Dean’s Welcome
Break out your lances, Knights, it’s time to Joust! In ancient times, the joust was a competition filled with pageantry. A competition that set apart the best trained and most accomplished knights from the rest of the realm. Our Joust is no different.
The Joust is open to any student at UCF. It is facilitated by our faculty and judged by highly successful business professionals. It takes courage to enter, research to prepare and swagger to win. Comfort zones are exceeded. Vision is married with data. Egos are risked. Failure is almost certain. Only one team walks away with the top prize.
This year will not disappoint as our student entrepreneurs will be delivering some of the most impressive venture proposals we’ve seen in the competition. The interaction and advice our competitors receive from our esteemed judges, faculty and staff are priceless. The Joust experience differentiates the contestants from the less adventurous UCF student. As everyone knows, a good scar makes for a great story.
Go Knights! Charge On!
Paul Jarley, Ph.D.
Dean
The Agenda
Joust Finals Location
The Celeste Hotel on UCF, across Parking Lot A. Click for directions.
Contestants and Judges Check-in
Contestant and Judge check-in will begin at 1:30 p.m.
Welcome and Introduction
We welcome participants and review event details beginning at 2:00 p.m.
Presentations
Joust presentations will begin at approximately 2:20 p.m. and end by 3:40 p.m.
Judge Deliberations & Reception
Judge deliberation and the reception will begin at approximately 3:40 p.m.
Winners will be announced at approximately 4:00 p.m.
Judging Criteria
Proposed Product/Service and Market Opportunity (25%)
- Is the value proposition sound?
- Is the product/service original, innovative, and thoughtful?
- Is the value proposition articulated clearly?
- Do they clearly identify their target market(s)?
- Are their target markets large enough to support the growth?
- Do they have a competitive advantage over existing solutions?
- Do they have intellectual property?
Teams and Execution Plan (25%)
- Is the business operationally feasible?
- Do they outline measurable and achievable milestones?
- Do the founding team members have the expertise to launch and/or grow the business?
- Do they have plans to address gaps in their expertise/experience?
- Do they properly address risks and provide contingency plans?
Financial Revenue Model and Financial Projections (25%)
- Is the revenue model logical and comprehensive?
- Are the financial projections comprehensive and realistic?
- Do the financial projections reflect an understanding of the economics and potential growth opportunities and/or downside risks for the business?
Impact (25%)
- Does this venture have the ability to make a large impact on society?
- Will this venture help create jobs and promote regional economic development?
2023 Finalists
Finals Judges
Barry Miller ’95
President
Voloridge Investment Management
Sean Hayes ’95
Chief Marketing Officer
Voloridge Investment Management
Kevin Miller
President and CEO
Addition Financial
Jessica Blume ’80
Vice Chairman (Retired)
Deloitte
Laurette Koellner ’77
Retired President
Boeing International
Joust Winners’ Updates
Wriggle Brew
2022 Winner
Samuel Baker
WAWWE (We Are What We Eat)
2019 Winner
Rafaela Frota
Semi-Finalists
Certusa AI
Presented by: Arash Raftari, Yaser Fallah
Certusa AI has developed state-of-the-art AI technology for evaluating the value and risk of life insurance policies based on the policyholder and provider information. The solution can be used by the individual policyholder (policy seller) and the life settlement companies or third-party investors (policy buyers). They offer the next generation of data-driven life policy evaluation technology.
Cutting Board
Presented by: Nguyen Nguyen, Janice Ng, Jonathan Cirillo, Christopher Beltran, Jordan Hannon, Dakota Minnema
CuttingBoard is an augmented reality (AR) focused mobile app that helps those who wish to learn and/or practice cooking through a fun, immersive, and danger-free platform. We are passionate about our venture as we aim to merge entertainment and education by targeting people of all ages with the desire to help them learn how to cook different recipes at multiple difficulty levels. Our game allows them to practice indefinitely without the fear of mistakes or inconveniences while simultaneously enjoying the aspects of a simulation game. As food lovers, cooking enthusiasts, and gamers, us founders at CuttingBoard aim to cover a more modern approach compared to existing food-related game apps with its touch of immersive uniqueness via AR technology. Our desired impact is to bring a fun yet simulated cooking experience to casual users. Our long-term vision is to partner with food industries, especially fast-food chains, to offer training material for new hires.
Splash Safe Pot
Presented by: Alyssa Vendittis, Nick O’Brien
Our goal as a company is to create a reliable product to prevent cooking injuries. Our company’s value proposition is to prevent unexpected burns when trying to cook food from the safety of your home with an easy-to-use Splash Safe Pot. Our product will aim to lower the rates of hospital visits due to cooking burns, making the Splash Safe Pot a consistently and reliable used product in any home. Additionally, the Splash Safe pot will include measuring lines so that you can track the amount of food being placed at one time in order for consumers to track the amount of food they consume.
Kronos
Presented by: Bernardo Brandao, Arthur Fonseca, Marco Manfredi
Kronos is a B2B2C SaaS startup that helps businesses who provide any service or bookable asset to achieve a higher schedule efficiency and time productivity by providing a robust, faster communication channel between businesses and their end-customers. To reach our goal of providing value along the chain, Kronos features clientele-management tools and agenda customization to the business, and an intuitive and frictionless scheduling experience to their end customers. With that being said, we hope to be the ultimate scheduling hub in which businesses can utilize as their digital secretary and end users can centralize all his scheduling needs in one platform.
Semi-Finalists: Yellow Room (BA2 Room 101W)
PostFlight
Presented by: Tyler Worrall
A mobile app that connects pilots to share flight time and reduce their training costs and carbon footprint by 50%. The app helps pilots find suitable partners to share flight time with and fosters a sense of community within the aviation industry. This innovative approach to pilot networking makes it easier and more convenient to coordinate flight sharing, resulting in reduced training costs and greater environmental sustainability.
UltraStar
Presented by: Dakota Jordan
UltraStar sells paraphernalia of artwork that includes designs, pinups, collages, stickers, pins, key chains, etc. of original characters, designs, and
backgrounds created by the creator. UltraStar’s proposition is to satisfy customers by offering unique works of art and merchandise not based on any existing property. The creator hopes to create an impact by inspiring customers with their work and designing original characters for customers based on their own ideas via commission.
TextCOR
Presented by: Kevin Cardona
This company helps organizations manage and develop relationships using SMS as a platform for communication in the context of marketing, operations, and support. We’re incorporating automation, data collection/analysis, and AI to help users increase engagement, brand awareness, and the lifetime value of their customers, while minimizing the cost, time, and energy spent getting those results. TextCOR hopes to help companies across the world discover their existing uses to help them make the most of SMS for their individual business needs. Developing and maintaining long-term relationships with users along the way.
Kaizen
Presented by: Ritiga Ravichandran
Kaizen’s mission is to educate+promote the wellbeing of their consumers with sustainably sourced drinks that include unrefined natural sugars from sugarcane paired with unique flavor profiles. It will provide lasting energy levels and aid in healthy digestion without any artificial sweeteners. Customers will be educated on the value of the ingredients with how it nourishes the body on our packaging labels as being an energy booster, an easy to digest drink, and environment friendly. Buyers will further learn about the story of our product in our website, showing how we source the crops, create distinctive flavors, while being conscious. Creating short clips on Tik-Tok and Youtube Shorts will engage viewers on the importance of knowing what you consume to lead a healthier lifestyle, describing the notable ingredients and nutritional facts in comparison to what the market currently offers. Kaizen hopes that buyers will take action and learn something new everyday from their company.
Semi-Finalists: Red Room (BA1 Room 135, Starter’s Space)
Hire Match
Presented by: Justin Press, Georgia Russell, Kaleo Phoenix
Hire Match helps companies using applicant tracking systems (ATS) into their hiring process prevent the increasing percentage of under-qualified job applicants that make it through their hiring system due to the lack of an efficient method to filter through applications without dismissing qualified individuals. Hirematch incorporates counter key-word based screening algorithm and acknowledgement of similar skills to those requested in the description / qualifications section of the job posting resulting in a higher overall quality candidate pool and an order of magnitude less time spent weeding out unfit candidates.
Lotsa Matcha
Presented by: Elizabeth Trader
Lotsa Matcha combines the convenience of on-the-go matcha latte premixes with the taste of handmade matcha at a price that allows matcha lovers to enjoy it every day. Matcha is a finely ground green tea powder with a unique flavor and many health benefits. Already popular in east Asian countries where it is commonly grown it has recently experienced a strong emergence in the US market with Haagen Daz even making a green tea ice cream. Lotsa Matcha is for matcha lovers who love the taste but not the hassle of painstakingly preparing a good matcha latte from scratch or the price of a good ready-to-drink product.
Electable.me
Presented by: Shea Silverman
Electable.me is the software-as-a-service that helps candidates plan and execute their campaigns, providing access to a range of tools and resources to help them reach their voters and win the election. Our platform is easy to use, affordable, and effective. It takes the complexity out of campaign management, allowing candidates to focus on their message while connecting with voters. With over 500,000 elected offices on the ballot every 2 years, the market is ripe for a technology-first campaign system that targets first-time and Gen Z candidates. Younger generations manage their entire lives through technology. Now they can manage their political campaign through it as well. We have run for office before and we have decades of experience in designing powerful yet easy to use software. We have seen first hand the fragmentation of the market with our competitors products.
ARES
Presented by:Tony Winiewicz
ARES (Advanced Restaurant Equipment Systems) is an OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) of innovative tools, systems, and equipment that solve problems in the commercial kitchen. Our systems address issues such as consistency, quality, labor, food safety, and food waste. Through a fresh perspective on the problem and intelligent design we can provide a safer environment for the kitchen worker and the restaurant patron, as well as reduce the amount of food that is wasted, all while adding to the bottom line for the restaurant owner.
Semi-Finalists: Purple Room (BA1 Room 148, The EXCHANGE)
VIP Hard Seltzer
Presented by: Connor Huseman, Nicholas Martins, Mazen Youness
The first hard seltzer based on collagen protein, aiming to cater to health-conscious consumers while enhancing flavor with flavored collagen concentrate. The unique combination of components has enabled VIP Hard Seltzer to outclass other products in the market, with a 7% alcohol content in a 12-ounce can, while retaining a more crisp & flavorful experience.
Roofers Advantage
Presented by: Andrew Hastings
Roofers Advantage is a digital marketing agency working exclusively with residential & commercial roofers in the USA, that are currently doing over $1M/year in gross revenue. We have these requirements because we desire to work with established companies that have sales teams & systems in place to run a high volume of inbound leads. We’ve chosen to niche down to create a superior service for our clients instead of working with a wide variety of companies in different industries. Our mission is to help roofers to build trust and authority in their local communities while simultaneously generating high-quality leads for our clients in a predictable and scalable manner. We’ve chosen online advertising as our vessel to accomplish this goal. Specifically running paid advertising on Meta and the Google Display Network. We hope to impact the industry and local communities in a positive way by connecting in-need homeowners with qualified and experienced roofers with high integrity.
TumYum
Presented by: Alex Damis
Immersive Visual Menus for Florida’s most Innovative Restaurants. TumYum helps restaurant owners excite, entice, and upsell their diners, with less efforts from their staff.
PT Domi
Presented by: Kelly Shea
PT Domi’s mission is to allow for busy people to get the help they need when it comes to physical therapy, while getting quality instruction on their own schedule. Since most physical therapy clinics are only open Monday – Fridays between the hours of 8am-5pm, it can be difficult to get the instruction needed to assist with recovering off of an injury, leading to them having to only attend once a week at most when they are supposed to be going multiple times. We want to create a way for these busy people to be able to complete their stretching/exercises on their own time while still receiving real-time feedback and instruction on their performance to make sure the same quality of being in person is present. Using biometrics, there will be a way to track progress and angling of the body part.
Semi-Finalists: Blue Room (BA1 Room 234A)
Semi-Finals Judges
Steve Curley ’07
Wealth Management Executive/Co-Founder and Host
Investors First Podcast
Harry Morehead ’87
Executive Vice President
Thrifty Rents
Karl Tourville
Founding Partner
Galliard Capital Management
Manny Vivar
CEO
HostDime
Kaleb Harrell ’04
CEO
Hawkers Asian Steet Food
Semi-Finalists Judges: Yellow Room (BA2 Room 101W)
Carrie Daanen ’92
Retired Mangin Partner
Galliard Capital Management
Jason Duprat ’09
Co-founder & President
IV Therapy Academy
Socrate Exantus ’00 & ’22
CEO
All County CFL Property Mangement
Matt Immerfall ’06
CEO
All Star Auto Lights
Semi-Finalists Judges: Red Room (BA1 135, Starter’s Space)
Jorge Amaro ’13
CEO
A3i
Jimmy Ledbetter
Solutions Architect
3Cloud
Marc McMurrin ’01
President and CEO
Ginsburg Family Foundation
Marrion Weiler
CEO & Founder
Weiler International
Semi-Finalists Judges: Purple Room (BA1 148, The EXCHANGE)
Dean Caravelis ’02 & ’03
CEO
Blezoo
Debbie Claydon ’89
Principal
CCA Advisors
Jeff Condello
CEO
RANDALL
Jaques Fu
Co-Founder
Stax
Semi-Finalists Judges: Blue Room (BA1 Room 234A)
Application Judges
Abhi Sastri
Brandon Carpenter
Brandon Naids
David Nash
Dylan Weitzman
Justin Buzzi
Cameron Ford
Kyle White
Mike Lynch
Spencer Elliot
The Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership helps UCF students succeed by empowering them with entrepreneurial mindsets and skillsets. Entrepreneurial leadership capabilities are essential to creating value, making a difference, and experiencing personal and professional fulfillment. Entrepreneurial leaders make things better by creating and leading innovative startups, corporate venture, and government initiatives that enrich our lives, our economy, and our society.
Stay Connected
Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership
Business Administration I, Room 135
(407) 823-3683
cel@ucf.edu
Blackstone LaunchPad
Student Union
(407) 823-2642
launchpad@ucf.edu