Startup Weekend: SSU

Last weekend, the Shawnee State University Kricker Innovation Hub hosted a Techstars Startup Weekend. Startup Weekends provide participants the opportunity to think, work, and build as a startup business. The programs have been held over 7,000 times in 150 countries across the globe.

Thirty students in six teams participated in Startup Weekend Shawnee State. These teams included students from a variety of disciplines including software development, marketing, and business. For 54 hours, students pitched startup ideas, worked with mentors, created surveys and conducted market research, and developed their minimum viable products.

The weekend culminated in a pitch to a panel of four expert judges. In the end, ‘Brain Rot’, a team made up of Brice Kade, Chase Minor, Desmond Craft, Elijah Wickerman, Kevin Keller, and Shannon Adkins, took home first place for their idea of an app that lets users create and share curated playlists with friends across multiple streaming platforms.

“These events build a culture of entrepreneurship, and prove to students that the first steps of customer validation and prototyping only need to take a weekend. They also reinforce that succeeding in business requires you to work in teams across academic disciplines,” said Kricker Innovation Hub Director David Kilroy.

‘Brain Rot’ received marketing and legal consulting services, scholarship for the Hub’s accelerator program, $150 in Amazon gift cards, and books highlighting entrepreneurship.

Bear Bikes came in 2nd place for their idea of a bike rental service for SSU’s campus and other universities. KoGain took home 3rd for their idea of cohort based learning initiatives for experienced practitioners such as journalist’s and media creators.

Brain Rot won first place at Startup Weekend:SSU. Bear Bikes came in 2nd and KoGain took home 3rd place.