Penn State Brandywine’s and Penn State Berks’ LaunchBoxes, powered by Penn State, collaborated with Penn State Great Valley to hold the fall 2024 Idea TestLab Pitch Competition on Nov. 4. Six startup entrepreneurs participated in the competition, which was held at Great Valley. The Idea TestLab not only supports Penn State students but also encourages them to bring their bold ideas to life while enhancing their entrepreneurial skills.

The Idea TestLab is a six-week business accelerator program for early-stage entrepreneurs who want to explore their scalable idea or address a customer problem for a potential business. The Idea TestLab is a “customer discovery” investigation designed to help entrepreneurs better understand the customer problem they are trying to solve and how to provide value in a different way.

Participants must be in the early stage, which means they have already conceived an idea and are ready to seek proof of concept and engagement in a customer discovery process. The Fall 2024 Idea TestLab allowed participants to pitch their business ideas, showcasing innovative solutions to real-world problems. These ideas ranged from AI-powered virtual assistants to devices that automate trash receptacle management, and the judges celebrated all of the young entrepreneurs’ bold ideas, applauding their creativity and commitment to addressing critical challenges in innovative ways.

The winner of the Fall 2024 Idea TestLab Pitch Competition, Munish Munagala, won for his startup Agent23.AI, a virtual chatbot assistant aimed to help companies schedule services. Second place was awarded to Karla Garro for her coffee company, Koffee Dreams Roasters LLC. Third place was awarded to Evan Lawler for his company Can2Curb, a device that can take someone’s trash receptacle to the curb for pickup.

Tony Mattei, Director of Entrepreneurship and Digital Marketing at Penn State Brandywine, noted how excited he was to host the Idea TestLab Pitch Competition with Berks LaunchBox and Penn State Great Valley for the second consecutive year.

“We started this collaboration about a year ago, and we had a great turnout, so we’re excited to do this again to support the Berks and Brandywine communities,” he said. “In addition, I’m grateful to the Great Valley team for graciously hosting the event.”

Regional Chancellor Marilyn J. Wells gave opening remarks and shared how proud she was of the community members pitching their startup companies.

“One of the things I love about tonight is seeing people demonstrate their creativity and push limits,” she said. “In our Penn State Brandywine strategic plan for 2020-2025, our tagline is ‘New Opportunities, New Stories,’ and all of the individuals tonight are living that. They are seizing new opportunities, and we’re going to see new stories be written tonight.”

Judges for the pitch competition were Jobany Bedoya, Owner of Diversity Mixers and Red Tie Affairs LLC; Chris Bradley, Part Owner of i-core networks and Brandywine Advisory Board Member; Nicol Cancelmo, Co-Founder of Ocoa; and Mark Trabbold, Brandywine LaunchBox Advisory Board member.

Brandywine LaunchBox is a signature program of Invent Penn State, a commonwealth-wide initiative to spur economic development, job creation, and student career success. As one of the University’s 21 innovation hubs across Pennsylvania, the Brandywine LaunchBox provides programs and resources for early-stage entrepreneurs.

The next Idea TestLab program will begin in February 2025.

Learn more at Penn State Great Valley.