Finals

May 1st, 2021 @ 7 PM

Click below to play the final broadcast!

Join us as seven teams compete for their share of $25,000!

How it works

Each team advancing to the finals has made it through a rigorous round of review by independent reviewers, who scored the teams’ pitches based on criteria such as their solution to a real problem, their forecasted costs & revenue, and their unfair advantage.

Now, each team will pitch to a panel of judges. Presentations will be 8 minutes long followed by 6 minutes of Q&A.

The Competitors

BlockShare

BlockShare is a community-based mobile platform that facilitates the renting of assets between neighbors.

Ethan Raynaud ’22

Fisher Koons ’22

G.I. Fido

G.I. Fido is a student founded venture dedicated to creating fashionable, patriotic dog accessories that also give back to the Veteran community. Each product is handcrafted from used military uniforms and a portion of each sale is given to a local charity to help cover the cost of a trained service dog for a disabled veteran.

Olivia Whiteman ’23

Sophia Whiteman

 

Resense

Resense is a customized box of products designed specifically to bring comfort and ease of transition to patients going through the early stages of alzheimer’s and dementia.

Luke Gilligan ’24

Lydia Young ’22

Ethan David ’24

sidekickk

sidekickk is the podcast management platform that streamlines the podcasters workflow from scheduling to distribution, where they can collaborate with their team, automate repetitive tasks, and discover the right experts who can help them meet their goals.

Cameron Suorsa ’21

Eric Dudgeon ’21

*Jeffrey Pew ’22

*Meredith Egeland ’19

*Jonathan Brutt ’17

*Not pictured

Habitat

Habitat is a company that provides habit-building cleaning tools for kids to elementary school / special ed teachers.

Juliana Smith ’22

Patty Jo Nickoloff ’21

Aby Griffith ’21

Decipher

Decipher is an online platform combatting the misconstrued perception of dyslexia and late diagnosis. In addition, our online platform will equip parents and teachers with proper tools to accurately understand and recognize dyslexic indicators in children.

Sarah Smith ’22

Lillian Jeynes ’22

Embark Health

An app empowering neurodegenerative disease patients to own their disease and equips them and their caregivers with the educational resources, disease management tools, and support network they need to do so.

Lizzy Higgins ’21

Elizabeth Finnegan ’21

Results

How much $$$ did each team walk away with?

Embark Health: $12,115

Resense: $6,240*

Sidekickk: $3,070

Decipher: $1,600

Habitat: $1,450*

BlockShare: $1,350

G.I. Fido: $1,225**

 

*Fan Favorite Award Winners:

Habitat

Resense

 

**Redemptive Impact Award Winner:

G.I. Fido

Wolverine Venture Battle 2021 Sponsors

Heartfelt thanks to our sponsors for their generous support.

WOLVERINE DONORS

 

Laura (Koller ’11) and RJ Fryan ‘08

The Pentz Family:  Mark ‘81, Cheri ‘79, Michael ‘06, Yvonne ‘06

Mark and June (Hart) Brody ’83

The Streiff Family:  Robert ’15, Joan ’81, and Tom

Skip Hauser ’68

The Habbershon Family:
Tim ’81, Grant ’06, Meredith ’07, Jonathan ’09, and Natalie ‘11

Elizabeth (Smith ’81) and Peter Hanley

Dan Creston ’81

John & Betsy Baun         Charitable Foundation (Pittsburgh Foundation)

Susan (Peshek ’81) and Peter Durfee ‘80

Kitty (Henneman ’92) and Brian Young ‘92

Bill Smith ’69

The Kiska Family:  Stan ’85, Deanna ’87, Evan ’20, and Lauren

Jeff Moxie ’80

IN-KIND SUPPORT

Cedric E. Lewis, JD/MBA

Thank you to our Reviewers!

Our reviewers faced the difficult task of narrowing the field of competitors down to the seven finalist teams.

Bob Baierl
Frances Baldwin
Chris Botting ’83
Richard Cessar ’73
Kelly Costello ’07
Meredith (Bachman ’08) Cote
Craig Creaturo ’92
Jeff Curran ’85
Jay DiNucci ’87
John Emery ’75
Ruth (Dykstra ’07) Entwistle
Chuck Gaetano ’74
Alex Graham ’62
Glenn Grossman
Lissa Hilsee ’80

William Howell ’81
Edward Huttenhower ’76
Melissa (Marshall ’92) Jacobs
Barbara (Spotz ’79) Johnson
Bob Keller ’73
Andy Kmiec ’96
Karolina Lagerquist ’16
Beth (Fox ’96) Lepore
Don Lockhart ’67
Evan Lowe ’89
Beth (Ranker ’96) Marraccini
Drew McCandless ’84
Glenn McDonald ’76
Scott McDowell ’87
Winifred (Williams ’77) McGee

Alan Mesches ’71
William Messner ’96
Ronald Miller ’75
Brian Montgomery ’96
Tyler Nichols ’11
Robin Parsons
John Romain ’85
Steven Roman ’96
Daniel Rossi-Keen ’99
John Roush
Kelly Shields ’97
Zoe Simek ’14
Zachary Smith ’15
Allyson (Baird ’88) Sveda
Chris Tobias