Winners Announced for 2021 Student Entrepreneur Competitions

iPrize Student Winners from 2019 competition

Winners of the School of Information Studies’ (iSchool) Raymond von Dran (RvD) Fund for Student Entrepreneurship competition, the Hunter Brooks Watson Spirit of Entrepreneurship Award and the Compete CNY regional qualifier for the New York Business Plan Competition (NYBPC) were announced at the virtual event held on March 26. The concurrent online competitions were coordinated by the Blackstone LaunchPad and Techstars at Syracuse University Libraries (LaunchPad). Entrepreneur student team winners and prize amounts are:

RvD Fund:

Software and services:

• $7,500 to Bruno Gonzalez Hauger ’21 (Martin J. Whitman School of Management), Ambassadoor Technologies
• $7,500 to Sam Hollander ’22 (Martin J. Whitman School of Management and S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications), Financial Services for College Lending (FSCL)

Consumer and business products:

• $8,000 to Alexander Peter Rolinski ’24 (Martin J. Whitman School of Management), Sice-Me
• $2,000 to Joseph DeBlasio ’21 (S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications), Skipod
• $2,000 to Jason Zhou ’21 (School of Information Studies), Itemize LLC

Education and well-being:

• $3,000 to Max Freund ’21 (S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications), M. Freund Photography
• $2,000 to Cassianne Cavallaro ’21 (College of Visual and Performing Arts), Mohan

Ag tech and food:

• $4,000 to Selim Dangoor ’23 (Martin J. Whitman School of Management), MUNCH Jerky
• $1,00 to Samuel Chazen ’21 (Martin J. Whitman School of Management), Food-E

Med tech and life sciences:

• $3,000 to Russell Fearon ’20. G’21 (College of Engineering and Computer Science) and Ricardo Sanchez ’21 (College of Visual and Performing Arts), SugEx – The Sugar Experience

Hunter Brooks Watson Spirit of Entrepreneurship:

• $2,500 to Russell Fearon ’20 G’21 (College of Engineering and Computer Science) and Ricardo Sanchez ’21 (College of Visual and Performing Arts), SugEx – The Sugar Experience
• $2,500 to Jack Adler ’23 (Martin J. Whitman School of Management), 3 Dollar Challenge
• $2,500 to Jackson Ensley ’22 (Martin J. Whitman School of Management), ModoSuite
• $2,500 to Selim Dangoor ’23 (Martin J. Whitman School of Management), MUNCH Jerky

Compete CNY Regional Qualifier: 

Note: The top two teams in each category will move on to the New York State Business Plan Competition, being held virtually in May. The LaunchPad coordinated the Central New York Regional Qualifier, which was open to any team at a Central New York college or university.  Advancing to the state finals are:

Software and services:

• Bruno Gonzalez Hauger ’21 (Martin J. Whitman School of Management and S.I. Newhouse School of Communications), Ambassador Technologies
• Sam Hollander ’22 (Martin J. Whitman School of Management and S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications), Financial Services for College Lending (FSCL)

Consumer and business products:

• Alexander Peter Rolinski ’24 (Martin J. Whitman School of Management), Sice-Me
• Jeff Evans, master of business administration at SUNY Oswego, Karten Products

Education and well-being:

• Max Freund ’21 (S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications), M. Freund Photography
• Mario Garcia G’21 (College of Engineering and Computer Science), Pairinc

Ag tech and food:

• Selim Dangoor ’23 (Martin J. Whitman School of Management), MUNCH Jerky
• Samuel Chazen ’21 (Martin J. Whitman School of Management), Food-E

Med tech and life sciences:

• Russell Fearon ’20 G’21 (College of Engineering and Computer Science) and Ricardo Sanchez ’21 (College of Visual and Performing Arts), SugEx – The Sugar Experience
• Harman Chopra, M.D. program at SUNY Upstate Medical University, Baby Bird Pharmaceutical

Emergency response and first responder:

• Daniel Maslowski, SUNY Oswego, SWTRS
• Skyler Hall ’21 (College of Engineering and Computer Science), Hive Pilot