Seven Cal Poly student startups showcased months of work Aug. 21 during Demo Day in San Luis Obispo, pitching their businesses to investors, local business owners, alumni and potential customers.
The event, held at Rod & Hammer Rock, marked the culmination of Cal Poly’s Summer Accelerator. The Center of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE) hosts a 10-week program designed to help student entrepreneurs develop, test and refine their startup ideas.
For many of the founders, Demo Day offered an opportunity to build professional connections that can be difficult to establish early in their careers.
“What they don’t have is a huge professional network,” Thomas Katona, academic director for the CIE said. “And what we can provide is linking them up with the community and with all of our alumni base to help expand that professional network.”
Each team took the stage to explain its concept, identify a potential market and outline its long-term vision.
For one startup, the event also marked the first time its founders could publicly show what they had been developing.
Innovation Quest winner PNOIA begins fundraising
PNOIA is developing a respiratory device for premature infants after a local neonatologist brought the problem to Cal Poly students. Co-founder and CEO Josiah Waltner said they can now allow its members to publicly reveal their work.
“We just filed our provisional patents yesterday, so we were super excited to be able to finally show everyone what we’ve been working on, ’cause it’s all been under wraps up until this point,” Waltner said.
Demo Day also marked the beginning of PNOIA’s first fundraising round.
“Today marks the first day of our fundraising, so we are officially raising funds and getting ready for that next venture,” Waltner said.
Waltner said members of the team turned down job opportunities after graduation to pursue the company full time.
For other startups, the next step is getting their products in front of more consumers.
Tango takes the stage
Tango, a student-founded beverage company, used Demo Day to introduce attendees to its mocktail designed for social settings.
Co-founder John Piro said the event gives startups access to a range of people who could help their businesses grow.
“We get investors, you know, retailers, business owners, Cal Poly alumni,” Piro said. “Just a great networking event.”
Katona said reaching Demo Day requires students to devote significant time to their businesses throughout the accelerator.
“These folks have dug in,” Katona said. “They’re working around the clock to try to get these businesses off the ground.”
Although Demo Day marked the end of the Summer Accelerator, several of the student founders are continuing to pursue their companies full time.
For those teams, the end of the 10-week program could represent the beginning of a much longer effort to turn student projects into sustainable businesses.