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Entrepreneurial innovation took center stage on Wednesday, April 24 with the third annual Torero Entrepreneurship Challenge (TECh).
Hosted by the University of San Diego’s (USD) Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering, the virtual event offered five student teams the opportunity to pitch technology-based business ideas for the chance to win up to $20,000 in seed funding to fuel their entrepreneurial ventures.
The event kicked off with Dean Chell Roberts, PhD, introducing this unique entrepreneurial competition that brought together interdisciplinary student teams from across campus, with startup pitches that had technology at the center of their business ideas.
TECh emcee, Professor of Practice Jeff Teza, introduced the five teams — Uflo, Lift Switch, SCOUT, Keys to Success and BatteREVIVE — who earned their place as finalists at the event from an initial pool of thirteen semi-finalists.
An esteemed panel of judges, made up of entrepreneurs, business leaders and angel investors, deliberated the outcome of the five finalist awardings. One of the judges was spotlighted by Teza — alumnus Anthony Shao ‘17 (EE). Shao serves as CEO of Darroch Medical Solutions, a San Diego-based company that “found its roots in USD.”
Dean Roberts and Senior Director of Development and Alumni Relations Elisa Lurkis shared stories and video footage honoring the donor behind the Larry Kull Endowed Student Award in Engineering and Entrepreneurship.
Former Senior Vice President at SAIC, Randy Vosti, worked directly with friends and former colleagues to honor Larry Kull, former SAIC COO and president, after his passing, in a far reaching way. “USD had the right combination. It was a smaller university for an award like this [and] wouldn’t get lost in the shuffle. USD represents the kind of values Larry would have embraced.”
In the end, Uflo walked away as the grand prize winner with $5,000 in seed money for the Larry Kull Platinum Award. In their winning pitch, Uflo co-founders, Zach Kinzler ‘23 (ISyE) ‘24 (MS Business Analytics), Joseph Defina ‘23 (ISyE) ‘24 (MS Business Analytics) and UCSD alumnus Sina Azizi, demonstrated how their venture can harness the power of learning through artificial intelligence to make learning more accessible and equitable for students.
“We’re thrilled about this monumental step forward for Uflo,” says Kinsler, a committed Torero who serves on the Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering Alumni Council. “This funding is a lifeline that will help sustain our venture, hopefully allowing us to pursue it full-time after the school year. We owe a tremendous amount to the Shiley Marcos School of Engineering — the skills we’ve acquired there are clearly reflected in our product. Uflo empowers anyone to become a Changemaker in their own unique way, and we’re excited to introduce it here at USD. We believe that Uflo truly embodies the Torero spirit.”
A passion for snowboarding brought Josh Corvi ‘25 (ME), Paxton Earl ‘24 (Finance), Derek Johnson ‘24 (ME), Noah Schliesman ‘25 (EE) and Mitch Seto ‘24 (CS) together for Lift Switch. The team took home the Larry Kull Gold Award and $4,000 for their human-centered design approach to address pain points that many snowboarders experience on chairlifts.
Keys to Success team members Nicole Ramirez ‘25 (CS, EE) and Ana Rusk ‘25 (Finance) brought home the Larry Kull Silver Award and $3,000 for their do-it-yourself keyboard kits, which encourage educational curiosity within the STEM fields through innovation with a self-taught component.
BatteREVIVE and SCOUT were both awarded $2,500 as the Most Promising Teams to help continue to build on the momentum of their work.
TECh’s co-faculty lead and De Sanctis Professor of Engineering and Entrepreneurship, Venkat Shastri, PhD, started the USD engineering entrepreneurship program back in 2016 and closed out the event with immense pride. “To see it grow to what it has become is truly amazing. It shows the interest and commitment our students have to entrepreneurship. I can’t wait for one of the TECh projects to grow into a national brand!”
— Michelle Sztupkay
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