Joe Poole (BSBA ’26) has been recognized as one of six Inno Under 25 honorees for 2025. The annual St. Louis Inno awards program for young entrepreneurs celebrates people early in their careers in innovation and entrepreneurship. Poole’s startup, Brain Battle, is a gamified test preparation app designed to give people cheaper access to SAT study tools. Poole participated in the Skandalaris Launchpad summer accelerator program in 2024 and is a two-time semifinalist in the Skandalaris Venture Competition.
The following article was written by Samir Knox and published in St. Louis Inno on August 28, 2025.
Joe Poole calls his gamified test preparation app the “Duolingo of test prep,” adding competitive game mechanics to a platform designed to give people cheaper access to SAT study tools.
The 22-year-old said the firm was founded to flip the script on conventional studying tools, where tutors and higher-quality educational programs are often restricted by a student’s access to income.
“Students from the highest income quartile score, on average, 200 points higher on the SAT than those from the lowest,” he said. “That’s not intelligence — it’s privilege: $100-an-hour tutors, prep classes, better schools. Meanwhile, 95% of teens carry a smartphone in their pocket, yet test prep hasn’t caught up — it’s still expensive, boring and inequitable. As students ourselves, we knew there had to be a better way. That’s why we created Brain Battle: to flip studying on its head and make high-quality test prep available to any student, anywhere.”
Among the features, Poole said, are live battles with other players, and feedback to players.
Brain Battle was co-founded by Poole and a Washington University classmate, Lucas Speier, with support from other students and WashU faculty. The firm is also bootstrapped, Poole said, having more than $15,000 in non-dilutive grants.
What are some of your biggest accomplishments to date?
- Built a dataset of 100,000+ SAT/ACT questions —10x competitors;
- developed asynchronous gameplay that allows students to compete and learn anytime, anywhere;
- accepted into WashU’s competitive Skandalaris Summer Startup Incubator;
- winner of WashU’s 2025 Olin Cup;
- $5,000 prize at UMKC’s Regnier Social Entrepreneurship Challenge;
- accepted into WashU’s prestigious incubator course, The League;
- finalist at the 2025 Fowler Global Social Innovation Challenge;
- selected as one of three WashU startups to represent the university at DePaul’s Pitch Madness, a showcase for the Midwest’s most promising ventures.
What are your plans for this business in the next year and onward? Over the next year we aim to: Reach 10,000 users; expand school and tutoring partnerships; launch a web-based dashboard for tutors and schools; and scale regionally, starting with St. Louis.
How do you feel about the broader startup community in St. Louis? The St. Louis startup community is cultivating a growing culture of innovation, supported by strong networks of educational nonprofits and civic initiatives. For us, St. Louis is the ideal launchpad. With more than 100,000 K–12 students — over 60% in Title I schools — the need here is urgent. Average ACT scores lag nearly three points below the national average, and fewer than one in four students meet all four readiness benchmarks. We founded Brain Battle in direct response to that gap, and we believe this city can be where the narrative begins to change.
What advice do you have for other young entrepreneurs? Focus on building a product people truly need. Get out of the classroom or office and talk to real users. Build something so valuable, so engaging, they can’t ignore it.
What makes gamified systems good for studying and learning? Do you think that’s a better way to help young test-takers retain information? Absolutely. Students today are surrounded by nonstop engagement — scrolling feeds, constant notifications, endless content. Traditional prep feels like a chore, but gamified learning feels like play. Brain Battle takes the same elements that keep them hooked — streaks, leaderboards, rewards, community — and uses them to fuel learning instead. The result is studying that feels addictive in the best way. Students at every level gain consistency, confidence and motivation. They don’t just remember more — they keep coming back, leveling up their skills, boosting their scores and opening new opportunities.
Age: 22