Innovation Competition Recap

2023 Innovation Competition

By Tanay Thomas

On April 22nd, 2023, Blackstone Launchpad had its annual innovation

competition. The Grand Prize was $3,000, 1st round winner was $500, and $250 for

the underclassman founder award. The total amount in prizes was $10,000. For all 13

prizes, $8,500 was given out in cash, and $1500 for in-kind legal services.

This year was the first time the innovation was divided into four different

categories. The judges in each category had to pick one pitch that made it to the finals.

In the Community, Social Media Network, and Platform, Vincenzo Roosa made it to the

finals with his business, Recovery How 2’s. In the Sports category, Jacob Webb made it

to the finals. As well as our wild card Ethan Sabini, and Ray O’Keeffe with their

business named Prospect. For the Product category, Marcus Ryan made it to finals with

his clothing line called Slow & Steady Clothing. In Technology and Services, Ahmed

Khamis and his business GNREC made it to the finals.

The Best pitch by an Underrepresented founder was Awarded to Ahmed Khamis

for GNREC. He has also received an award for 3rd place overall. The best pitch by an

underclassman founder was Awarded to Jacob Web for his business Webpro. The Wild

Card Ethan Sabini, and Ray O’Keeffe were awarded 2nd place overall for their Business

Prospect.

The Grand prize winner was Jacob Web with his company Web-pro`. Jacob was

asked how did Blackstone Launchpad at University at Albany help him pitch his

business? Jacob replied “So it helped me think of things I wouldn't have thought of.

They helped me conceptualize my business for potential investors. While I was in the

pitch they really asked great questions and I also had to think of questions that they

might think of. That let me have a better understanding of other aspects of my business.” Jacob won $3,750 cash and $1,500 in-kind.

Congratulations to all participants and a special thanks to the judges for making their decisions

Blackstone LaunchPad Fellowship 2023

Thank you for your interest in the Blackstone LaunchPad Fellowship. The 2023 BLP Fellowship will accept up to 50 founders for this selective program, which will run on Tuesday and Thursdays at 12pm ET from May 18 - July 13. 

Please review our Summer 2023 LaunchPad Fellowship Guide prior to starting your application. All Fellows will receive a $5,000 prize after successfully meeting program requirements. 

Application Criteria

Only one Fellow can be chosen per company. Co-founder cannot participate together. The applicant must:

• Be a current student (undergraduate level, graduate level, continuing education student) OR 2021 / 2022 graduate enrolled at LaunchPad university.

• Be a lead founder / co-founder of the venture.

• Be self-motivated and driven to complete work independently and with minimal oversight.

• have well-defined, quantifiable S.M.A.R.T. goals and milestones to be completed within the 6 week period of the fellowship.

• Be past the idea-stage and ideally have a pitch deck, executive summary, a logo, a website, social media accounts (Ex; LinkedIn and Twitter). Other activities that we consider to be “past” the idea stage include: working on a prototype, working on customer discovery, or building a business model.

• Have some form of traction e.g. early sales, MOUs, funding raised, customer interest, user base, etc.

• Have demonstrated leadership in both executing on business or program operations and galvanizing support.

• Have experience working with mentors or advisors, integrating feedback into their venture, and demonstrating coachability.

• Be able to complete and fulfill all required duties as posed by the Fellowship and dedicate 3-4 hours per week on Fellowship meetings and deliverables.

Application Timeline

We recommend you apply by the early deadline for the strongest consideration in the program. We anticipate filling the majority of seats in early selection. 

• Early Deadline: February 28

• Early Notification: March 8

• Final Deadline: April 2

• Final Notification: April 12

  Apply Now!

Questions? We'd love to answer them. Send an email over to tina@futurefounders.com 

Internships Spring 2022

We have some exciting internship opportunities this semester.

If you are interested in any of these opportunities, please email Rick Neff at rneff@albany.edu

Marketing Team - Central Avenue Business Improvement District

albany tech incubator (steamgarden.org)

The Central Avenue Business Improvement District which operates the STEAM Garden

Entrepreneurial Incubator, is an economic development agency for Central Avenue in

Albany. We are seeking web & tech-savvy, creative individuals to work as part of a team

on a beta Marketing/Branding and advisory support team to small businesses and

start-ups.

Concept: To form an ongoing team of savvy, creative and responsive interns who can

help guide small businesses and our start-ups with their marketing and promotions

planning and execution. Establish a “boutique in house consulting marketing team’ to

give creative and technical support to our member businesses Many small businesses

are too busy just keeping their doors open, but yet they need to grow and expand their

customers. They have little time to research social media strategies, viral marketing

ideas, and brand identity and market evaluation, let alone, create content, learn how to

post and where to post online.

The CBID is the Association that is in place to help those businesses, but we can only

do so much with our small staff. We would like to utilize the energy and talent of creative

minds from the UAlbany Business school to help us develop creative marketing

opportunities for our businesses.

As part of the pilot launch of the program, we need help in assembling our podcast

broadcast studio by resourcing new equipment, creating how-to videos, creating &

running demonstration sessions and vene a few podcasts.

We need help in developing and establishing the protocols for meeting and assisting our

businesses going forward. The goal is to expand beyond the initial start up and grow

the program but we need innovative and creative energy & talent to get this off the

ground.

International Selling on Amazon for Stress Straws

“Stress Straws are patent pending mindful breathing necklaces designed to help slow and extend your exhale. Straw breathing is a breath work technique used to help heal the mind and body. Deep breathing exercises using our sustainable breathing jewelry pendants can be used to activate the parasympathetic nervous system to create the feelings of calm and relaxation while quickly overcoming the “fight or flight” stress response. By combining the breathing benefits of mindful meditation and pranayama yoga, straw breathing signals the analytical brain to rest and relax. Our Stress Straws may also be helpful when used as a sleep or quit smoking aid. Our all-natural bamboo breathing straws seek to provide everyone affordable, sustainable and effective stress relief.”

Please check out Stress Straws on Amazon and Etsy 

Help an ecommerce company expand to international sales.

Build a listing to sell on Amazon Canada, then UK, Australia, Japan, etc..

Research and solve the following challenges:

- what are the tax/tariff requirements? (I would work with Avask to get this all submitted)

- How to build the listing? 

-How to ship internationally to be Fulfilled By Amazon? 

-Insurance requirements? 

-Customer service requirements? 

Entrepreneurial Ecosystem research - 1 Million Cups Albany

Albany, NY Event for Entrepreneurs | 1MillionCups.com

1 Million Cups (1MC) Albany educates, engages, and connects entrepreneurs in the Capital Region and beyond!

1MC is seeking a team to help research the needs of the entrepreneurial ecosystem in the capital region and help expand the events to beyond the capital region. This internship will consist of customer discovery, market research, outreach, and developing a solution. It is a great opportunity for someone to practice entrepreneurship and help the entrepreneurial community.

Pitch Competition recap

Wednesday, November 17th, Blackstone LaunchPad at UAlbany hosted our virtual Pitch Competition. This virtual competition was open to all UAlbany students with innovative ideas. Participants gave a five minute extended elevator pitch to our alumni panel of entrepreneurs and executives and executives to compete for a chance to win one of three $500 cash prizes. This event would not have been possible without our panel of judges: Rich Dubin, Stephen Hartmann, Anthony DeBonis, David Rook, Lee Perry, Gary Goldstein, Steve Lobel, Dan Finkla and Ema Buco. Thank you for taking the time to help make this event possible!

 While virtual, this year we had a great turnout and heard some exceptional pitches, with two teams tying for the winning position: Allix Coon of Sangali and Tatyana Tarasevich of SFluor. Additionally, Healy Tureski won audience favorite with their company Shafi.

 “SFluor is a new, super-hard, heat-resistant photocuring polymer that is three times stronger than others in its class.  It dries quickly under normal light without the need for expensive lighting arrays or additional chemicals; it can also be fine-tuned for a range of high-performance aviation and aerospace applications.  SFluor is ideal for firms seeking an environmentally clean, cost saving material as it emits no harmful VOCs.” - Tatyana Tarasevich.

 “Our mission at Sangali is to provide a testing service for the private sector, to identify the specific species of wood that they are purchasing. In the US and globally, there are restrictions associated with the import and export of wood. Failure to adhere to these laws can result in years of jail time, millions of dollars in fines and negative brand reputation. Our service provides the analysis of wood in any form, whether it be logs, planks, slivers or shavings. The testing itself takes approximately 15 seconds to complete and a minimum of a pinhead of sample is needed for analysis. Our service can ensure companies that they are law-abiding, promote environmental sustainability and maintain their positive reputations.” - Allix Coon.

 Allix and Tatyana have competed in our competitions in the past. Most recently, Allix took home 1st place in our 2021 Innovation Competition with her company Chem Detect. Tatyana also competed in the 2021 Innovation Competition and placed 2nd. It’s a privilege to witness these two women compete and we look forward to seeing more of their work in the future!

The Latest Newsletter!

The Blackstone Launchpad Innovation Competition is an annual event that welcomes all of Ualbany’s entrepreneurs regardless of their past experience or how developed their business idea may be. This event is held in an effort to encourage young entrepreneurs with startups and help to fund their businesses as well as bring them to life. This year our winners will receive $3,000 and 10 hours of legal consulting/service as a 1stplace prize, $1,000 and 10 hours of legal consulting/ services for 2nd place, and $500 as well as 2 hours of legal consulting for 3rd place. These prizes were graciously provided by our multiple donors: Richard Dublin, Gary Goldstein, Eric Leander, Kathryn Zox, William Newman, and David Siegfeld. Additionally, this event would not have been possible without the help of our judges: Sam Mere, Bruce Toyoma, David Siegfeld, Eric Leander, Gary Goldstein, Jim Harris, Judi Mather, Kevin Owens, Lee Perry, Robert Braathe, Stephen Hartmann, Jamal Rasoully, Rich Dubin, William Newman, Kathryn Zox, Neal Packer, and Sheldon Goldstien, who courteously offered their time.

This year’s competition, while virtual, had an exceptional turnout with Tatyana Tarasevich’s Sulfluor Polymers winning 2nd place and Yarid Asher’s Eorbi Inc. taking home 3rd. 

The 2021 Innovation Competition winner, Allix Coon, is a 3rd year PhD student here at Ualbany and is the cofounder of her company, ChemDetect. Coon is now the fourth female winner in a row, following Marielle Aprorite, April Meerson, and Amanda Dolan. Coon’s business, ChemDetect, aims to tackle the massive global problem of illegal logging, which is the process of harvesting, transporting, buying and selling of timber in violation of national and international laws. ChemDetect utilizes the chemical footprint of wood to identify its species by taking a sample the size of a match, sparing companies from unknowingly having restricted wood in their possession thus saving them from expensive fines and potential legal action. The test itself only takes around fifteen seconds to complete, as opposed to the current methods, which can take weeks to months, and are more costly and invasive.

“Having a resource like the Blackstone Launchpad at the Ualbany campus is incredible as a student entrepreneur. I am so thankful for all of the guidance I have received from them thus far. My recent participation and win in their innovation competition allowed me to gain real-world experience for future competitions and excites me for what will come next for our company ChemDetect” -Allix Coon.

We’d like to thank everyone who participated in this year’s competition. We are constantly impressed with the startups that Ualbany’s entrepreneurs present us with and are already looking forward to next year.

Virtual Summer Internship Recap

Blackstone Launchpad at UAlbany facilitated virtual summer internships with startups and organizations in upstate NY.  18 interns worked on 8 projects over 10 weeks. Student got to experience working with a startup first hand with a variety of technical and business tasks.  At startup Chaasm, interns conducted customer discovery, worked on developing a business plan, researched venture capital firms.  At startup Data Spotlite, interns crosswalked the functions and features of our Cyber Security Solution CYRISMA to controls from different compliance mandates.  Two teams of students conducted a technical and a business project at the startup Iconoclasm.  The technical team performed software and infrastructure audits, detail threat models, conduct introductory level digital forensics, and contributed to documentation.  The business team conducted market research, customer outreach, completed a swot analysis, and drafted a white letter.  At Alchar Printing the team helped convert their business to an ecommerce busines model.  Other interns were deployed to the SBDC and worked on projects here at UAlbany conducting research, creating guides and doing data analytics. 

Blackstone LaunchPad will be facilitating this program again during the semester. For more information visit: www.launchpadalbany.com/cares

5th Annual Innovation Competition Results

Blackstone LaunchPad powered by Techstars at UAlbany held our 5th annual Innovation Competition on Friday, April 24th.  21 teams from across the university participated in the two-round event for a chance to win the $1,000 top prize.    

Teams competed in two rounds and were divided into five categories: Environment, Health and Wellness, Social; Food; Products; Services; and Technology and Entertainment.  Teams were scored on their presentation, innovativeness, financial understanding, a growth plan.  The top team from each category advanced to the final round which was held live via zoom in in front of the judges.  Teams presented their ventures to a panel of 10 judges consisting of Entrepreneurs, Financial Advisors, Bankers, Consultants, and Healthcare Executives. 

The third place team was TrashlogiX, founded by MBA students Josh Frederick, Sumit Mondaiyka, Michael Houghton, and Tony Andrews.  TrashlogiX is an idea for a  classic waste transfer station with the focus the recycling and reuse of materials, as opposed to landfilling. Construction and Demolition debris will be brought to the facility and sorted and separated into different categories. Categories will include wood, plastics, ferrous metals, non-ferrous metals, asphalt roofing, gypsum board, concrete and CMU block, brick, and finally items that will need to be landfilled.

The second place team was Duct LLC, founded  by school of business undergraduate students Joe Schnetzler and John Dibernardi.  Duct is a Construction Technology startup.  Duct is a subcontract management platform for general contractors and subcontractors. Duct looks to get projects done faster and easier leading to higher cost savings and boosted productivity. They also ensure that work done properly is properly paid for eliminating mechanic liens and the need for surety insurance.  Duct was recently accepted into StartCo accelerator in Memphis TN.  Visit them at: www.ductllc.com

The winning venture was LUXLife, founded by Human Biology undergraduate student Marielle Apronte.  LUX Life is a beauty and health company that offers custom wig services and quality hair extensions.  They pride themselves on offering customers superior quality virgin human hair extensions.  They are committed to offering our customers the products and support that they need so that each customer has the best experience possible.  None of LUXLife’s extensions have been chemically processed.  Visit them at: www.luxlifehair.com

Blackstone LaunchPad powered by Techstars at UAlbany would like to thank all the teams for their hard work preparing for this competition, and the Judges their support, time, and feedback.  We would also like to thank William Newman of Atrium Financial Group for donating a portion of the prize money. 

About Blackstone LaunchPad at UAlbany:

The Blackstone LaunchPad powered by Techstars entrepreneurship network helps University at Albany students succeed. Open to all students and alumni in all majors, the campus-based Blackstone LaunchPad powered by Techstars enables participants to access mentoring, grow their network, and access the resources to accelerate the success of their business.

Design Thinking guest speaker

Hi, My name is Christine Rice and I am a rising Junior at the University at Albany. I am so grateful to have had the pleasure of hearing from Dhairya Pujara through the Blackstone LaunchPad/ Albany Entrepreneurs United event. As the Vice President of the club, he gave me such inspiration about creating a business that really answers the problems in the community from the perspective of those who are affected by it. Moving forward from it, I really learned the importance of getting various perspectives when one is looking for creative solutions.
Design Thinking really helped me incorporate many creative solutions to varying problems. As the speaker said, you need to make sure that the population that we are solving the problem for has a way for using the product. He even gave a great example of how he made water accessible for an area in Africa. However, the local culture has a tradition that people would walk to the water source and that’s where they would have conversations. Thus, there was no use for the water system he had put in because it was not created in a way that would benefit the community. In this case, the man thought of a solution but did not think of the correct one for the situation. This was one example of how design thinking can successfully help someone create impact and avoid mistakes in business management, I will carry this newly-gained knowledge with me forward in my career. 

Startup Weekend LA Recap

This past weekend, myself and two other interns had the pleasure of attending the Blackstone Startup Weekend Powered by Techstars at UCLA, California. We had the opportunity to learn what goes into a startup, have one-on-ones with extremely knowledgable mentors, and gain insight from several speakers. They taught us the steps that go into pitching an idea and how to present our business models.

            We were mentored by Darwyn Metzger, a former star of America Now, Emmy-winning journalist, and the founder and CEO of Phantom, a digital marketing and social media strategy firm. Darwyn not only gave us valuable insight into our own business idea but insight into the entire marketing industry, some of his experiences, and his opinion on a few trends in the stock market right now. He was apart of building up some of the most famous viners images and then transitioning them to stay relevant after vine shut down. Darwyn emphasized the need to stay relevant in your market, no matter how popular the service or product may be at any given time. He also highlighted the importance of entering ‘blue seas’ and not red. It is much easier to create a new market space than to compete with companies already there. Talking to Darwyn, among other mentors, was personally my favorite aspect of the weekend.

            Additionally, I had the opportunity to be one-on-two critiqued on my pitch. I had never pitched an idea in a setting like this before, making it extremely interesting to get instant feedback on some of my ideas. Two of the mentors listened to the pitch my team and I had developed and helped refine it for the final presentation. They provided a general model for creating a pitch which I look forward to using again in the future. Most of the advice they provided can be used for future endeavors.

            Traveling to California and participating in the Blackstone Startup Weekend was an amazing experience. I learned so much in such a short time span and I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity. I am looking forward to sharing my new insight with the UAlbany campus.

-Sarah Bowen

"TIMES UNION" ARTICLE, BLACKSTONE LAUNCHPAD INNOVATION COMPETITION 2019

Diego Mendoza-Moyers , from the Times Union Newspaper, wrote a wonderful article about our annual Innovation Competition which was on April 5th.

“Have you ever wondered if light can transport information? Or, if you're into beauty products, how you might find false eyelashes that last longer than a few uses? If you're a student, you might want a marketplace to buy and sell furniture, textbooks or other items you want to get rid of at the end of the semester.

Those are just some of the ideas students presented at the University at Albany's fourth annual Blackstone Launchpad Innovation Competition, a "Shark Tank" style business pitch competition that saw undergraduate and graduate students lay out their business plan in front of around a dozen judges.”

This excerpt is taken from Times Union, click here to see original article.

Blackstone LaunchPad at UAlbany Hosts Their 2nd Annual "Can You Pitch?" Event

UAlbany’s Blackstone LaunchPad will be hosting the second annual “Can You Pitch?” contest. Students stop by the table and pull a prop from a bag, they are then given 30 seconds to give an improvised prop-based pitch. Each week following the “Can You Pitch?” event, videos will be posted on the UAlbany Blackstone LaunchPad instagram, along with questions that are based on the chosen videos.

 At the end of the week, one winner will be chosen among all of those who have submitted answers to the posted questions. The prizes include Amazon gift cards, Starbucks gift cards, Blackstone LaunchPad gear, school spirit bead necklaces, and candy.

 Last year, UAlbany Blackstone LaunchPad won the Global Orientation Competition competing against 30 other universities. UAlbany Blackstone LaunchPad used the “Can You Pitch?” event to register more than 1,400 students.

 Almost 9 percent of UAlbany’s student body registered to join Blackstone LaunchPad’s network. That is the highest percentage of any of the program’s 30 university partners, including four other major university campuses in New York State – Cornell University, New York University, Syracuse University, and the University at Buffalo.

Pitch Please Event 2018

Blackstone LaunchPad at SUNY Albany hosted an innovation pitch and networking event on Tuesday, February 13th. Numerous established companies and ventures came out to hear student groups pitch their innovative ideas. Students were able to receive feedback from different professionals in various fields such as Jerry Golub, the Vice Chairman of Price Chopper, Gary Goldstein, the Director of EmblemHealth Dental Program, and David Siegfeld, Partner at Ganz Wolkenbreit & Seigfeld LLC. Each student group was given five minutes to deliver their pitches and an additional five minutes were granted for Q&A afterwards. 

Once all the student groups presented and received their feedback, students and professionals were able to network and connect for about an hour before the evening was brought to a close. Blackstone Launchpad at SUNY Albany has had success in the past with similar events that they’ve hosted and have a innovation competition event coming up in April.

We want to thank all of the student groups and the professional mentors that took time to come out and participate. 

Mentors: Stephen Hartmann, David Siegfeld, Dan Finkle, Neil Packer, Jerry Golub, and Gary Goldstein.

Student Groups: Classmates, MASH Co., NutMeg's PB, RiboDynamics, Sweat-Teach, Verified Lifeguards, Campus Pro, Toasty Naturals, and Polis.

Jamal Rasoully, UAlbany Alum and Creator of Spin Sauce

Rasoully integrated what he learned at the University at Albany and Albany Launchpad to create his own product and brand, Spin Sauce. Once he graduated, he wanted to partner up with university auxiliary services and be able to sell his sauce through different venues on campus. What resulted was something much better, the Halal Shack. Tara Fitzpatrick, writer for Food Management, wrote an incredible article on Rasoully and his success. Click here to read more.