By Parisa Burton
Staff Writer
The College’s Mayo Business Plan Competition completed its final round on March 27, with Golden Connections taking home the grand prize of $30,000.
The competition began with over 25 teams. Six teams were invited to advance to the semi-finals in February. From this, three teams were selected to advance to the finals in March.
The Golden Connections team comprised Lauren Cunningham, a senior marketing major, Emma Route, a junior chemistry major and Sangam Shivaprasad, a senior biology major.
Former business school dean William Keep and emeritus finance faculty member Herbert ‘Buddy’ Mayo launched the business plan competition in 2011, funded by an endowment initiated by Dr. Mayo. With ongoing enhancements driven by feedback from judges and alumni, the competition ensures students have the resources needed to refine their plans each year.
“They recognized the valuable opportunity that could be afforded to students to develop their business ideas, underscoring the need and value of entrepreneurs, and helping students develop confidence in the process,” said Tammy Dieterich, Interim Dean of the School of Business.
The ladies of Golden Connections are all College ambassadors and were inspired to participate by two previous ambassadors and the 2023 winners of the competition, Katie Olsen and Molly O’Brien.
Golden Connections is an AI-powered health and wellness digital platform tailored to the needs of senior caregivers to offer peace of mind through an intuitive AI concierge named Grace.
“The platform incorporates speech and language biomarkers, community and calendar functions, and AI all into one seamless platform that is easily accessible because it is a really fragmented market,” Shivaprasad said.
One of their goals is to bridge the gap in current applications that use speech and language biomarkers but are clinically focused.
“Currently there are no applications or platforms in the market that have a consumer facing initiative and use the same feature suite as Golden Connections,” Route said.
Their passion extends past the competition as they are currently working with individuals in the industry on the next steps of taking Golden Connections to market.
2nd Chance took home the second prize of $20,000, consisting of Caley Faith Cortezano, a junior public health major, Alex Fabiano, an interdisciplinary business major, and Dylan Romanski, a senior finance major.
2nd Chance is a prospective enterprise that will give the College community a thrift store on campus. The idea stemmed from Cortezano, who had always dreamed of opening up a thrift store, reflecting her core beliefs of sustainability and serving her community.
“We wanted to be located in Campus Town so our thrift store would be easily accessible to students without a car,” Cortezano said. “We also wanted to address the material waste that is produced after the academic school year by taking these items in and keeping them out of landfills.”
According to Cortezano, 2nd Chance has a competitive advantage over similar stores like Goodwill for their organizational standards. They aim to create a welcoming environment that is aesthetically pleasing and organized. They would also have the advantage of being located on a college campus for leveraging high foot traffic.
In third place, taking home $10,000, is Girls Got Your Back. The team featured Olivia Chiarella, a junior communication studies major, Victoria Dasilva, a junior finance major, Tatiana Sawka, a junior marketing major, and Madilynne Silfer, a senior marketing major.
Girls Got Your Back is a dynamic app in development that aspires to create a network of solidarity for college women facing “mini emergencies” in their daily lives by facilitating mutual assistance during times of need and offering immediate access to essential products and relief.
“Girls Got Your Back has a bright future and we’re all subscribed to it,” Chiarella said. “We know that college students across the nation need our app and we hope to reach every single one of them.”
The Mayo Business Plan competition offers students of all majors the opportunity to bring their ideas to life and learn valuable skills in the process.
Golden Connections was able to effectively leverage each other's strengths to bolster their business plan.
“We incorporated all three of our backgrounds to create what Golden Connections is,” Shivaprasad said.
Route’s background in speech and language biomarkers, stemming from her internship with Johnson & Johnson, helped to drive the business plan.
Ryan Chiu, winner of the 2018 Mayo Business Plan Competition, said he believes the key to succeeding in this competition is starting early and leveraging the College’s assets, as well as leaning on your mentors.
“Our mentor Dr. Becker has guided us through this competition,” Cunningham said. “She has truly been so dedicated to Golden Connections and seeing that solution within it.”
According to Chiu, the competition helps with presentational skills, thinking on your feet and selling a project with passion.
In 2018, Chiu and his partner built a prototype robot, dubbed MARCo, that was their “third” presenter. This initiative wowed judges, helping them secure the victory.
While Chiu has stepped back from MARCo, he believes that this competition is helpful for developing soft skills and has provided him with the foundation to succeed in his current role.
The winners all recognize the hard work that goes into the competition, but also the greater reward that comes out of it.
“It is an excellent experience and the prize is large enough to generate real interest,” Mayo said. “Even if many drop out, they begin to realize how much is required to start a business.
