19-Year-Old Co-founders Redefine Online Dating with Skippit, a Voice/Video Dating Platform

Brown University student, Winnie McCabe and Babson College student, Marc Baghadjian, both 19, are one of this year’s competitors in the i.Invest National Youth Business Competition. Their startup, Skippit, is a dating platform that uses video and voice, and a slew of other features, to build intimate connections.

McCabe spoke with us about the business venture:

Tell us about your business.

Skippit is an iOS voice/video calling speed-dating platform for users ages 19-28 looking for an interactive experience that addresses the many shortfalls plaguing the incumbents in the online dating sector. Once two users match on Skippit, they have the option to spontaneously call or schedule a five-minute voice or video call with each other. If the call is successful, Skippit will suggest fun activities for their date based on their shared interests, then offer them insider deals on these activities for the date.

What inspired the creation of Skippit?

Marc and I both have had unsuccessful experiences using dating apps and are looking to solve a problem we have had firsthand. We were tired of the apps in the market and found that applications were built around prolonging the match process. We decided to reinvent the business model and build a dating application that condensed the match process. At first glance, one might not understand why the incumbents prolong the matching process but after evaluating their business models - which are contingent on users buying more swipes and using their dating applications for a long period of time - Marc and I decided to monetize in-person date interactions differently. We knew we had something special when we received positive feedback from polling users and individuals on our hypotheses.

How will Skippit impact the world?

Skippit facilitates introductions with individuals who would have never previously met. It assists in the match and meeting process, funneling people to do community gathering experiences through our integrated service providers. Skippit will enrich the communities on and between college campuses by offering individuals a way to streamline the first date process.

What are the next steps for Skippit?

Currently, we are looking to raise $150,000. We will use the funds to cover marketing costs, host the API’s to build the platform, contract developers and cover legal fees. Skippit’s target market is concentrated in urban areas with large universities and businesses. We plan to start on the East Coast in the Boston area and reach an audience around the following schools: Harvard, MIT, Babson College, Wellesley College, Northeastern, Boston University, and Boston College.

To learn more about Skippit visit, www.skippitapp.com or follow them on social media: Twitter: www.twitter.com/skippit_app; Instagram: www.instagram.com/skippitapp/or Facebook: www.facebook.com/skippitapp. To mentor or provide support, email mjackson@i-investcompetition.com.

#youth #skippit #iinvestcompetition #datingservice #entrepreneur #ship

18-Year-Old Entrepreneur Connects Underserved Students to Experiential Learning Opportunities

Miracle Olatunji, 18, of New Castle, DE is one of this year’s competitors in the i.Invest National Youth Business Competition. Olatunji is the founder of OpportuniMe, a technology startup with the mission to help high schools and their students by democratizing access and exposure to quality experiential learning, enrichment, and employment opportunities for passion, career, and self-discovery.

We spoke with Olatunji to learn more about her business venture:

Tell us about your start-up company.

As a high-school student, I experienced first-hand how difficult it is to search and apply for meaningful opportunities for high-school-age students. Therefore, I developed OpportuniMe, which is an early-stage startup with the mission to help high schools and their students easily find and apply to various experiential learning, enrichment, and employment opportunities. Currently, the OpportuniMe newsletter has hundreds of subscribers from the Delaware area, and I recently graduated from the very first cohort of DualSchool, an incubator for high-school student entrepreneurs and change-makers. OpportuniMe has been featured in Forbes, Mogul, Technical.ly, GoodWall, The Female Lead, Out & About Magazine, and several other publications and media outlets. OpportuniMe also won first place in the 2018 World Series of Entrepreneurship. The next step is to create and launch a fully-functional website platform that will allow users to find and apply to opportunities.

What inspired you to start OpportuniMe?

The decision to start OpportuniMe was inspired by a personal experience and a problem I identified among other young people around the country. The challenge is that the current process of finding these meaningful opportunities for high schools and their students is very disorganized, stressful, and time-consuming. Therefore, I decided to start OpportuniMe as a solution to this problem.

What makes OpportuniMe unique?

We will be leveraging artificial intelligence technology and machine learning to make the platform highly efficient and save users time. Our goal is to simplify exposure and access to diverse opportunities for the 25,000+ high schools and millions of students in the US, all on one secure platform. The student data that we collect will also be used to help students by matching them to those experiences and resources that will enable them to confidently pursue their collegiate, entrepreneurial, and career goals and to develop the skills necessary to be leaders in the 21st century.

How will OpportuniMe impact the world?

Opportunities are the keys that unlock the doors for students to experience passion, career, and self-discovery. Some of the most successful and fulfilled professional adults today cite that the early opportunities they had to explore and identify possible career paths and passions were keys to their success later in life. Outside and inside of school, experiential learning, enrichment, and employment opportunities allow students to develop a real-world perspective outside the classroom, to explore career and personal hobby interests, to foster personal development skills, and to begin to build their network. That is why a core belief at OpportuniMe is that it is important for high-school students to have the opportunity to explore possible careers and start finding or cultivating their passion before they head off to college. These opportunities can even encourage students who weren't considering higher education to pursue it.

What are the next steps for OpportuniMe?

The next step is to complete web platform development. We are also building a team of people with tech, design, business development, and other talents as well as a diverse advisory board of experienced professionals. We are also working towards fundraising for the company. The funds will be used towards product development, marketing, and sales and business operations. We plan to spread the word and market through partnerships with various companies, organizations, and universities, student and public figure ambassador programs, social media, and digital marketing.

To learn more about OpportuniMe, visit their website, www.opportunime.co , Twitter @Opportuni_Me, or Facebook page, www.facebook.com/OpportuniME/.

#Youth #miracleolatunji #opportunime #iinvestcompetition #delaware #entrepreneur #youthentrepreneur #ship

Durham, NC Teen Entrepreneurs Turning Pulp into Profits with Online Sustainability Platform

Navami Jain, 17, Megan Wu, 17, Michelle Bao, 17 and Vincent Xia, 18 of Durham, North Carolina are one of this year’s competitors in the i.Invest National Youth Business Competition. Their company, Trofi, is a sustainability-driven venture that aims to reduce food waste while simultaneously offering new nutritional value to livestock farmers and their animals.

Tell us about your business.

Trofi’s online platform will enable suppliers of food by-products, such as fruit and vegetable pulp and spent grain, to connect and sell their “waste” products to livestock farmers who can then incorporate these nutrient-rich products into livestock feed as dietary supplements. After the products are reserved online, suppliers and farmers can negotiate all the details of the transaction, thus making the process convenient for farmers while offering a sustainable waste disposal method for suppliers. For just a small subscription cost each month, suppliers and buyers gain access to effortless connections, increased opportunity for transactions, and a chance to boost their green corporate image.

What inspired the creation of Trofi?

As students from a residential high school, we often go to local smoothie shops and juicers. As we watched the workers create our delicious drinks, we also noticed how much pulp comes from each drink. In fact, a standard 16 ounce of cold-pressed juice yields 4.5 pounds of pulp waste which, as we later found, contributed to the astonishing 175,000 pounds of pulp waste that ends up in landfills each year. After stumbling across an article that told of the incredible story of tons of orange pulp and peels turning nutrient-deprived land into loamy soil after years of decomposition, we wanted to see what fruit pulp could be turned into. Recognizing this problem, we seek solutions to reduce or repurpose this form of food waste besides just composting, which still has some environmental repercussions. Living in small towns in NC, we frequently visit Farmers’ Markets for fresh produce and local meats, eggs, or other dairy products. Supporting these farmers is important to us; therefore, we want to connect these two parties together. Waste from one source could be a hidden gem for the other.

How will Trofi impact the world?

Trofi offers benefits for both suppliers and buyers of the food byproduct items, as well as overall environmental benefit for the local communities. The suppliers - local juice stores, breweries, and other businesses - are able to reduce costs spent on waste disposal while recycling the nutrients that would otherwise be the “waste products” of their business. The buyers - local farmers - are able to enrich their animals’ diet with natural nutrients by paying a small price. Thus, both suppliers and buyers are connected to simultaneously promote sustainability at the highest level. Furthermore, because both suppliers and buyers are local businesses, we are supporting and promoting an economic exchange.

What are the next steps for Trofi?

Trofi currently does not have investors and is in the process of becoming an LLC to begin seeking investors. We would like to work towards incorporating an educational tool for farmers and suppliers on the online platform. While feeding animals food scraps isn’t a new concept, the research and educational tools can bring more awareness to this practice and better cater to the different needs of various types of livestock. We are seeking $8,000 to extend the functionality of our web-based platform, begin development of a mobile platform, and for marketing.

To stay abreast of Trofi’s progress in the i.Invest Competition, sign up for our newsletter at www.i-investcompetition.com. To provide support as a mentor or investor, email mjackson@i-investcompetition.com.

#Youth #trofi #iinvestcompetition #sustainability #entrepreneur #ship