At the second Stumberg New Venture Competition finals on Nov. 7, four startup groups pitched their business proposals to a panel of five judges.
The groups “” GoodLookingOut (GLO), Country Club Collection, Cloud Therapy and The Contemporary “” competed last spring and won $5,000 grants. At the finals, they competed for the grand prize of $25,000.
GLO was the first to present. Bria Woods ’16 explained how GLO is bigger than the instances of sexual assault and substance abuse on college campuses and how the company intends to limit such occurrences.
“GLO can provide safety in numbers. GLO will automatically alert your friends when you’ve arrived safely,” Bria Woods said.
According to Woods, GLO is the only app on the market that incorporates time and place. It allows its users to set their arrival time and place at the beginning of the night, reminds them when the preferred time is nearing, and notifies friends when a person makes it back to their designated place.
“We’re proactive. Unlike other apps on the market that are geared towards victim support, which is more after the fact, GLO is an active step you can take before you start your evening so that the rest of it will go smoothly,” Woods said.
After GLO presented, the Country Club Collection (CCC) got up to the stage to present their pitch. CCC is a company that liquidates excess inventory from country club pro shops.
“Our solution is very simple. We offer a one-stop, hassle-free offer to purchase all excess inventory for immediate cash,” said Danny Oh, founder of CCC.
CCC is connected with many prestigious brands””Nike, Peter Millar, Vineyard Vines, Travis Mathew””and exclusive country clubs. In October, the company reached over $6,000 in sales and expect to reach $9,000 in sales by December.
“We know our strength is that we turn our product that is liquidated for a 47% margin. We project to have 1.2 million dollars in the first year and 2 million in the second,” Oh said.
After the presentation from the Country Club Collection, Cloud Therapy presented. Cloud Therapy is a smart Q&A response system that answers general medical knowledge questions in multiple languages. Cloud Therapy is connected with many influential pharmaceutical companies and is powered by IBM Watson.
“We’re one of the top Latin American startups. We’re a very young company; we’re just beginning, but we have to know how,” said Andre Sandoval, founder of Cloud Therapy.
Sandoval explained how his company would use the grant money to help with operational costs and acquiring new technology. Cloud Therapy gets its data from IBM and the pharmaceutical companies its connected with and hopes to make diagnosis simpler.
“A healthier society is a smarter society,” Sandoval said.
Photo by Claudia Garcia
Next, The Contemporary presented their pitch. The Contemporary is a student-run, public affairs startup that is connected with 11 other colleges to offer an outlet for students to discuss global politics.
“There must be a platform that allows undergrads the opportunity to be thought-leaders on the most pressing issues and channels their anxieties into actions. And that’s what The Contemporary is doing,” said Benjamin Collinger, founder of the startup.
The platform allows students from across the country and the world to discuss current events and to be the voice for their generation. The Contemporary is a for-profit startup that intends its readers to gain an undergraduate perspective on a diverse selection of topics.
“We’ve learned how to communicate, utilize each other’s strengths and remain focused in the face of adversity. From our print model, we decided to move to a digital model,” said Kassie Kelly, member of The Contemporary.
The Contemporary aims to maintain a platform for current events to be discussed and analyzed. By welcoming other colleges into the startup, The Contemporary widens its perspective and shows a better understanding of the true millennial mindset.
“We believe in sustainably generated public discourse. People want to read the content of their peers an understand what is going on on college campuses,” said Zabdi Salazar, another member of The Contemporary.
After much debate and a suspenseful 30 minutes, the judges made a decision about which group deserved the grant the most. Although all have potential and all make Trinity proud, the Country Club Collective won over the other candidates. The group will use the $25,000 grant prize to expand their company.
The Stumberg Spring Competition application opens Nov. 7. San Antonio Entrepreneurship Week is Nov. 14-20.
