Over 100 undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, alumni, and innovation leaders from the St. Louis community gathered at Washington University on November 8th,2021, for the Skandalaris Center’s IdeaBounce® event.
Sixteen idea pitches were heard and judged by hand-picked judges from the St. Louis community. Out of the ten pitches heard, the judges chose five ideas that stood out above the rest. These lucky winners of $100.00 included Trey Rudolph (BU/EN ’23) and his app FreeEats for finding free food on campus, Jonah Zacks (LA ’25) with Aquaponics System for micro-gardening, Betsy Sinclair (WashU facult) with her social engagement startup Magnify Your Voice, Tony Sims (BU ’22) with Lyfe Health for organizing health records, and Vinay Chandrasekaran with an idea for a catheter with flexibility options.
“What’s great about IdeaBounce® is that it’s an opportunity for members our community to come together, listen to new, innovative ideas, and connect with each other,” said Cyril Loum, the Assistant Director of Venture Development for the center. “It’s great to see these ideas and connections blossom in this high-energy environment. This is where innovation begins”, he said.
Among the crowd and idea pitchers were Harris-Stowe and Principia College students and faculty. “Having an audience, not only from the WashU community, but from surrounding universities shows that our efforts in creating a safe and fun environment for entrepreneurship and innovation are heading in the right direction, and others want to be a part of it”, said II Luscri, Managing Director of the Skandalaris Center and Assistant Vice Provost for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.
Judges for this IdeaBounce® included:
- Wyly Brown, Founding Partner, Leupold Brown Goldbach Architekten: an architectural office and Assistant Professor, Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts, Washington University.
- Abby Cohen (BS ’13), Skandalaris Center Expert In-Residence and Co-Founder / Co-CEO, Sparo: an award-winning, digital health company dedicated to helping people breathe better.
- Chris Daming (JD ‘12, LLM ’14) Founder & CEO, Legal GPS: a gamified platform that helps new and existing businesses “do legal” without having to hire a lawyer.
- Kristen McLauchlin, Program Coordinator, St. Louis Equity in Entrepreneurship Collective: Building systems of race and gender equity for St. Louis’ early-stage, entrepreneurial ecosystem.
Members of the Endgame for Entrepreneurship class were in the audience to watch and observe, as they prepare to do their own IdeaBounce® on December 6th in Umrath Hall.