Startups in Seconds

90 seconds. That’s how long each of the C. T. Bauer College of Business startup teams had to make their pitches to a crowded audience during the annual Bayou Startup Showcase. 

Now in its 12^th year, the event features teams from two startup accelerators: RED Labs from Bauer College and OwlSpark from Rice University. From current undergraduate students to established faculty members, the startup founders are in many different phases of life. Regardless, they’ve all spent the summer at The Ion refining their business plans to bring their pitches to life. 

For electrical and computer engineering Ph.D. student Debolina Das, the program helped work toward her goal of preparing the startup Spinal Cord Computer Interface for the market. 

“Through this program I was able to not just interview people, but also talk to different people and learn about their stories, especially with spinal cord injury patients or a physician,” Das said.  “I'm going to meet a lot of people who might be interested, and we can actually complete our study.” 

The founders learned many lessons about creating businesses and entrepreneurship along the way. This opportunity is an example of the experiential learning that happens outside of the classroom, Executive Director of the Cyvia and Melvyn Wolff Center for Entrepreneurship David Cook said.  

The hands-on business application is something marketing and entrepreneurship junior Ansley Brown was proud to experience early on. 

“Something they tell us all the time is to fail faster,” Brown, who is the founder of ChérieCollectible, said. “In entrepreneurship, the faster you fail, the faster you can learn. Only being 19, I'm so glad that I had this opportunity so young, so I did have the chance to fail faster and make mistakes earlier on.”  

Students spent the summer applying learned concepts, including filing LLCs and setting up websites. Founders received feedback to improve these skills along the way.  

“Actually getting to do things with your own company, watching them fail or soar, it’s just really different than the classroom,” RED Labs Managing Director Liana Gonzalez said. 

For Anahi Yeverino, who founded Bleed Art and Development with Marcel Omen, the pitch showcase was a chance to face her fears and to showcase their startup with the public. 

“If it wasn't for this program, everything that's in this space would not be tangible,” finance senior Yeverino said.  “It would have still been an idea. I honestly feel like this was one of the most productive summers of my life. Not only because we bought our idea to the physical, but because I created so many connections with my peers and my mentors.” 

The experience encouraged teamwork, with some founders coming together to build up their startups. For Stage Select founders Logan Smalley and Alexander Rizk, the summer included external collaboration as well.  

“It's not a one-person job,” entrepreneurship graduate student Smalley said. “There are so many experts in the field, and we have to learn something new from each of them and to take it and then implement it in the project. It takes more than two hands. Working with Alex really showed me what it means to create a community and use that energy.” 

The teams also worked closely with each other, creating a culture of the startups supporting one another. While some of the founders are current or former students in Bauer College, many of them come from other academic colleges at the University. During the program’s two-and-a-half-month stretch, the teams opened up to each other and helped build on each other’s strengths.  

“The biggest way they grew is learning how to be confident in their business idea, but at the same time be vulnerable enough with their team, their cohort and their leaders to be able to take constructive feedback and grow with it,” a Wolff Center program manager Chris Steward said.  

Learn more about this summer’s RED Labs teams and their startups here.