Upper School students interested in business and entrepreneurship gathered in the Reading Room of the Upper School library on Thursday and Friday, November 30 and December 1 for a two-day hands-on, educational adventure — the Startup Experience — which introduces ideas and practices related to entrepreneurship. (Read more about Startup Experience and the Entrepreneurship spring elective at Gilman.)

After learning about market potential, competitor analysis, value proposition, and other business concepts, the boys broke into groups to develop startup companies. In addition to the founder of Startup Experience, Henrik Scheel, students were mentored by alumni visitors who helped them work through their ideas and challenges. At the end of day two, the teams presented their work as business pitches — much like on Shark Tank (but with friendlier judges from the Gilman community).

First up was ClubHub, an app that would address the lack of engagement in schools. Currently at Gilman, clubs and games are shared during assembly and in a daily email, but the team said these announcements are not “front of mind” and students don’t know where to go for such events. The solution: ClubHub, where students can find out what clubs and sports match up with their interests. They can use a chat feature to communicate outside of club meetings, and they can utilize a social media-like feed to post announcements and stay up to date on club and team happenings.

FireFlight First Response Tech focused on a more serious problem: loss of life due to fires. Using drone technology with thermal imagery and grid coordination, this startup’s product would guide firefighters in real time towards safer entry points of a burning building; it would provide them with fire hydrant locations; and it would use AI technology to predict how a fire might spread.

NostroGrow is a business seeking to ease the life of farmers, who currently must choose between rotating crops or taking a gap year while waiting for soil to replenish its nutrients. Using gene-editing technology, this company’s product would put more nitrogen into the ground, a solution that is preferable to chemical fertilizers that are not good for soil and can be expensive. The team members were extremely knowledgeable in the subject of the technology and answered the sharks’ questions like pros. “The technology needed already exists; it just hasn’t been applied like this,” one student said.

In yet another field, DeafLens created a pair of glasses — not for people with vision impairment but for those with hearing loss. The company’s tagline: Helping connect them to the world. The glasses would have speech-detection capabilities, bringing up the text onto the inside of the lenses, allowing the user to read the words in real time. Additional AI technology would identify important background sounds, like a car approaching. The team said it would sell its product to Medicare and also directly to consumers.

Wingsync is an app to help travelers navigate the airport experience, providing detailed maps that guide users to their gate, to various food options, and to important information like flight delays. While the plane passengers would be the end users, the airports would be the customers paying for the app. Ads from concessions would provide additional revenue.

A group of enthusiastic presenters from ByteLearnAI shared how their product would help students complete school work with the school/teacher controlling and restricting the AI based on the specific assignment or curriculum. “It doesn’t replace teachers; it just augments the teaching experience,” said one team member. The group tested a prototype by uploading one team member’s Odyssey essay and English teacher Mr. Hastings’ instructions. The result: The AI offered feedback on the essay that was similar to the comments actually given by Mr. Hastings.

“I’m blown away,” said Scheel at the conclusion of the presentations. “This was the highest level of pitches I’ve seen.” One shark offered advice: “Teams that do well know how to tell a story. Anytime you’re pitching whether it’s a business pitch or a job interview, always tell a story.” Ultimately, the sharks collectively chose ClubHub as the winner of the competition for its obvious need, functioning prototype, and team cohesion. FireFlight First Response Tech was picked as the winner by the audience.

Congratulations to all who participated! And thank you to our mentors and judges (listed below) for their time and expertise.

View more photos from Startup Experience

Mentors

• Josh Freeman ’87, Principal at Continuum Media
• Phil Han ’04, Owner at Dooby's
• Kevin Robbins ’94, General Partner at Blue Delta Capital Partners
• Sebastian Seiguer ’90, CEO at Scene Health
• Will Zerhouni ’94, Managing Director at TRGP Investment Partners, LP

Judges

• Matt Tremblay P’34, CEO at Blackbird Laboratories
• Khalil Uqdah ’06, President, Development at Charm City Buyers
• Christy Wyskiel PP, Senior Advisor to the President for Innovation & Entrepreneurship at Johns Hopkins Technology Ventures