Join us on April 23rd as the Be Your Own Boss Bowl goes virtual for the first time ever! Get to know each of our finalists, see who will take home the biggest cash prizes, and hear from keynote speaker Brian Linton, Founder & CEO of United By Blue.

See the full list of the #BYOBB2020 finalists below & register to join us for the virtual BYOBB Finalist Event!

UNDERGRADUATE TRACK

House of Cesare is an early stage mobile app that plans to transform the way we make beauty appointments (Hair, Cosmetology, Nails) by capitalizing on a commonly displayed behavior such as the use of pictures to describe what we want to achieve from our appointments as well as adding a social element by providing the opportunity for consumers to not only recommend styles to their friends, but also make group appointments. HOC will be a business driver and tool to help students out of beauty school as well as existing professionals build their book of clients through our unique appointment requesting/making system.

New Fashioned, LLC

Paul Yoo, College of Engineering ’21 | Fahd Ksara, College of Science & Technology ’20 | Josh Van Oostrom, Fox School of Business ’20

New Fashioned was a company formed in an attempt to introduce Wave, a new mobile dating platform, into the world of online dating. Our application, “Wave,” offers an authentic introduction into another’s life from the get-go. Implementing video creation into the matching/profile-making process will create opportunities for our users to put their unique talents and personalities on display. Along with our video profiles, we plan to provide our users video dates and eventually date creation onto our platform. Our goal is to create a comfortable atmosphere that allows our users to create connections on a personal level.

Toasté

Gia Phan, College of Engineering ‘20 | Gavin Koma, College of Engineering ‘20 | Yu-Jie Liao, Collee of Engineering ‘20 | Chau Nguyen, College of Engineering ‘20

Different people vary in their desired comfort temperatures. Some feel cold in offices, while for some others, it is more permanent. By using the body’s “pulse points”, Toasté is the go-to solution that is highly portable and effective at warming people up. “Pulse points” are also known as quick-warming spots, meaning heating up these areas causes the body core temperature to be affected accordingly. Toasté is a wearable watch that can restore thermal comfort for users within 10 minutes by raising the perceived temperature by 5°F. The device uses the novel technology in the heating industry – infrared wave (following ANSI).

Tube Escort, LLC

Dominick Threeton, Engineering ‘20 | Muath Giaddui, Engineering ‘20 | Waleed Nowayti, Engineering ‘20 | Majd Tobaje, Engineering ‘20

Tube Escort LLC is designing a thoracic tube guidance system for physicians to use during one of the most performed trauma procedures, a chest tube thoracostomy, due to the high complications associated with the procedure today.

UPPER TRACK

Bikeout

Brian Kirk, Klein College of Media and Communication ‘08 | Amanda Crawford-Staub

Bikeout is a mission-minded bike tour operator that provides supported, multi-day trips that are accessible to people of all skill levels. Bikeout is the only company focused on bringing bike travel to a mainstream audience by introducing newcomers and engaging the existing touring community. By lowering the barrier to entry and providing unique and authentic experiences, our goal is to become the industry’s most recognizable brand, ultimately empowering more people to explore all the possibilities of bicycle travel.

ConsiderCode, LLC

Kavun Nuggihalli, College of Science & Technology ‘19 | Christian Chiarulli, College of Engineering ‘18 | Stephen Jeffers, Fox School of Business ‘18 | Jack Morgan, Klein College of Media and Communication ‘20

Audience Engagement Through Revolutionary Technology.

Postestiam, LLC

Nicholas Yarnall, Fox School of Business ‘18

Potestiam’s BestRun technology is a B2B crowd management solution for ski resorts that utilizes AI integrated surveillance systems.

Switch Stream

Sarah Stanton, Fox School of Business ‘14 | Rachel Stanton, Fox School of Business ‘14 | Tyler Berezowsky, College of Engineering ‘16 | Steven Heyen, College of Science & Technology ‘14

Switch Stream is an assistive technology company making portable and wearable devices that help individuals with physical impairments control their electronics. Our mission is to develop affordable, versatile products that improve lives by unlocking more opportunities for recreation, education and employment.

SOCIAL IMPACT TRACK

Basick

Nikhil Patel, College of Science & Technology ‘20 | Jeetesh Gajjar, University of Vadodara | David Multani, Fox School of Business ‘19 | Enyeneabasi Solomon, University of Uyo ‘15

Basick is an educational company that educates college students on real-life topics of Financial Literacy, Drugs & Alcohol, Sexual Abuse, Mental & Physical Health, and COVID-19. It is a cloud-based platform that is licensed to colleges to help students gain valuable knowledge. Basick’s impactful style of animated video-based delivery is research-proven to enhance the student learning experience​, increase interest and engagement​, and ​improve understanding of the material​.

Bucha Leather

Zimri T. Hinshaw, College of Liberal Arts ‘20 | Callum G. Hunter, Fox School of Business ‘20 | Arman Javaheri, FOX ‘20 | Samantha Zaremba, College of Engineering ‘21

Bucha Leather manufactures a plant-based leather made from Kombucha, a fermented bacterial tea that we sell as a byproduct. The Bucha Leather bio-textile promises many of the desired qualities of animal leather with none of the environmental damage and addresses the same applications as animal leather in apparel, furniture, interior design, office goods, and vehicle upholstery. With a business to business sales model, we sell our textiles directly to manufacturing companies, companies, and designers looking to incorporate sustainable textiles into their supply chains and products.

Nebula Media Group

Will Bubenik, School of Tourism & Hospitality Management ‘18

Nebula Media Group is an accessibility consultancy that harnesses the power of Artificial Intelligence to make your website and social media content accessible to people with disabilities by offering on-demand web and content accessibility solutions. Our AAAS (Accessibility-as-a-Service) solutions are an AI-powered web accessibility widget that makes (and keeps) your website compliant using just one line of code installed in the header of your website, and an online tool that automatically adds subtitles to any video by transcribing the audio and generating subtitle text into a text style editor.

TiP

 Nick Lagnese, Fox School of Business | Aakanksh Jaikumar, College of Liberal Arts ’18

We are creating the Tinder of politics by connecting voters with representatives, making it easier to find someone worth voting for. TiP aggregates data from political tracking companies (Ballotpedia, GovTrack, BillTrack50, etc.) and condenses it into familiar profiles on politicians/legislation. It then connects voters with politicians by providing a platform to communicate opinions on policy/legislation. We only present concrete public data while simultaneously amplifying voters’ voices by delivering their opinions directly to lawmakers.