28 Mar CivTechSA Team Pitches at Stumberg!
Last night, CivTechSA-inspired student team from Trinity University pitched their company idea to a panel of judges at the University’s annual Louis H. Stumberg Venture Competition. BOT M.D. was one of 10 student-companies to present at the event.
Presentations ranged from product companies, like Mona’s AR-enabled embroidered patches to “smart” pill bottles to service-providers, like InterSourcing to help other companies work with suppliers in China. The student companies showed off their skills to win $5,000 in seed money, a lucrative spot in Trinity’s Summer Accelerator program, plus the chance to pitch in September for an additional $25,000 prize.
Seniors Matt Monroe and Colby Doyle created BOT M.D. in response to the CivTechSA presentation at Dr. Luis Martinez’s Intro to Entrepreneurship class earlier this semester. Since the presentation, we connected the students with the City and mentors at Geekdom to help on the project.
Matt and Colby have been working on a way to map the San Antonio River Walk to improve navigation for residents and tourists. They pitched a pilot-test of a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beaconing device network to provide accurate geo-location capabilities. The team will incentivize healthy activities while promoting local businesses through Fit Cash and a rewards program, too.
Dr. Martinez said, “I am excited about how these Trinity student entrepreneurs are contributing to San Antonio’s ecosystem…These teams are looking for issues to address in San Antonio and using their talents to come up with solutions for our community.”—Startups San Antonio.
It was a close competition between the teams and, while BOT M.D. didn’t advance in the competition, it was inspiring to see what happens when bridges are built between city departments and students.
We will connect with more San Antonio students through other events including a University-focused Ideathon in partnership with the City’s IT department (ITSD), a Startup Weekend + Externship with Teachers, and a codeathon later this year.
For more information about our program, email us at civtechsa@geekdom.com.