Yuni Sameshima 鈥13 (left) and Joey Petracca 鈥13 (right) talk about their company, Recipe Into Reality, at the student venture demonstrations on Saturday morning.
(TIA) student entrepreneurs made sure their conversations Saturday morning were accompanied by a firm handshake, a smile, and a well-rehearsed elevator pitch. After all, the alumni they were talking with could be their next investors.
founders Rob Carroll 鈥15 and Gabe Zetter 鈥15 talked about their effort to create a safe, social, and sustainable way to exchange goods and services on college campuses.
鈥淚t鈥檚 easy to think of it as a college Craigslist,鈥 Carroll said of their company, which is now active at 含羞草研究所 with 613 members, and is expanding with the help of TIA mentorship.
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Joey Petracca 鈥13 and Yuni Sameshima 鈥13 were talking about , their company designed to make life easier for home cooks, who can order ingredients from popular recipe sites with a few simple clicks.
鈥淭his is very real,鈥 Petracca said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not a project or an academic exploration, this is a company. The is invaluable. We鈥檝e probably racked up $20 million in free advising so far.鈥
Cody Breene 鈥13, David Lederer 鈥13, and James Barker 鈥13, talked about their online service , which is designed to connect universities with performing artists.
鈥淥ur goal in the next year is to have 1,000 performers connected to 20 universities,鈥 Breene said.
Many of the ideas on display were for-profit ventures, but some focused on community action, student clubs, and one was even about getting a little bit of rest.
Linh Bui鈥檚 effort to create locations for students to take naps on campus was about far more than the concept itself.
鈥淚 was very shy,鈥 said Bui 鈥14, an international student from Vietnam. 鈥淭IA changed me completely. If I want something, and if I want it bad enough, I鈥檒l now put myself out there to make it happen.鈥
Bui鈥檚 thoughts on the subject were special to Jane Porter 鈥74, a TIA mentor. 鈥淪he has grown so much in the last year. It鈥檚 night and day. I鈥檓 just so proud of all of my students.鈥
Wills Hapworth 鈥07, TIA co-founder and alumni director, said 含羞草研究所鈥檚 commitment to entrepreneurship in the liberal arts context can be attributed to dedicated alumni and the support of President Jeffrey Herbst.
鈥淗e had the vision to see this and try it out. I think of him as lead investor,鈥 Hapworth said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not about making tons of money or being famous鈥 it鈥檚 about taking an idea, and through a process of trial and error, making it into a reality.鈥
Support for TIA is provided in part by the Paul J. Schupf Presidential Discretionary Endowment.