Big iDeas Winners

2021 Pitch Competition Winners

Steadispoon 

Commerce Navigator 

Sister Shaq's Sweet Tea 

Raleigh Dewan ('23) is designing a self-stabilizing spoon to help people with Parkinson's regain their agency to eat.

Jude Lugo (’25) is designing a platform for e-commerce business owners that gives them the tools to automate all of their e-commerce processes 

Keyshon Jones (’23) is creating a social conscious beverage company that tastes good and does good by helping to end human trafficking. 

EZ-Tutor

Flip Chip 

Oasis Market 

Aryan Bhatnagar (’22) is designing a direct-to-consumer peer tutoring marketplace and SaaS platform for institutions and education providers. 

Zachary Lawyer has created a ceramic poker chip that is used in restaurants. The poker chips have a red and a green which signify whether someone wants service or not based on which side is facing up on the table.

Rankin Poage (’23) is designing an innovative grocery concept, targeting Dallas' food deserts. 

Collegiora 

Medichain

spotBOX

Rhys Prosser ('23) is creating  a streamlined platform that services the SMU student in an innovative way . This platform is a one-stop shop for research opportunities, knowledge-sharing, community-building, and pathfinding.

Son Vu and Alex Cerpa are using blockchain technology to store, exchange, and search for patient information so patients can control more of their medical info.

Sonia Saeed (’22) is creating a holistic menstrual care services platform, to increase access to period products and hygiene management for all, regardless of gender identity and financial background.

Local Mycology 

Sanctuary Showers 

Anim 

Grant Ayers (’22) is creating a local gourmet mushroom farm in the heart of Dallas to be sold at the Dallas farmers market.

Mason Kenmore (’25) is addressing homelessness by setting up safe portable showers in homeless communities and providing basic hygiene products. 

Manov Jain ('22) is creating a mobile application that gives users the ability to shop more sustainability by learning  how sustainable and nutritional products truly are.

Sister Shaq's

Raleigh Dewan is fighting to end human trafficking with beverage company Sister Shaq's Sweet Tea

Curle

Mona El-Gharby is creating custom curly hair products with her beauty brand Curle

College+

Seun Suberu is helping underserved students navigate the college admissions process with his app College+

spotBOX

Sonia Saeed and Lisa Kim are improving the menstrual experience with their ungendered period subscription service spotBOX.

Panacea

Madison McMahan is helping folks find friends amid the pandemic with her app Panacea.

 Anim

Manov Jain is helping consumers make more informed and healthy choices about their food with his app Anim

EZ Tutor

Aryan Bhatnagar is helping students learn with his peer-to-peer tutoring company EZ Tutor.

2020 Pitch Contest Winners

PITCHin

The Playground Acting Program

Renewal

Sarah Koh and Andrew Melland

Alysia Giakoumas

Ashley Gans and Logan McElroy

Crowd Share

Regent

MyFire

Alejandro Villaquiran

Greta Felten

Elizabeth Hanna

Room Valet

spotBOX

Carp

Anna Rose Carrell and Matt Melcher

Sonia Saeed and Yuijin Kim

Olivia Gruber

Covid SMS

My Low

Allen Lui

Brandon Herman and Costakis Loizou

2020 Business Plan Winners

Clean Energy Gambia

Curly Solutions

EZ Tutor

Mohammed Njie (’21, left) is creating a social enterprise to tackle the high energy demands of Gambia and bring clean and sustainable energy sources to the nation.

Mona El-Gharby (’20) is developing products for curly hair that inspire users, raise confidence, and connect them to a larger community.

Aryan Bahtnagar (’22) is building an app and service to connect students to peers from within their school who are able to tutor and support.

Greener Life

Local Sage

Univers_

Taylor Slaton (’20) and Ceydan Kaya (’20) are developing an app to help the average consumer track their waste consumption over a day.

Gavin Watts (’21) is creating an online farmer's market to connect foodies with the best products from their city, region, or state.

Abigail Peterson (’20, right) is creating a mobile app to improve young adults' campus experience by facilitating friendships and social connections.

2019 Pitch Competition Winners

College +

Curly Solutions

Cusp

Seun Suberu (’23) is building an app to help high school students search for colleges, reducing stress and easing the transition to college.

Mona El-Gharby (’21) is developing products for curly hair that inspire users, raise confidence, and connect them to a larger community.

Eric Petsche (’20) is creating an app to provide creative professionals with a platform through which they may network and collaborate.

DeepEnergy

EZ-Tutor

The Gambia Electrification Project

Austin Hickle (’22) is building an innovative battery and making compressed air energy more accessible for consumers.

Maren Hess (’22) is building an app and service to connect students to peers from within their school who are able to tutor and support.

Mohammed Njie (’21) is creating a social enterprise to tackle the high energy demands of Gambia and bring clean and sustainable energy sources to the nation.

GreenerLife

Hands

One for All Theater

Taylor Slaton (’20) and Ceydan Kaya (’20) are developing an app to help the average consumer track their waste consumption over a day.

Josh Lauer (’20) is creating a haptic-glove to enhance the experience of extended reality.

Ben Stegmair (’21) is building a platform to help students hone their acting skills and bringing affordable theater to diverse citizens of the DFW area.

The Playground Acting Program

Rock Strap

Sweetie, Take Care of Yourself

Alysia Giakoumas (’21) is creating a children’s life-skills program taught through the art of acting.

Drew Schindler (’21) is creating an innovative and simple solution to the problems associated with cello rock stops.

Brinn Bailey (’21) is developing a personal care product line and spreading awareness of mental health, especially among black women

Treeology

Vuzag

We the Students

Surya Ramakrishnan (’22) is building a company to reduce single-use plastics and promote greener thinking.

Jalen Lynch (’20) is creating an app to socially connect the world’s information and connect communities like never before.

Lamisa Mustafa (’21) is creating a first-of-its-kind community symposium created by, of, and for undergraduate student-activists from colleges across North Texas.