VCU Demo Days
Demo Day Expanded!
This fall, VCU Demo Days was how the da Vinci Center at VCU leveled up Feedback Friday. Traditionally, Feedback Friday marked the end of the Shelfies program, featuring a mini pitch competition to celebrate participants' progress. With Feedback Friday and Demo Day combined into VCU Demo Days, participants delivered investor-style pitches, competed for seed funding, and received valuable feedback. VCU Demo Days blended the rigor of pitching to a panel of judges with the lively atmosphere of Feedback Friday.
2024 Fall
Thank you to all the entrepreneurs and attendees who made Demo Day a success—your pitches were inspiring and showcased incredible talent!
Congratulations to the following individuals and teams who took home awards!
People's Choice Awards
- Early Stage: Dr.Dunk by Niani Patterson
- Pre-Launch: Otterwise by Aliyah Desautels
- Active Ventures: CoCoGin LLC by Frances Odoi
Judge’s Choice Award
- Krave Cocktail Seltzer by Aliyah Newman, Angel Hobbs, and Rachel Ransom
Capital One Award
- Polavizor by Susan Lewis
Judges
Chrystie Kallis
Chrystie Kallis is an experienced Business Analyst who has held a variety of leadership roles in her 11 years at Capital One. Chrystie currently serves as a Business Director of Climate Strategy. In this role, she works closely with partners across the enterprise to develop new strategies and execute upon Capital One’s climate related goals.
Jason Vest
Jason has spent time as a…first generation college student, history teacher, head boys basketball coach, mentor coordinator, parent of three boys, technology education teacher, owner of dogs, podcast host, Spotify playlist creator, work-based learning coordinator, adjunct faculty member and now full time instructor faculty at VCU da Vinci Center.
He is currently interested in the positive potential of AI and the human experience, as well as exploring new models of cross-sector and community collaboration.
Nick Williams
Dr. Nick Williams is an accomplished educator and entrepreneur with a diverse professional background. He currently serves as the Assistant Director of Student Engagement at Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of Business, where he also teaches a freshman course on professional development. Dr. Williams holds a Bachelor’s in English and Foreign Affairs from the University of Virginia, a Master’s in Student Affairs, and recently completed his Ed.D. in Educational Leadership.
Passionate about creating inclusive spaces, he actively supports underserved populations. In addition to his role at VCU, Dr. Williams leads businesses such as Culinaire Creations and Legacy Leaf Publishing, and contributes to his community through board service at his alma maters.
Finalists
Early Stage
- Dr.Dunk
Niani Patterson - Healing Blooms and Pages
Pragya Kujur - The Ballad of a Senior Hawkeye
Kendall Liverpool
Pre-Launch
- Canigetinto.com
Ettore Fantin - Energion
Shreenath S Lohana, Pankti Gala - Otterwise
Aliyah Desautels - Polavizor
Susan Lewis, VCU da Vinci Center, Master of Product Innovation
Active Ventures
- CoCoGin LLC
Frances Odoi - Spur Pond Marketing LLC
Emily Gittings - ReVoice Podcast Network
Caroline Crain, Ella Balzano, Abbey DeCandia, Brett Coleman, Gabriel Aref, Kayla Amoah, Erica Niehoff - Gewd botanicals
Malique Middleton - Krave Cocktail Seltzer
Aliyah Newman, Angel Hobbs, Rachel Ransom
Entrepreneurship at VCU
VCU believes students have the power to turn ideas into solutions that make the world a better place.
2024
Awardees
Featured Pitches
CMPLX Gaming
Cael Parker, VCU da Vinci Center, Master of Product Innovation
Siera Fountain, VCU da Vinci Center, Master of Product Innovation
CMPLX XP is a gaming company founded on bringing marginalized women’s unique stories, experiences and voices to the gaming industry. Shadow of the Abyss is the first game in our business journey.
Mapulder
Smita Damodar, VCU School of Busines, Executive MBA
Mapulder is an online boutique wear company featuring sustainable garments, using traditional hand-made block prints, made in 100% cotton fabric, using natural dyes.
Gewd Botanicals
Malique Middleton, VCU School of Medicine, Pre-Med (CERT)
Gewd Botanicals is an all-natural skincare brand that prioritizes both science and your skin, and aims to be Gewd for the Earth, you and everyone in between.
Connect
Joy Rowe, VCU Interdisciplinary, Advanced Media Production
Everything But the Booze (EBTB)
Catherine Emblidge, VCU Brandcenter, Strategy
Celeste Chance, VCU Brandcenter, Copywriting
Everything But The Booze (EBTB) is revolutionizing the nonalcoholic beverage category with their line of Shocktails that put the shock, flavor and fun back into mocktails.
Farm Paws
Isolde Wiles, VCU da Vinci Center, Master of Product Innovation
Farm Paws aims to distinguish itself with its premium freeze-dried dog and cat treats in a market often plagued by questionable origins and dubious ingredients.
Academic Pitches
AccessWell
Parthay Patel, VCU
Creative Correspondence
Luke Florio, VCU da Vinci Center, Master of Product Innovation
Creative Correspondence is a new offering of products designed to provide you with convenient methods of meaningful communication.
Polavizor
Susan Lewis, VCU da Vinci Center, Master of Product Innovation
The Polavizor protects the driver’s eyes from damaging UV rays without sacrificing visibility or safety.
Idea Pitches
EatMindfull
Lindsey Treweek, VCU School of Business, Marketing
Cultivated Coil
Jerica Simmons, VCU da Vinci Center, Master of Product Innovation
Zyra
Shaira Khan, VCU da Vinci Center, Master of Product Innovation
Elevate your style with Zyra’s exquisite leather goods, where craftsmanship meets innovation.
Thank you to the 2024 Judges!
2023
2023 VCU Demo Day Awardees
This year’s event featured four different sessions with 16 different teams pitching their ideas or current ventures to an esteemed panel of judges from the da Vinci Center’s community partners and alumni.
The Ideas Session, where students gave quick pitches about an idea waiting to be made tangible. The Academic Session highlighted pitches that showcase entrepreneurship and innovation in our classrooms throughout VCU. The Alumni Session featured pitches for products and services created by VCU graduates. Lastly, the Featured Session consisted of seven student pitches on their current ventures. After the sessions, 47 participating student, alum, and community teams showcased their ideas and projects in Shift Retail Lab for the reception, and a People’s Choice Award was chosen by attendees.
Crowd Favorite Awardees:
Ideas Session:
Beddie, The Tall Friend Project
Entrepreneur: Quynh Nguyen
Quynh Nguyen is a grad student in the Master of Product Innovation program and working on a product that helps our tall friends get a good night of sleep.
Academic Session: FirstGFresh
Entrepreneur: Jameira Saylor
Jameira Saylor is a graduate student in the Master of Product Innovation program and is here to share her project in building a platform for high school seniors that will also be first-generation college students.
Alumni Session: Otterwise
Entrepreneur: Aliyah Desautels
Aliyah Desautels is an alum of Shift Retail Lab and Demo Day as well as her degree. She's back on the Demo Day stage to talk about her new venture that aims to make it easier for employers to vet high-quality hires and for candidates to be seen.
Featured Session: TowNinja
Entrepreneur: Jack Oppenheim
Jack Oppenheim is a graduate student in the Master of Product Innovation program who is on a mission to make towing a pleasant experience for all!
People's Choice (reception): Morada Bowls
Entrepreneur: Laila Dajani
Laila Dajani is an undergraduate studying Business Marketing. Her idea is to start a DIY smoothie bowl service.
Other Pitch Teams included: The Math Path, Fusion AI Dynamics, 8Bus, Everything But the Booze (EBTB), Polavizor, Gewd Botanicals, Jawdropper Dental, C'est La Ve Vegan Charcuterie Packs, EmoteIt, Nationz Foundation - CreateAthon, MammoRisk
Ideas Session
Quick pitches about an idea waiting to be made tangible
Beddie, The Tall Friend Project
Quynh Nguyen is a grad student in the Master of Product Innovation program and working on a product that helps our tall friends get a good night of sleep.
Morada Bowls
Laila Dajani is an undergraduate studying Business Marketing. Her idea is to start a DIY smoothie bowl service.
The Math Path
Christine George is an undergraduate studying Statistics and Political Science. She is seeking to create a math tutoring business that aims to help people improve their math skills and overcome their fear of math.
Academic Session
Pitches that showcase the entrepreneurship and innovation in our classrooms throughout VCU
FirstGFresh (FGF)
Jameira Saylor is a graduate student in the Master of Product Innovation program and is here to share her project in building a platform for high school seniors that will also be first generation college students
Nationz Foundation
Jackson Amirshahi and his team of undergraduate students from the Robertson School are pitching a class project that they are working with NationZ Foundation to raise awareness about come public health issues.
Breast Cancer Risk Decoder
Gillian Fanning is an undergraduate studying Bioinformatics at VCU Life Sciences. They are working on a project where their team is building a tool to analyze and assess a patient's risk of developing breast cancer, using genetic, environmental, and behavioral factors.
Alumni Session
Pitches for products and services created by VCU graduates that they will present to a panel of judges
Otterwise
Aliyah Desautels is an alum of Shift Retail Lab and Demo Day as well as her degree. She's back on the Demo Day stage to talk about her new venture that aims to make it easier for employers to vet high quality hires and for candidates to be seen.
C'est La Ve
Another Demo Day and Shift Retail Lab alum from last year, Yosef Mirakov Cohen is here to update us on the venture he launched and pitched last year. C'est La Ve Vegan Charcuterie Packs are plant based snacks in compostable packaging.
EmoteIt
Rob Denison is a VCU alum that is working on his app that is in beta testing. Emotelt is a chat app built for a crowd.
Featured Session
Student pitches on their current ventures to a panel of judges
Gewd Botanicals
Mailque Middleton is a pre-med student that is passionate about skincare. He has been selling his products at Shift Retail Lab and will present the future of his venture.
Tow Ninja
Jack Oppenheim is a graduate student in the Master of Product Innovation program who is on a mission to make towing a pleasant experience for all!
Fusion AI Dynamics
Zachariah McDonough is an engineering undergrad studying Computer Science. He is striving to solve the challenge of helping businesses stay competitive by adapting to emerging technologies.
Polavizor
Susan Lewis is a graduate student in the Master of Product Innovation program that is exploring how we might reduce the risk of life threatening vehicle accidents and permanent eye damage due to bright sunlight.
8Bus
Jordan Reinecke in an undergraduate working on an interdisciplinary studies degree focusing on Advanced Media Production. He will present his vision of a creative label onboarding and leveraging blockchain technology.
Everything But the Booze (EBTB)
This team from VCU Brandcenter is working on a line of mocktails aimed to bring together non-drinkers and drinkers alike.
Jawdropper Dental
This team of Master of Product Innovation students are developing a dental simulation product. They have just created their LLC and will share the vision for the future of their product.
Thank you to our community partners and alumni for joining us at this year's event!
2022
C’est La Vie
KBHealth
Noodlers
Better2Gether
The Children’s Soap Company of Virginia
Black Azz Coffee
Tapped
Pascal QuickGel
Dress for Yourself
Ti Boulé
