Northeastern Hosts IDEA Challenge

Hopeful entrepreneurs pitched their ideas to potential investors at Northeastern University’s IDEA challenge. The challenge was held Wednesday, July 16, 2014 at District Hall in Boston. The IDEA challenge is a student run venture held for students and alumni to help with start up businesses.

“Pitch- a- thon is a powerful showcase of all the hard work and effort our ventures put into their businesses,” said IDEA CEO Nick Naraghi, DMSB’15. “It’s exciting to watch them progress through IDEA’s stage gates and grow into investment-ready businesses.”

A variety of start-ups from industries ranging from tech to retail presented to potential investors, some of whom may soon help these businesses grow and achieve success. 

Several entrepreneurs discussed their innovative ideas to improve upon existing industries, like online trading, advertising and healthcare. Others, like Ryan Wright, E’09, see a market for a completely new type of product.

“People are con­stantly run­ning out of bat­tery life on their smart­phones,” Wright said. “There’s cur­rently no way to charge your device, espe­cially if you’re outdoors.”

Writght created Sol Power, a company that builds outdoor solar powered cell phone charging stations that enable users to lock up their phones and return later to a fully charged device.

IDEA helps students and alumni create, develop and accelerate new businesses through coaching, mentoring and funding. Since its inception in 2009, the student-run venture accelerator has helped launch 30 start-ups, which have received more than $12 million in external funding.

regions: Boston

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