BOSTON–TiE Boston announced the winners of the Final Pitch Competition for their TiE Young Entrepreneurs (TYE) Academy. The event, hosted at Suffolk University’s Law School was attended by over 150 industry insiders, mentors, judges, participants and family members.
AquaSol, the winning team of Soham Kulkarni, Samarth Bedre, Jacob Slavsky, Anoop Rampure and Karthik Pisupati floored the audience with their prize winning idea.
Aqua-Sol uses water-cooled radiators to enhance solar panel efficiency and extend the lifespan of solar panels. By circulating water through the radiators, they provide a solution for solar panel cooling which increases energy output and increases the longevity of panels.
The team members were awarded a free trip to San Diego to represent TiE Boston at the TYE Global Finals, in which the winning teams from over 20 worldwide chapters will compete for top honors and cash prizes.
The first runner-up was “Debtify” which is a multi-purpose portal that allows students to gather funds from others, seek scholarships, and claim multiple job opportunities to avoid hundreds of thousands of dollars of college debt. They were awarded a $2,000 cash prize. The second runner-up was “AutoPill” which is an automated pill dispenser for seniors that manages medications to prevent missed doses and medication overdose. It also features a wearable vibrating device to alert users when to take medications based on inputted timings into the correlated app. They were awarded a $1,000 cash prize.
On the occasion, Yash Shah, President of Tie Boston, said, “I’ve had the opportunity to attend TYE sessions during this academic year, and on seeing the progress that the students have made in delivering their polished pitches at the finals, its abundantly clear that TYE not only delivers practical business skills, but also equips them with problem-solving abilities, critical thinking, and effective communication techniques. Through these impressive collaborative projects and TYE mentorship, these young adults have gained real-world experience in developing business plans and navigating the complexities of the entrepreneurial landscape, preparing them for future endeavors in the business world.”
During this event, aimed at fostering and promoting the spirit of entrepreneurship amongst youth, students got the chance to connect with their peers and gain valuable guidance from the judges as well. The competition concluded with all participants as winners as all the teams took back with them plenty of experience, important feedback and long lasting connections with other teams, judges and organizers.
Leading up to this exciting day, over the course of seven months, fourteen teams of high school students worked alongside experienced TYE mentors to learn how to start and operate a successful business. Based on their original ideas, they developed business plans and slide decks which they presented to panels of industry-leading judges.
The TYE Young Entrepreneurs Academy was founded in Boston in 2005. Since then, it has been replicated in over 30 TiE chapters worldwide. Generous support for TYE include BNY Mellon, Santander Bank, State Street Bank, Suffolk University and Cambridge Innovation Center (CIC).
TYE Boston’s Entrepreneurship Academy is dedicated to fostering the next generation of leaders through the transformative experience of building a startup. Over the course of seven months, exceptional high school students are taught a rigorous curriculum by startup founders and industry experts and collaborate with their peers to create a solution to a pressing problem they identify. The 2023-24 TYE Cohort created solutions for issues ranging from carbon emissions, sexual abuse, post-partum depression, low student productivity and fast fashion.
Applications for the 2023-2024 TYE Entrepreneurship Academy are now open. Learn more by visiting www.tye-boston.org.
