Startup Vikes Fall 2025

Innovation, Iteration, and Impact

Startup Vikes took on a bold new format this year — evolving from a 2.5-day marathon event into a weeklong journey of innovation and collaboration. What began on Thursday, November 6, with 19 creative pitches, transformed into an intensive week of teamwork, mentorship, and entrepreneurial growth, culminating in final pitches the following Thursday.

Ideas that Inspired

The 19 ideas presented covered an incredible spectrum of ingenuity — from renewable energy solutions harnessing wind and water, to affordable, customizable prosthetics, and even gender-specific black car services aimed at improving safety and accessibility.

From those pitches, six teams were formed — each bringing their vision to life through customer discovery, prototyping, and business modeling.

Interdisciplinary Collaboration at Its Best

Participants represented an extraordinary range of majors, reflecting the true cross-disciplinary spirit of entrepreneurship. Students came from fields including:

Psychology, Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Theatre and Dance, Business, Information Systems, Accounting, Finance, Civil Engineering, Math, Economics, Biomedical Engineering, Operations and Supply Chain Management, Health Science (Pre-Med), and Computer Science. This unique mix of perspectives fueled creativity and collaboration at every step.

Mentorship and Guidance

Over 20 dedicated mentors donated their time and expertise, guiding teams through the complexities of product development, market validation, and pitch refinement. Their insights helped students turn raw ideas into actionable ventures over the course of the week.

The Grand Finale

The week concluded with six final pitches presented to a panel of esteemed judges. The judges had the tough task of selecting the top three winners — recognizing outstanding innovation, feasibility, and impact.

• First Place: Vector
   Amber Zheng, Biomedical Engineering; Tara Will, Operations & Supply Chain Management; Sanjana Jogi, Biomedical Engineering; Yasir Abdulghani, Biomedical Engineering
   

  
• Second Place: Novora
  Tom Kennedy, Computer Engineering; Matthew Kennedy, Accounting; Sri Pathapati, Finance; Deepak Permumandla, Civil Engineering
   

• Third Place: RateSpace
  Sophia Simul, Finance; Dhyey Rana, Health Science (PreMed); Yasmere Coaston; Tiffany Mullins, Computer Engineering; Kassem Srhiri, Computer Science

Other Ventures Formed

• Hydrodrift
  Jamie Kloos, Electrical Engineering; Yaroslav Omanov, Computer Engineering; Daniel Winter, Electrical Engineering; Sapphy Coup, Psychology
• Madame Black Luxury Transportation
  Kareemah Lumpkin; Destiny Black, Theatre & Business; Amahriah Ransom, Information Systems
• Tech Connect 
  Lidiia Reviakina, Electrical Engineering & Computer Science; Jasmin Rai, Finance; John Corn, Math; James Fartro, Economics

A Celebration of Innovation

Startup Vikes continues to showcase the entrepreneurial energy and creativity of the CSU community. This year’s extended format gave participants more time to refine ideas, learn from mentors, and build stronger, more sustainable ventures.

STARTUP VIKES