On the monumental study steps in the Campus Instructional Facility, ambitious students pitched their startup ideas in under 90 seconds to rows of listeners Wednesday. 

Attendees ranging from undergraduate students to graduate alumni attended an event called SocialFuse. SocialFuse is a recurring event that allows participants to network and collaborate with each other to grow their startups. 

“Student entrepreneurs, usually between 15 to 20, will come and pitch their ideas. They’re looking for people to join their teams or just for mentors or other resources,” said Kearsa Rawson, coordinator of student innovation and entrepreneurship programs.

Rawson said SocialFuse is an accessible event for all interested people.

“The purpose of SocialFuse is to be an event open for everybody across campus, for everyone to join and to showcase some of the student entrepreneurial projects going on on campus,” Rawson said. 

After the entrepreneurs have pitched their ideas, many of them networked and broadened their professional connections. 

With many students working together and presenting varying ideas, everyone has a place and a role to contribute. 

Philip Montgomery, sophomore in engineering, came to SocialFuse to pitch his startup, Geni. 

Powered by AI and Montgomery’s passion for accessible education, Geni provides AI generated educational resources. 

“Right now we’re predominantly helping people who are disadvantaged, this includes Ethiopian war refugees who are trying to learn English and come over to the United States,” Montgomery said.

He attended to gauge interest in other students and recruit others to expand the team. Montgomery expressed places that can be filled by a diverse range of majors. 

“We have people who are education majors working with us,” Montgomery said. “We’re especially looking for art majors right now because we’re CS people, and we suck at art, we’re terrible at art.”

Although some of the attendees already had an assembled team, some were at SocialFuse with only a concept.

Harini Nippani, freshman in engineering, created SPARKle, her idea of jewelry and technology fused together. 

Nippani expressed how helpful speaking in front of people to pitch her ideas is for her professional experience. 

“This was actually the second idea that I had. So, hopefully I got the experience of realizing which ideas I think would be really great versus something that might not be totally viable,” Nippani said. 

Sofia Vartic, freshman in engineering, came by herself to pitch her idea. Vartic said her project was in its early stages, however she still pitched her idea to catch the interest of other book lovers. 

“It’s pretty much a filtering system to be able to find books that you are interested in very easily,” Vartic said. “Because, right now, if you go to Google or Goodreads or Kindle, the only way you’ll be able to filter it is through fantasy, those very generic paths.” 

Projects featured in SocialFuse ranged in completion. Some students have already started making their ideas into reality. 

Roy Steinberg, senior in engineering, is the founder of Pinchy, a silent and affordable fidget toy. 

“It’s sold on Etsy, but I also want to expand my selling platforms, like Shopify. It’s also possible for Amazon in the future,” Steinberg said. 

Another SocialFuse event will be hosted Oct. 19, starting from 5:30 p.m. until 7 p.m. on the CIF Monumental Study Steps. 

“We’re just excited to get as many students as possible from many different backgrounds so that they can all network together and collaborate,” Rawson said.

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