interaction everywhere. The future of touch goes far beyond the current simple Touch 1.0 pinch and flick gestures. Interaction opportunities exist wherever a hand, foot or any object touches a surface. Tactonic Technologies provides Touch and Pressure Imaging components, products and solutions to address these interaction opportunities.

 

 

 

 

 

Inside the IBM SmartPitch Roundtable

May 10, 2012 Tagged With: ,
By Santiago Perez
Field Fellow

 

 

The IBM SmartPitch Roundtable event on May 1st covered a number of valuable topics regarding IBM’s work to support entrepreneurship that is in line with its Smarter Planet vision.  Karen Parris, the VP of Industry Solutions for IBM’s Software Group, presented the long term vision of IBM for every day objects becoming immanently embedded with technology that interconnect into a colorful web of data ranging from where crime hotspots are developing to where pipelines are at risk of leaking to when your potted plant needs watering, all giving rise to the possibility of intelligent redesign of city living.

Rolando Franco, IBM Executive IT Architect

Executive IT Architect Rolando Franco then outlined the resources that IBM makes available to students and entrepreneurs, including access to a wide gamut of software, technical support (full list here). Current Challengers and alumni of SmartPitch then discussed their experience at the Sustainable Operations Summit, a phenomenal international conference on integrating solutions to social and environmental problems into mainstream business normalcy. Student attendants where sponsored by IBM, allowing them remarkable access to high powered professionals in the field.

 

Participants at the IBM SmartPitch Roundtable

AT&T Fast Pitch Competition: Final Round May 15th

May 3, 2012 Tagged With: , ,

Baruch’s first AT&T Fast Pitch competition has come to a close, but aspiring entrepreneurs and interested parties can watch the nine finalists battle it out live in front of a panel of judges.  The final event will take place May 15, 2012 from 11am to 2pm at Baruch’s main Vertical Campus.  Lunch will be served.  To register for the event go here: attpitch.eventbrite.com

For more details visit the AT&T and Baruch College Fast Pitch Competition main page.