Sara Yeh on Entrepreneurial Team Excelling in Atlanta Startup Battle

2017 Jan 9

A team of four classmates in a course offered through the Entrepreneurship & Innovation Institute (ENI) at Georgia State University's J. Mack Robinson College of Business made it to the top five in the Atlanta Startup Battle, a quarterly competition held at TechSquare Labs.

The competition called on entrepreneurs to pitch their business ideas for a chance to win $100,000 in funding for their business.

Undergraduates Ahmed Reshit, Luis Ferrer-Labarca, Sara Yeh and Alex Blanco-Pence pitched uPet, a pet rental service aimed at encouraging people to adopt instead of shop for a furry friend.

"Our goal is to encourage the adoption of rescued animals generating additional income for shelters and rescues as well as giving people a chance to try out a new pet," Reshit, the team leader, said.

After meeting at Georgia State University, the students became familiar with each other's skill sets. "Luis and I were involved in co-founding PantherHackers, currently the largest technology-oriented student organization at Georgia State," he said.

Ferrer-Labarca, Yeh and Reshit met Blanco-Pence in Entrepreneurial Thinking for Startups (ENI 301), a course taught by Dr. Isabelle Monlouis. The students credit Monlouis with mentoring and pushing them all the way.

"Dr. Monlouis has been absolutely incredible. She has been very encouraging of all her students to pursue their entrepreneurial dreams. She has been a mentor to us through the entire journey," Reshit says.

The uPet founders are not discouraged by not winning first place. "We will continue working hard on developing our minimal viable product," Reshit says. "Our plans are to slowly test our application through continuous research and customer feedback and make necessary adjustments to best suit it for our market."

For placing in the top 10, the team will receive free access to Tech Square Labs, a space for mentorship, business incubation, and research through trial and error.