MSIM Mid-Point Presentations: A Sprint Towards Venture Success

On October 22, the students in the M.S. in Innovation & Management program had the opportunity to present their teams’ first Innovation Sprints to a panel of academic industry experts. After the presentations, each student team was given individual consultation time with each panelist to further discuss the development of their ventures.

The panel of judges consisted of:

• Josh Ellsworth - Lecturer of the Tufts M.S. in Sustainable Water Management program
• Renae Geraci - Lecturer, Tufts Gordon Institute
• Scott Hilton - Lecturer, Tufts Gordon Institute
• James Intriligator - Professor of the Practice, Mechanical Engineering
• Nick Katis - Tufts University alum with an M.S. in Engineering Design
• Debra Reich - Lecturer, Tufts Gordon Institute
• Marci Sapers - Lecturer, Tufts Gordon Institute
• Joan Seamster - Lecturer, Tufts Gordon Institute
• Chris Swan - SOE Faculty, Dean of Undergraduate Education, Engineering

These pitches mark the mid-point of the fall semester and allowed the students to obtain valuable guidance while they continue to evolve their ventures for the final presentation on December 12th.

Here are some insights on the current students’ Innovation Sprint topics:

Casera

In Spanish, Casera means “homemade,” which is a perfect name for this team’s venture because they are focusing on delivering healthy, homestyle, and cultural food to your doorstep. Their goal is to take advantage of the ever-expanding food delivery market by creating a real homemade meal experience with the convenience of food delivery. They came up with the idea while missing their own parents’ home cooked meals, and plan to offer kitchens and resources to “home cooks that have unique talent and family recipes to offer, but don’t have money or resources to do so.” The delivery experience will be enhanced by having rich content on social platforms where the chefs are able to share their stories and signature dishes that wouldn’t be found in your average restaurants.

Team Members: Lynn Dannan, Deepesh Moolchandani, Lee Ann Song, Will Vinke

Cellens

The students behind Cellens set out to tackle a way to save lives by diagnosing bladder cancer earlier. This B2B service is designed to be accurate, affordable, and convenient. The Cellens test leaves no chance for human error and would ultimately reduce the frequency of in-office appointments and overall treatment costs. Initially, Cellens would rent their own lab space and equipment to work as a “centralized lab that provides screening services for hospitals and independent clinics directly.”

Team Members: Srushti Acharekar, Jean Pham, Jonas Pirkl, Fiona Wang

Food Data Co.

Food Data Co. is working on providing the first steps towards a green revolution by streamlining the supply chain system to minimize waste. They are initially targeting grocery stores that are utilizing outdated technologies, and will robustly quantify and qualify waste with inventory forecasting management systems. Through customer research, the team discovered that “no one really understands the scope of their waste loss happening day-to-day.” Potential clients have even confirmed that they have witnessed an enormous amount of waste generated through the mishandling of food. Food Data Co. hopes their system will create more accurate trend forecasting throughout the supply chain process as a whole.

Team Members: Earn Khunpinit, Eric Osherow, Chandini Tadepalli, Sai Wang

HIVY

HIVY is a B2C venture developing brain-sensing headbands that monitor productivity to determine the perfect way to regulate your life from distractions. “Research shows that over-studying can be detrimental to productivity. We’ve found a way to self-monitor [productivity] with the HIVY brain band.” With this technology, they are able to precisely measure brain workload. They are planning to sell this product online with the hope that it makes students aware of their disruptive study habits and allows them to manage their time more efficiently.

Team Members: Haiting Chan, Ishmal Siddiqui, Vidhya Shree Sivakumar, Yunting Yan

MusicUp

MusicUp is working on a B2C product in the form of an app that can build a community of musicians with the most extensive music platform out there. The app can virtually connect individuals by matching local musicians with similar styles and skillsets. MusicUp is geared towards young adults, age 19-29, that are interested in playing musical instruments. The platform has a goal of being “a robust musical network and a one-stop-shop for sheet music, lessons, and musical networking”.

Team Members: Nirant Chilimbi, Danielle Franco, Pinar Seven, Ashton Stephens

Pulse

Pulse is determined to save the planet one sip at a time by designing their own material for bottles made out of biodegradable cotton and beeswax. According to their research, “there are 50 billion bottles of plastic thrown out per year [in the United States] and only 23% of them are actually recycled”. Pulse wants to help reduce this carbon footprint with their material by targeting large retailers, like Coca-Cola, who currently are not utilizing biodegradable materials. Their research shows that a majority of Americans want water on the go and not everyone has access to a refilling station. Pulse’s bottle material will encourage customers to stop using plastic, even if they don’t use a reusable bottle. 

Team Members: Alok Chand, George Ginis, Nikhil Patil, Priyanka Ram, Mianqiao Wang

THREADLetics

The THREADLetics team is focused on finding a solution for collegiate athletes who run into performance issues and injuries from the lack of regular monitoring of the players’ physiological fatigue and stress. Every year, 90% of college athletes severely injure themselves. THREADLetics proposes to reduce this statistic by using real-time monitoring through electro biomedical patches that have an “adhesive strip with a pad coated to change colors and intensity based on levels of lactic acid and cortisol” in the body. The team is targeting the technology towards trainers and has a long-term strategy of expanding to professional athletes.

Team Members: Rene Han, Christina Holman, Ashish Kumar, Puneet Tripathi