NEW YORK -- At the end of February the BIG EAST hosted its third Startup Challenge, a competition featuring innovations and products from teams of student entrepreneurs representing all 11 Conference institutions. The competition was virtual on zoom with Gracey Owen of Georgetown winning the competition with her innovation "Compost'd LLC"
She won first place and received an honorarium ro assist in continued development of Compost'd LLC.
Under Owen's concept, she has created a simple solution to composting with a freezable container to minimize issues left behind from mishandled food waste. Compost’d is also flexible and collapsible, so it can fit into any size freezer. After developing the idea, she created renderings in TinkerCAD and 3D printed prototypes in the Library’s Maker Hub. The Maker Hub’s 3D printers allow for printing in a variety of materials and colors.
The judges were seasoned entrepreneurs, innovators, venture capitalists and business leaders, A few have ties to BIG EAST institutions. Judges include:
- Brandon Andrews, Entrepreneur and Co-Founder of Gauge
- Dawn Crouch, Managing Director at Deloitte Global
- Wes Day, Partner and Deal Management, TEALL Capital
- Chad Stender, Managing Director, SeventySix Capital
- Kristy Wallace, Chief Executive Officer, Elevate Network
Teams were judged on idea and concept, market need, value proposition, feasibility, and passion, and presentation. The top three teams receive an honorarium to be used to help grow their startup business.
The runner-up this year was Butler's Ellie Howe with her project DeafLids, while UConn's Eva Quigley, Natalie Lacroix and Safia Saul placed third with their concept called Reach Bar.
Watch the competition and learn more about each project below. For more on the Startup Challenge click
here. And click the image below for the full recap of the 2022 Startup Challenge.
