Twenty-five students participated in a hands-on entrepreneurial training program in early December. Henrik Scheel of the Startup Experience led the eight small groups of Upper School boys over two days teaching them about all aspects of starting a business, beginning with problem identification and solution development, and moving on to market potential, competitor analysis, value proposition, and other concepts.

The experience concluded with a "Shark Tank"-style competition where each group pitched its idea to a panel of judges — or sharks — which included Head of Upper School Brian Ledyard P'31, '33, Founder of Four21 Advisory Kelvin Liu P'27, and CEO of Blackbird Laboratories Matt Tremblay, P'34, '39.

• Mental Mates is an app geared towards teens suffering with depression, isolation, and other mental health struggles. It connects users with therapists and peers for support.
• CampusLink is an app, not unlike Tinder. But instead of narrowing the field while searching for a partner, users would swipe left and right as they browse through college options in their college search process.
• PyroPack is a new solution to a serious problem. Using specialized materials like Aerogel, which has been used by astronauts facing extreme temperatures in space, this new PPE would better protect firefighters as they face wildfires that have become more common with global warming, preventing injuries and saving lives.
• FocusBand is a simple wristband that uses biometric feedback to deliver gentle vibrations whenever the person wearing it is zoning out in class, helping users who struggle with maintaining focus.
• ElderlyEase is an app that members of the sandwich generation would use to navigate the complex process of finding caregiving facilities and resources for elderly parents. The concierge service offers AI functionality — which the students showed in a live demonstration during their presentation.
• ShineScan is also an AI-powered app, targeted to young men, that offers a free survey and then a fee-based scan of a user's face and hair that then guides them to hair and skin products best suited for their needs. Affiliate links as well as subscription services would offer sources of revenue.
• Viridian — yet another AI-powered app — serves students who are learning languages, allowing them to have back-and-forth conversations with native-speaking AIs, which is the best way to pick up a new language, when another human being isn't available or when a teacher isn't able to assist multiple students at once. The app would provide real-time feedback, shared with teachers, so users could quickly learn from their mistakes.
• Executive AIssistant uses AI technology to support students who need a little extra help staying on task while studying and figuring out time-management strategies. The app would connect with a school's platform to help create personalized schedules, provide reminders, and eliminate distractions.
• A bonus pitch was made by Matthew Feola '25 about a project he's been working on outside of this program for the last three months. His company, SleepBox LLC, offers custom sleep-aid solutions via a box delivered to the user each month.

While the judges conferred, Scheel offered the boys next steps about moving forward with their ideas — whether that meant working with their original teams or bringing in others and forming new companies. He also suggested several books that would be helpful in their entrepreneurial adventures.

When the sharks returned with their decisions, they announced the team selected as runner up: ElderlyEase! The judges said they liked how the problem is something that affects not only the elderly person but also loved ones around them.

And the winner is … PyroPack! "We all really liked that this is an important problem. You identified that there is a market opportunity there," said one judge. "People are out there risking their lives with technology that is 50 years old." The sharks were impressed by the team's scientific and cost models, also pointing out the camaraderie they noticed among team members.

Congratulations to the winners and all of the teams on a job well done! And thank you to Scheel, the judges, the mentors listed below who offered suggestions and support along the way, as well as Nathaniel Badder '94 who organized the program. Badder also teaches an Entrepreneurship class in the spring; students who have been bitten by the business bug can enroll.

Mentors

• Ryan Kamauff '03 - Cloud Architect at VMware
• Zach Lander-Portnoy '06 - Chief Revenue Officer at Tricerat
• Robb Lawrence P'28 - Entrepreneur in Residence at the University of Maryland, Baltimore
• Kevin Robbins '94 - General Partner at Blue Delta Capital Partners
• Sebastian Seiguer '90, P'35 - CEO at Scene Health
• Christy Wyskiel PP - Senior Advisor to the President for Innovation & Entrepreneurship; Executive Director at Johns Hopkins Technology Ventures
• Will Zerhouni '94, P'25, '29 - Managing Director at TRGP Investment Partners, LP

See More Photos from the Fall 2024 Startup Experience and Demo Day