Meet the 2021 Wolf Den Winners
Five student teams battled it out in front of the wolves in this Shark Tank-inspired pitch competition. Meet the winners and learn about their ventures.
Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) came to an end on Nov. 12 with a bang as hundreds of students, parents, alumni, faculty, staff, and community members joined us at Hunt Library to watch our students in action as they took the stage to pitch their ventures. Wolf Den is a Shark Tank-inspired pitch competition where student teams pitch in front of a live audience and live judges – the wolves! This year, the competition was tough with 17 student teams applying for the competition and only 5 moving to the final round.
The finalists had three minutes to deliver their pitch and convince the judges and the audience that their idea was worth some cash money. Our judge panel this year was composed of NC State alumni Téa Blumer, Ryan Clodfelter and Cathy Gomes. Each judge brought a diverse set of expertise and they had four minutes to question the pitching team.
Being able to pitch an idea in front of an audience and compete for financial support in such an early stage of business is an opportunity no one should miss out on.
This unique experience of pitching to live judges and a live audience helps students learn to work through nerves, handle technology failures, think on the spot and more. One of this year’s winners, Noah Gassner, reflected on his experience and said, “Being able to pitch an idea in front of an audience and compete for financial support in such an early stage of business is an opportunity no one should miss out on. Not only is WolfDen the perfect opportunity to hone your pitching and presentation skills, you also get many valuable inputs and constructive feedback from judges and the audience.”
2021’s Winners Include
Wake – $800 Judge Award and $300 Audience Choice Award
Wake is a vibrating wristband that only wakes up the one wearing it.
- Adarsh Arun, Business Administration, Poole College of Management
- Noah Gassner, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, College of Engineering
Dynamic Internal Volume Actuator (D.I.V.A.) – $600 Judge Award
D.I.V.A. is a modified bag valve mask application for emergency medical technicians that optimizes mobile ventilation by being plug-and-play, adaptable, and truly portable.
- Travis McKay, Biomedical Engineering, PhD candidate
- Taylor Gabaldon, Biomedical Engineering, Master’s alumni
Straight Shot – $200 Judge Award
Straight Shot is your own personal golf coach that is integrated with your golf clubs to provide real-time swing path tracking, analytics, and personal assistance to help improve your golf swing.
- Jacob Walker, Electrical and Computer Engineering, College of Engineering
- Trenton Wallis, Electrical and Computer Engineering, College of Engineering
- Spencer Wallis, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, College of Engineering
- David Horne, Economics, Poole College of Management
- Ryan Coman, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, College of Engineering
EndorseAthlete – $200 Judge Award
EndorseAthlete is a sports marketing and social media platform designed to connect student-athletes with local and national businesses.
- Walt Sellars, Sport Management, College of Natural Resources
