Congratulations to all of the students who competed during the annual Entrepreneurship Week, March 18-25, 2021, through the Ciocca Center for Business, Ethics, and Society and the Entrepreneurship & Innovation Program at Holy Cross. These virtual events attracted more than 65 students with 9 alumni involved as judges and mentors throughout the week.
Kicking off the week, HC Launch held its bi-annual Innovation Challenge in partnership with CodeSaders and the Green Fund. The challenge required Holy Cross students to come up with creative ways to build community and connect students during the COVID-19 pandemic. With 11 teams pitching their ideas to a panel of six judges, two being our very own co-presidents of the Student Government Association, students managed to develop and create detailed plans and events that centered around the theme of community. The winning idea of this competition will be immediately implemented with the help and mentorship of Dean Murray.
Normally, the Innovation Challenge would have been held in person, but due to COVID precautions was held virtually this year. The Ciocca Center’s Head of Entrepreneurship & Innovation Program, Ja-Nae Duane, kicked off the event by informing the teams and 70+ audience members of the ground rules, prizes and goals. Tom Cremins ’21 and Mary Anne Wiley ’22, HC Launch’s Managing Directors, led intermission and gave out raffle prizes to audience members while the judges deliberated.
Congratulations to the 2021 Innovation Challenge winners:
- 1st Prize: $1,000 for Fresh Fest: an outdoor festival to help freshmen to connect by Nick Bettenhauser ‘24 & Sasha Paradise ‘24
* Watch for this inaugural event scheduled for Friday, May 1, 2021! - 2nd Prize: $750 for HC Jumpstart, a social connection to meet others on campus by Britt Axelson ‘21, Raphaella Mascia ‘21 & Connor McNerney ‘22
- 3rd Prize: $500 and “Most Creative Award” for Sader Sips: a senior-focused beer garden by Katelyn Cody ‘22, Julia Covelle ‘22, Allie Russo ‘22 & Karter Seitz ‘22
- 4th Place: ‘Special JudgesAward’ received for their outdoor movie night on the freshman field by Fabiola Trejo ‘22 and Victoria Covarrubias ‘22
Special thanks to our judges: James Keyes ‘77, Cheryl Martin ’84, Dean Michele Murrary, William Turtone, and co-presidents of the SGA, Noah Sisk ’21 and Victoria Tara ’21.
The next two events were casual pitch nights for students with early stage projects or ideas. These events are designed to helps students identify next steps, stress test an idea and find team members to help build it out. The first event was an opportunity for students to pitch to their peers and the second gave students pitch practice pitching their idea to an alum, Catherine Wilcox ’80.
To finish off Entrepreneurship Week, HC Launch held its eighth annual Shark Tank Competition. The event allows Holy Cross students to pitch their business ideas to a group of judges for five mins each, followed by three minutes of Q&A. Ten teams (five teams in the seed stage category and five teams in the early-stages category) competed for a combined total of $10,000 in prize money.
Congratulations to the Seed Stage Shark Tank Winners: a category focused on the market opportunity and concept validation of the business idea.
- $500 to Greenlist: a browser extension for identifying environmental product info Nathan Lewis ‘22
- $500 to That’s Yo Body: A motivation/fitness brand
Josh Azor ‘24 - $500 to Chering: A web-app that helps thrift stores resell their clothing.
Jacob Azzi ‘23, Dana Dinardo ‘21, Raphaella Mascia ‘21, Genevieve Wagner ‘21 of Ohio State & Molly Zachlin ‘21of Notre Dame
Congratulations to the Early Stage Shark Tank Winners: a category for students with more developed business models.
- $3,000 to SaderSleeps: a mattress rental service for college students by Louie Fiacco ‘22 & Will Spangenberg ‘22
- $2,000 to PakChat: a mobile app that allows different friend groups to meet other friend groups within their own community by Peter Blunt ‘21 & Chad Arle ‘21
- $1,000 to FUD: an app using algorithms to identify common restaurant preferences by Chris Herndon ‘22 & Jean Baptiste “JB” Goriou ‘22
Congratulations to the Ignite Fund Winner: a category for students to work with funding and guidance through the JD Power Center.
- $2,000 to SynchRUNous: an app for coaches to live track their runners by Meg Gerety
Special thanks to our Shark Tank Competition judges:
- Matt Drinkwater ‘95: Former General Manager, Buzzfeed
- Alex Hanlon ‘06: Executive, Reddit
- Beau Lescott ‘95: President, Adaptive Portfolio Technologies
- Michelle Stark Barrett: Director, Community Based Learning, Holy Cross
- Jim Tselikis ‘08: Owner, Cousins Maine Lobster
Congratulations to everyone involved during the 2021 virtual Entrepreneurship Week and we hope to see you next year!
Update 6/24/21: Read more about the Shark Tank winners in WorcesterMag & the Worcester Business Journal! Congratulations and keep it up!