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When listening to podcasts about how to become successful at a young age in the technology industry, Syracuse University sophomore Celes Buffard struggled to relate to the host’s hustle mentality. With the help of the Blackstone LaunchPad, Buffard created her own podcast to help other young entrepreneurs achieve their goals in a realistic and healthy way.

“In my mind, I didn’t relate (podcasting) to entrepreneurship,” Buffard said. “Entrepreneurship is not just one thing, it’s anything.”

Buffard’s podcast is one of many ideas brought to life through the LaunchPad, an ideation and innovation hub located in Bird Library. The LaunchPad is currently helping students prepare for ‘Cuse Tank, a “Shark Tank” style competition that allows all SU students to pitch their ideas to a panel of experienced judges, with the possibility of winning prize money to use toward their innovations.

Jonathan Wess, the program manager, and Traci Geisler, the director at LaunchPad, are in constant conversation with students who are eager to spread their business ideas to a wider audience.

“(‘Cuse Tank) grows their network and prepares them for the next stage of their business,” Wess said. “It’s a very real-world circumstance.”

LaunchPad staff members assist students in developing their ideas and fleshing out pitches, Wess said. Dylan Bardsley, a junior studying entrepreneurship and finance, said Wess and Geisler offer students guidance to prepare them for competitions like ‘Cuse Tank, especially since they can be nerve-wracking.

Although Bardsley participated in last year’s competition, continuing to visit the LaunchPad has helped him further develop his business, Clarity. Clarity is a financial literacy website where users can research and learn about the best credit card options for them.

Bardsley said Wess and Geisler have been supportive in helping grow his business idea over the past year. Geisler specifically has met with Bardsley one-on-one to talk through his plan, and she even drove Bardsley and his co-founder to a pitch competition in Albany, Bardsley said.

Alicia Hoppes | Contributing Photographer

Aditee Malviya and Jack Venerus, student employees at the Blackstone LaunchPad, give each other feedback on their business pitches. Collaboration is encouraged at the LaunchPad to improve students’ ideas.

“LaunchPad has always been a super inviting community. Once you go in there, the people are super receptive to you,” Bardsley said.

During the competition, students have six minutes to share their entrepreneurial idea with a pitch deck — a presentation highlighting their product or service — and an executive summary of their proposal. Buffard said she started by submitting the deliverables for the competition and has since been verbally practicing her pitch and refining her idea, with help from Wess and Geisler.

‘Cuse Tank’s prize money for students ranges depending on how well the students perform. Students can use the money to launch their startup, buy necessary equipment and hire people to help them carry out tasks in their idea. The LaunchPad’s Ideas Fest lets students get their feet wet in testing out their first business ideas.

“‘Cuse Tank is one step further,” Wess said. “We give out almost 10 times more money than we gave out in the prior for Ideas Fest, which was just getting ideas flowing and ideating.”

With about $10,000 total in prize money on the table this year, the stakes are high for students participating in the competition. Competitions through the LaunchPad like ‘Cuse Tank offer students an opportunity to apply real-world entrepreneurial skills that don’t always come as easily in the classroom and prepare them for pitch competitions outside SU, Wess said.

While classes in Whitman have provided him with a big-picture view of entrepreneurship, Bardsley said networking with others in pitch competitions gave him this real-world experience.

“Through the competitions, whether it be ‘Cuse Tank or the many other competitions, I’ve not only improved my company, but I’ve also improved my selling skills and pitching skills, which I think is extremely valuable,” Bardsley said.

Published on September 25, 2024 at 11:47 pm