Mentors, Investors, and Proud Parents: Who’s Watching Babson’s Summer Venture Showcase
It was the first time Shaun Stimpson MBA’12 had attended Babson’s Summer Venture Showcase, where students and recent alumni show off their hard work following the College’s rigorous 10-week startup accelerator program, and he had been stood up.
His friend, a former participant in Babson’s Summer Venture Program (SVP) who invited him, canceled at the last minute. Still, Stimpson was intrigued enough to battle heavy traffic from Norwell, join a standing audience on the 12th floor of the Babson Boston office, and watch as the 14 teams pitched their ventures.
“I was very impressed,” Stimpson said. “I thought the presentations were well put together and the product ideas were very creative and definitely marketable.”
He connected with SweatGuys, a venture created by Will Marra ’27, Jack Gramer ’27, and Mason Rosado ’27 that creates stink- and stain-resistant athleisure apparel.
“I thought their product was the most marketable,” Stimpson said.
It was just one of many connections made at the 17th showcase for the program, which hones entrepreneurial skills and provides coaching, access to experts, and a wealth of resources including housing and working space, in addition to helping with venture acceleration. Chimera Craft, a plant-based dairy venture created by Christelle Brandt MBA’26, was another product that generated audience interest.
“The program changes every year. It evolves and will continue to change, but three things remain the same,” said Alexandra Dunk MBA’22, who co-directs the program with Cindy Klein Marmer MBA’02 P’29. “One, Babson entrepreneurs are amazing, and you’re going to see that for yourself today. Two, entrepreneurship is a hard and beautiful thing. And three, entrepreneurship is just plain better with community and support.”
Much of that support showed up in the packed audience at last week’s showcase. Some traveled for hours to cheer on classmates and loved ones. Others were there to provide advice or mentor startup newcomers. And some were on hand looking to invest in the next big Babson success story.
Solutions the World Needs
For Jason Kraus MSEL’15, it was a mix of all three. Kraus runs Prepare4VC, a venture advice program that helps founders refine their product, cultivate relationships, and potentially find investors. He is also a proud alumnus and investor with the Boston Harbor Angels, a group of business leaders interested in funding in high-growth, early-stage companies.
“I thought the event was great and the founders were really polished storytellers and presenters,” Kraus said. “I especially enjoyed the TaeSun and Prepdle presentations as solutions the world needs badly.”
TaeSun, a deeply personal venture presented at the showcase by Alec Leddon MSEL’25, is an easy, portable drug-testing kit designed to allow anyone to detect fentanyl in substances before use, a critical step in harm reduction. Leddon and his mother, Dr. Jeanie Chung, started the company after losing brother and son Jackson Taesun Leddon to a fentanyl overdose.
Another family team, this time brother and sister Alex and Kaitlyn Pristawa ’26, pitched Prepdle. The platform gamifies SAT prep with one question a day and encourages students to build winning streaks.
Part-time MBA student Julia Hageman came to get a better sense of what the Summer Venture Program offers.
“I thought this would be a great opportunity to come by and see what it’s like,” Hageman said. A manager of lab operations at Pfizer, Hageman recently teamed up with a partner and they are considering starting a venture of their own.
“Right now, we are in the beginning stages and figuring out all the logistics, so we were thinking this program might be a wonderful opportunity to jump-start our venture,” Hageman said.
Powered by AI
Garrett Rent ’95, who has advised SVP participants in the past, came to the showcase especially interested in startups incorporating artificial intelligence.
“I’m a bit of an entrepreneur myself and I’m kind of looking for my next new thing,” Rent said. “I’m always interested in seeing what people are doing, and I’m especially curious about AI and how that might be integrated into some of the ventures.”
The event included plenty of AI-boosted businesses, including Liaizon, created by Anushka Balaraj ’25 as a kind of dating app for entrepreneurs, enabling them to build a dream team for their startup by swiping through the app’s AI-powered smart algorithm and connecting with co-founders or talent that matched their interest.
“Founders are often left wasting precious time and energy finding the right team,” Balaraj said, pointing out that the number of venture creators searching online for fellow team members has skyrocketed in recent years. “Your unicorn story is only one swipe away.”
Emily Weinberg ’26 pitched SKIP IT, another AI-powered offering that would allow users to skip triggering or distressing scenes in streaming movies or television programs through customizable filters that offer real-time scene skipping.
“For years, I wished that I could just skip it, and I’m not alone,” Weinberg said during her pitch, describing how her chest would tighten when confronted with triggering scenes without warning.
Proud parents Marc Weinberg P’26 and Victoria Fraser P’26 arrived early to see their daughter Emily’s presentation.
“She’s thrilled she found this program, and she’s found the community and mentorship incredible,” Victoria Fraser said. The couple have not only followed SKIP IT’s evolution but also heard about other projects in the program. “We’re eager to see their presentations, as well.”
Lessons and Pivots
Hurshneet Chadha ’27 opened his presentation with a bold announcement.
“Four days before our SVP showcase I decided to shut down my startup,” read the first slide of Chadha’s pitch.
Chadha and Finian Allen ’27 worked on CreatorZen during the 10-week venture program. The venture originally produced software to help a rapidly expanding number of new TikTok influencer talent agencies automate their operations as they assisted influencers with marketing campaigns.
Despite early success, the market shifted, and companies began connecting with influencers directly, leaving talent agencies out of the equation altogether.
“This was only the beginning of a relentless barrage of issues,” Chadha said. A looming TikTok ban last January, an unexpected server overload, and legal challenges all led to sleepless nights for the team and the eventual decision to sell the company to strategic acquirers.
“The story of CreatorZen is the story of entrepreneurial resilience,” Chadha said. “CreatorZen is neither my first business nor will it be my last.”
Chadha wasn’t the only founder to face issues. Alexander Sica ’27, founder of GENETICFIT Labs, had hoped to leverage genetic testing to create a hyper-personalized fitness and nutrition plan. But he struggled to find a business model.
“Genetic tests currently only offer static, long-term insights, limiting our ability to create a reoccurring revenue stream,” Sica said. “Ultimately, we realized we’d fallen in love with a technology, and we were trying to force a business out of it.”
“I think the biggest draw was the environment of people that were truly there to support and be inspired by the Babson community.”
Jason Kraus MSEL’15
Kraus found the tales of frustration to be among the most compelling.
“Instead of choosing not to present, they showed us the inside scoop of running the startup, figuring out what did not work and using that experience for the next phase,” Kraus said, adding that it’s another reflection of growth.
“I think the biggest draw was the environment of people that were truly there to support and be inspired by the Babson community,” Kraus said. “I’m excited to continue the conversations with founders and audience members.”
Posted in Community, Entrepreneurial Leadership
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