WolfieTank is a pitch competition similar to the NBC hit show Shark Tank. It is iCREATE’s annual showcase event in the Fall semester and simulates a business environment where budding entrepreneurs can have a platform to present their idea and receive critical feedback from professionals in the industry.
Our Featured Presenters:
- Benjamin Conard – Five North Chocolate
- Benjamin packages his own dark chocolate at his company, Five North Chocolate, because he thinks farmers get lost in the supply chain and does not profit as much as everyone else in the industry. He is working hard to make fair trade dark chocolate more widely accessible in today’s market, to protect the future of the cocoa industry.
- Yehonathan Litman – MAPLE System
- Yehonathan created MAPLE system for robots giving them the ability to localize themselves in any new space and can be customized to a user’s intended projects. Stepping up accuracy and fast positioning measurements are key for higher level functions in robots, so one day, they can possibly think just like humans.
- Magdalene Fogarasi, Adiba Chowdhury, Amy Young, Meaghan Cellio, Sanjay Jonnavithula – Blood Pressure Cuff
- This group formed in order to promote a more non invasive method for assessing systolic and diastolic blood pressure. They invented a novel blood pressure cuff that is fully integratable with current pressure measurement technology (both digital and manual.) This would remove the need for Velcro components and is truly a one size fits all model.
- Edward Buckler & Elliot Richards – Outland Analytics
- Outland Analytics is developing a sensor detection system to monitor land for illegal vehicle use and timber theft. This product will monitor large areas of land for illegal vehicle use and timber theft, providing immediate notifications, thus allowing law enforcement and or security forces to respond instantly.
- Adam Wang, Eric Fung, and Brett Weinger – Toilet Flush Generator
- This group created a multi-functional toilet, incorporating a power generator that converts the kinetic energy of water into electrical energy. The product uses a water motion active transducer (WMAT) based on a dielectric elastomer, which, when in contact with moving water, creates a potential difference that can be used to induce an electric current that can power electric appliances.
Wolfie Tank featured three judges: James Keane, Youn Jung Chung, and Jonathan Bernard.
James Keane is a 2008 graduate of Stony Brook’s MBA program and currently serves as the Global Director of Disruptive Growth Exploration at the world’s largest global brewer, Anheuser-Busch InBev, responsible for investigating, testing, and commercializing new technology and business models with the capability of disrupting ABI. Youn Jung Chung is the Founder of Dal Enterprises, an Amazon consulting services company. A Stony Brook University Class of 2015 graduate, she began her company shortly after graduation with $1500 and bootstrapped it to over 6 figures. She is a graduate of The Founder Institute, the world’s premier idea-stage accelerator, and a brother of Alpha Kappa Psi, the professional co-ed business fraternity. Youn loves giving back by hiring and mentoring Stony Brook students and connecting them with the larger startup ecosystem. Jonathan Bernard graduated Stony Brook University in 2015 and started working in accounting. After a couple years of internship/real world experience, he realized he wanted to follow his personal passions of cooking and growing food. Around that very same time, an urban farming accelerator had started called Square Roots, allowing him to spend a full year growing food and starting his own business in real time. Fast forward one year later, and he is now launching his very own startup called Street Leafs, which turns space into food, community, and an experience.
Wolfie Tank also featured multiple raffles and was a great space for students, staff, and other innovators to network, communicate, and collaborate.