From developing water conservation services, to developing a more effective and eco-friendly battery, to therapies that slow the aging process, Rady School of Management students are making a difference in the world.
The StartR, mystartupxx, Lab to Marketand Institute for the Global Entrepreneur teams representing the Rady School at the annual Entrepreneur Challengeswept the competition, with two teams earning $60,000 worth of first place prize money in their categories. This year the competition housed three different tracks — High Tech, Life Tech, and Clean Tech.
Now in its tenth year, the student run competition and biggest pitch competition on the UC San Diego campus celebrates Triton student and alumni entrepreneurs and innovators through funding, mentoring and education. Participants in the challenge attend workshops in order to foster an effective business plan and implement
Throughout its decade-long tenure, The Entrepreneur Challenge has provided more than $1.3 million in cash and services to up-and-coming business ventures. This year, participants competed for the chance to win a portion of $300,000 worth of prize money shared among the three tracks.
Rady Success
South 8 Technologies, a team that was developed in the Rady School Lab to Market program, took home first place in the Clean Tech category. The company has developed a breakthrough chemistry for batteries, allowing them to increase energy density at lower temperatures without compromising power, won first place in the Clean Tech track. South 8 Technologies is part of the Institute for the Global Entrepreneur – an initiative between the Jacobs School of Engineering and the Rady School designed to help students gain business acumen through building new ventures.
MobeWash, a mobile application combined with a service that links waterless car wash services to consumers took third place in the Clean Tech track. MobeWash’s business model thrives on providing mobile car wash services at the convenience of the customer while saving millions of gallons of water.
Rady School teams won first and second place in the Life Tech category. First place went to Veocor, a StartR team that has developed a non-invasive diagnostic tool that can identify and quantify blood stasis in the left ventricle, thereby allowing physicians to assess the risk of cardiac thrombus and reduce the number of associated strokes through informed prescription of anticoagulant therapy.
Geminice, a mystartupXX and StartR team, earned second place in category with a focus on developing a non-invasive topical botulinum toxin (Botox) to help customers who are afraid of injections enjoy the benefits in a reliable, effective and safe manner.
StartR team BarStar earned third place in the High Tech track. The team developed a device that collects mechanical data about the users weightlifting session and sends this data to a mobile device for live time feedback and computation.
Rady student Alex Boone (MBA ’18) also had a hand in the event. As CEO of The Entrepreneur Challenge, Boone organized the event that hosted more than 200 attendees and entrepreneurs.
More about The Entrepreneur Challenge
The Entrepreneur Challenge is a fully integrated entrepreneurial development program. The goal of the organization is to provide aspiring entrepreneurs with the necessary tools and resources to both think logically and act practically to commercialize ideas. The yearlong educational program consists of engaging talks from the best and brightest entrepreneurs, professionals and investors.
In addition to this program, The Entrepreneur Challenge connects students with the professional services they need to succeed such as intellectual law firms, angel and venture investors and a broad spectrum of successful business people in the community.
The flagship events include the annual elevator pitch competition as well as the largest business plan competition in the San Diego community. These competitions award the best companies turning them into successful businesses.