Prototyping Hardware Accelerator Teams Pitch at Demo Day
Rev: Ithaca Startup Works was buzzing with energy on Thursday, August 1, as 20 Prototyping Hardware Accelerator teams pitched their prototypes to supporters, potential partners, and investors at Demo Day. The event was the first public demo of many of the products, which entered the 10-week program as only a concept. Over 150 community members attended the event, catered by Word of Mouth and Rev member South Hill Cider. The Prototyping Hardware Accelerator program is powered by the Economic Development Agency through a Build-to-scale Grant.
“We asked three questions to help the Prototyping participants get started,” said Associate Director of Hardware Programs, Deanna Kocher, providing program context to the crowd. “Who is your customer and what is their problem? Can I design something to solve my customer’s problem? And, lastly, can I turn that customer and product into a viable business?”
Over 10 weeks, the Prototyping teams conducted customer discovery interviews, received entrepreneurial training, and prototyped their proposed product. “Customer discovery allowed us to take a step back and ask people who we were talking to what issues they actually had, instead of pushing our solution onto them,” said Everett Zelson of Team Guzzel. “We realized that there wasn’t a demand for our initial solution. That was a little disappointing, but it was kind of the ideal outcome because you don’t want to invest more time and money into an idea that doesn’t work.”
“It’s awesome to see how the ideas have changed and developed throughout the program,” says hardware instructor Zoe Szymanski. “Especially seeing the teams that came in with just an idea, now with finalized designs that I would look at and say, I would purchase that right now.”
Many of the prototyping teams are still answering the final question, how to make a viable business, and used their pitches to tap into Ithaca’s rich network of talent and expertise. After watching the pitches, the audience connected with the participants at their tables and interacted with the prototypes.
“Many of the teams have been using their vacation time or traveling to be in this program,” says Kocher. “It’s great to see the culmination of all their hard work.”
Missed our Hardware Demo Day Networking Night? Networking@Rev: Successful Student Startups is on Thursday, September 19th. Join us for more pitches, light bites, and an opportunity to connect with student founders and community members: https://bit.ly/4dAkc4T