A selection of ventures from the TIA Incubator share updates about their activities and progress during the fall 2023 semester.
Backpacks for Kids
Che Ku Kyet ’24, Abby Rosenblatt ’25, Meredith Kelley ’25, Marisa Zarcone ’25, Taylor Thames ’25, Priya Martin ’24, Alia Tuiolosega ’25, Avalian Rios ’25, Sydney Santiago ’26, Emma Burdick ’25, Hannah Rogan ’24, Laurajane Kehler ’24, Taryn Lane ’26, Kelly Ribeiro ’27, Nicole Hernandez ’26
Currently, Backpack for Kids is actively engaged in a project to deliver donations to The Center in Utica, N.Y. This effort stems from their recent collaboration with the center’s volunteer and donation coordinator. The organization is also in the process of evaluating its inventory to determine whether additional items need to be ordered. Furthermore, they are diligently working on completing Campus Venture Initiative certification to obtain authorization for on-campus operations and hosting fundraising events to support campus marketing initiatives. In addition to these tasks, the team is actively pursuing partnerships with local businesses and seeking the necessary licenses to screen The Last Refuge in local theaters.
Pair and Care
Chayce Canty ’27, Henry Galicich ’27, Maddie Theveny ’27, and Aurelius Henderson
Pair and Care aims to bridge the gap between affordable and convenient childcare access for faculty, staff, and the community. Pair and Care will achieve this through easy babysitting services, after-school programming, and summer programs. As a student-led initiative, our venture will have access to responsible students with a strong desire to babysit and a direct line of communication with faculty and staff. Our team has completed an initial business model canvas and competitive landscape analysis and is now engaged in customer discovery interviews with students, faculty, and staff.
Freshman Thirteen
Founded by Heather Holm ’25 and Dylan Shi ’24
To date, Freshman Thirteen has released two products, a t-shirt and hat, on our website and sold our items in person at student-run sales as well as last year’s TIA Entrepreneur Showcase. Our first product was released in February 2023: a cropped, fitted women’s t-shirt. The item was received positively, and we have sold nearly 50 shirts since launch. In April 2023, we released trucker hats with a new design. We are currently working on new ways of marketing the hat to drive sales, such as advertising the hat to the alumni community, raffles, and offering item bundles at a reduced price.
To better understand the needs of our market, we engaged in customer discovery by creating a survey that was completed by 50 Colgate students. From this survey, we learned about future product and pricing options that would better appeal to students. We discovered that only around half of the students we surveyed are satisfied with current branded merchandise options, proving the need for our products. Additionally, we learned about ways students usually acquire their merchandise so that in the future we can better market our products through these channels. Working with our mentors, we developed our business model canvas to better understand the key aspects of our business, including our resources, values, and partners. We have developed new designs and will now be moving forward with the development of two new products: a women’s fitted shirt and candle.
Gate Power Bank
Founded by Young Hu ’27 and Trent Hu ’27
Gate Powerbank’s vision is to establish a sustainable venture that revolutionizes how people stay powered and envisions a future where everyone has convenient and affordable access to reliable portable power regardless of location or circumstance. Our intention is to establish shared power-bank stations on campus. We plan to implement the first few power-bank stations in dining halls, academic halls, and events with large populations to satisfy the potential needs of students, staff, and visitors, whose phones are running low battery. We have currently completed customer discovery interviews and are now finalizing pilot operations in coordination with the Campus Venture Initiative committee.
Gate TVs
Founded by Ari Roth ’24 and Ethan Cott ’24
In their fifth full semester of operation, Gate TVs is thrilled to announce that they have achieved profitability, marking a significant milestone in their journey. They have reached this point with their largest inventory of TVs to date, successfully renting out every TV to Colgate students this semester. With the current team of graduating seniors, Gate TVs has actively initiated the recruitment process by conducting interviews with underclassmen. They are in the process of assembling a new leadership team to guide the company into its next generation. The company is confident that this infusion of new talent will bring fresh ideas and energy to their operations. In addition to the search for new leadership, Gate TVs is also exploring opportunities for the upcoming team to expand and build upon the strong foundations they’ve established over the past four years at Colgate.
Hami-Down
Sarah Stenovec ’24, Rae Frankel ’25, Chloe Tanous ’24, Laine Katz-Vanzo ’25, Avery Johnson ’25, Ella Conover ’26, Valeria Reyes ’26, Perin Romano ’26
Hami-Down’s biggest accomplishment this year was their sale on Broad Street on September 22. With sales totaling over $1000, 17 sellers were able to sell their items. Attracting a broad range of buyers, this sale gave the team an opportunity to explain their mission and to spread the word about their activity. Another goal of theirs this semester is to begin thinking about new hires; Hami-Down has just begun the process of creating an application and discussing what they are looking for in new members of their team.
Raider Rides
Porter Comstock ’24 and McKenna Dalton ’25
During the fall semester, Raider Rides operated under new management as the company’s founders, Jordan Klein ’23, Eli Yadidi ’23, and Thomas Johnson ’23, graduated this past May. McKenna Dalton ’25 and Porter Comstock ’24 spent the summer perfecting their management plans for this coming year. Excitingly, Raider Rides celebrated its two-year anniversary of the business in October. During the fall semester, Raider Rides received over 280 ride requests and welcomed 22 new drivers to their team — more than they’ve seen in any semester so far. Raider Rides has also been expanding their on-campus presence through the creation of their legal and creative teams through more social media posts on their Instagram and TikTok accounts, a t-shirt design contest (that is still ongoing!), and attending club fairs with TIA. For the time being, Raider Rides is pausing all ride requests to improve their services and ensure compliance with the state’s legal requirements for ride-sharing ventures. The team is excited to take this time to improve their system and operations for the Colgate community.
TON Solutions
Co-founded by Chris Cherniakov ’25
This past semester, TON Solutions successfully completed the development of their initial Minimum Viable Product (MVP). They are currently in the midst of conducting a closed beta testing phase with a carefully selected group of users. The goal is to have a stable version of their product ready for public launch in the coming 3-4 weeks. Furthermore, from November 10-11, the team participated in the TON Gateway conference in Dubai, where they showcased their product during the demo day, leveraging media coverage and their professional network to work toward their initial target of 50,000 users.