{"id":246395,"date":"2026-05-19T11:31:47","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T15:31:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=246395"},"modified":"2026-05-19T11:34:43","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T15:34:43","slug":"budding-entrepreneurs-gain-real-world-feedback","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2026\/05\/budding-entrepreneurs-gain-real-world-feedback\/","title":{"rendered":"Technology Entrepreneurship: Budding Entrepreneurs Gain Real-World Feedback"},"content":{"rendered":"

The first-ever Ultimate Pitch Competition\u00a0recently\u00a0brought bold ideas, innovative problem solving, and entrepreneurial energy to the Matthew & Margarethe\u00a0Mashikian\u00a0Innovation & Entrepreneurship Hub (eHub). Student teams pitched innovative startups and technologies to a panel of judges, competing for top honors while gaining real-world feedback from experienced entrepreneurs and industry leaders.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"AThe\u00a0eHub,\u00a0located\u00a0within the UConn College of Engineering,\u00a0held the first\u00a0competition on April 24.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Pitch teams were organized into two tracks,\u00a0with the first track\u00a0including\u00a0students in the\u00a0early-stage, or with limited experience.\u00a0The second track consisted of students with some experience from prior competitions or venture progress.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEvents like the Ultimate Pitch Competition give students the opportunity to move beyond the classroom and test their ideas in a real entrepreneurial environment,\u201d said\u00a0eHub\u00a0director\u00a0Leila Daneshmandi. \u201cWe want our students to build confidence in communicating their vision, thinking critically about market impact, and learning how to transform innovative ideas into viable ventures.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Students presented for five minutes, then answered questions from the judges.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Dr. Michelle Augustyn, business advisor at the Connecticut Small Business Development Center and adjunct faculty member at the UConn School of Business and Pat Adams\u00a0<\/span>\u2018<\/span>85\u00a0(CLAS),\u00a0product\u00a0development\u00a0manager at\u00a0Naveris,\u00a0offered to judge the students.\u00a0The two judges<\/span>\u00a0questioned\u00a0the students on their product and plan,\u00a0offering them suggestions for tightening their\u00a0arguments or\u00a0expanding their market view.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For Session I, the first-place winner was\u00a0PressSure\u00a0and the\u00a0second-place\u00a0winner was Organize Your Thoughts.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The\u00a0PressSure\u00a0team consisted of\u00a0<\/span>Kyle Kamay,\u00a0Isabella Yuzon, and Miyu Hasegawa, while the Organize Your Thoughts team consisted of Millenia Polanco.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"People
Michelle Augustyn, Pat Adams, and Leila Daneshmandi. (Claire Galvin\/UConn Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For Session II, the first-place winner was Crescent\u00a0Intelligence\u00a0and the\u00a0second-place\u00a0winners tied:\u00a0Dropiotectics\u00a0and\u00a0KinetIQ.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Crescent Intelligence included Haseeb Chaudhry;\u00a0Dropiotectics\u00a0included Usama Sheikh;\u00a0and\u00a0KinetIQ\u00a0included\u00a0<\/span>Dar Jankovic, Lucy Li,\u00a0Palavi\u00a0Lawate, Sonal Selvakumar, Alyssa Elliott, and Jonathan Hylton.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The first-place winning teams took home $1,000, while the runner-up teams earned $400.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Before the event, Daneshmandi explained the entrepreneurship courses\u00a0and programs\u00a0offered within UConn\u00a0Engineering that are designed to\u00a0enhance students\u2019 entrepreneurial experience and knowledge, from ideation to exit.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship I and II; Innovation Entrepreneurship; Startup Consulting; Technology Entrepreneurship: Startup Strategy; Entrepreneurial Skills; and Innovation for Defense are\u00a0the current courses offered by the\u00a0eHub.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

More photos of the event are visible\u00a0<\/span>online.<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2018We want our students to build confidence in communicating their vision, thinking critically about market impact, and learning how to transform innovative ideas into viable ventures.\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":185,"featured_media":246396,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1866],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[2445],"class_list":["post-246395","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-engr"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-27 09:45:57","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246395","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/185"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=246395"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246395\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":246402,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246395\/revisions\/246402"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/246396"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=246395"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=246395"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=246395"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=246395"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=246395"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}