Fei Xiao and Anna Sergeeva are making events "flake proof"
University Of Southern California, Class of 2012
After attending several events in college that promised to have high attendance and turned out to be huge flops, Xiao and Sergeeva decided to make events "flake proof." In 2011 they founded the company trueRSVP, which uses an algorithm developed by the girls to compare how many times attendees RSVP to events to how many they actually attended.
The algorithm then comes up with what the founders have called a "flake rating" so event planners know how many people they should actually expect to see at their events. The girls graduated this year and got their degrees early to work full time on Planana, a spin-off of trueRSVP that offers a variety of other services for event planners.
Todd Medema is making it easier to buy a car without having to visit the lot
Carnegie Mellon University, Class of 2014
Todd Medema is COO and one of the three co-founders of AutoRef, a company that hopes to make car salesmen obsolete. Craig Younkins, is another one of Autoref's founders who wrote the code that powers the website.
Younkins was also studying at Carnegie Mellon when they came up with the concept for the startup. Craig's taking a leave of absence and is working with Todd to grow the business.
So far, the service features more than three million cars from 5,000 dealerships. As his company expands, 20-year-old Medema is finishing up his junior year
Bryan Silverman turned toilet paper into reading material
Duke University, Class of 2015
Although he is studying neuroscience at Duke University, Bryan spends most of his time thinking about toilet paper. His motto? Don't Rush, Look Before You Flush. Together with his older brother Jordan, they launched Star Toilet Paper after Jordan causally made the suggestion that if everyone is always reading in the bathroom, they might as well make a toilet paper that everyone can read.
The brothers broke the toilet paper up into coupons and sold them as add space. So far, 65 companies have agreed to sign on and they pay half a cent per add. Bryan was awarded Entrepreneur Magazine's College Entrepreneur of the Year award for 2012.
Carolyn Yarina's startup makes medical tests possible in even the poorest places
University Of Michigan, Class of 2013
Carolyn is the CEO and a co-founder of CentriCycle, a startup that has created a manually powered and sustainable centrifuge that allows health care workers to prepare bodily fluids, like blood, for diagnostic tests. This makes it possible to run medical tests in health care facilities in the developing world that don't have the ability to power an electric centrifuge.
Along with other entrepreneurs based at Michigan University, Carolyn took CentriCycle to India. In the future, they hope to create other devices that can make medical care accessible to those who need it most. According to those involved in the project anemia, diabetes, and hepatitis can be prevented or better treated with proper diagnostic procedures.
Wesley Zhao left school to build a social network designed for families
University of Pennsylvania, Class of 2014
19-year-old Wesley Zhao created FamilyLeaf, a social media site that allows users to swap photos and share stories with their loved ones. The site aims to create a safe space for users to post only family-related photos and events.
The idea came to him freshman year, and instead of starting his sophomore year at Wharton, he took a leave of absence and dedicates all his time to FamilyLeaf.
Daniel Mishin founded a chain of hostels in Russia that look like college dorms
Russian Institute of Economics and Computer Science
This 20-year-old may be a student in Russia, but he is now doing business with the United States. He founded Bear Hostels, a chain of hostels that first opened its doors in 2009 to give young Americans a place to crash when visiting places like the New Arbat, one of the most happening neighborhoods in Moscow.
He put together a website that caters to Americans by featuring visa advice and providing all information in English. Bear Hostels is like a cross between a hotel and a college dorm. It's largest branch has rooms that can hold up to 16 beds, and the lobby has a communal plasma TV as well as snacks. Mishin has big plans to expand his hotel business beyond the hostel market and was one of four finalists at the Global Student Entrepreneur Awards.
Gabrielle Palermo is transforming shipping containers into clinics to save rural lives
Arizona State University, Class of 2013
Gabrielle wanted to be a doctor but realized that there is no better way to save lives than to make medical care accessible to everyone. The idea behind G3Box, a startup she created alongside other classmates who had started similar projects, is to create cost-effective medical clinics out of recycled shipping containers.
The best part about these compact medical facilities is that they are on wheels and can be transported to rural communities without access to medical services. Palermo and her colleagues won first prize at her college's entrepreneurship contest and landed $20,000 to jump start their business.
Eric Muli is turning college kids into brand ambassadors with free merchandise
Babson College, Class of 2014
The concept behind the marketing company Jossle is simple: Who better to promote a brand than the very people the brand is targeting? Muli and his friends came up with the idea that companies should distribute branded merchandise like t-shirts, hats, and sweatshirts for college students to wear around campus.
Born in Boston and raised in both Jamaica and Kenya, Muli found his way to Babson college where he began envisioning his classmates as living breathing advertisements who go to class, hang out in their dorms and attend social events all while selling a brand. Any college kid can sign up on their website and when you become a "Josseler" you not only get free gear, but you get paid to wear it.
Jack McDermott is using his own experience in speech therapy to create an app for other stutterers
Tufts University, Class of 2014
McDermott is the founder and CEO of Balbus Speech, a company that makes apps that seek to improve speech therapy and make it more accessible. He was inspired to start the company because he was a stutterer himself and benefited from speech therapy.
The company's app, Speech4Good, uses delayed auditory feedback, an established technique of speech therapy, to help people play back speech therapy exercises to themselves as they practice.
Kenny Nguyen helps Fortune 500 businesses polish their presentation skills
Lousiana State University, Class of 2013
At Lousiana State, Nguyen watched his professors give many presentations, and his take-away from the days he spent attending classes was that he could help make lectures better. This 21-year-old founded Big Fish Presentations, a company that works with presentation design, consults, and produces commercial video. The company's done work for Entergy, a Fortune 500 company.
Big Fish Presentations claims that they can help companies create bigger, brighter, and more interactive presentations, not only by putting them together, but by leading strategy workshops. Nguyen's growing business is evidence that there is a large market out there for polishing up pitches and slide shows.
Karina Pikhart created a label maker for blind people
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Class of 2009
Pikhart created a braille keyboard and labeling kit called 6 Dot. The labels make it easier for blind people to find the right medication in their medicine cabinet or to reach for the spice rack and find the right ingredient. The goal is to continue to come up with new technologies to improve the quality of life for the blind.
Pikhart developed the prototype during an engineering course she took at MIT. Once the product was created, it grew into a successful business. She is currently back in the classroom where she is pursuing a masters in mechanical engineering at Stanford.
Justin Crites and Tony Llongueras' app will use big data to save the lives of stroke victims
UT Austin, Class of 2014
Justin Crites and Tony Llongueras founded, along with a third friend, CrowdRX, a startup that's attempting to reduce treatment time for stroke patients by making a large amount of data available immediately, in a way that fits into a responder's workflow. The idea is to use big data to save lives.
This is incredibly important because the earlier strokes are treated, the more brain function can be saved. CrowdRX is one of the 8 finalists at this year's South By Southwest Student Startup Madness competition, selected from a field of 64 student entrepreneurs around the country.
Mikhail Naumov takes students from Princeton and other schools to Costa Rica to learn about sustainable energy
Rutgers University, Class of 2012
After a trip to Costa Rica with two other classmates who wanted to start a business together, Mikail Naumov had his heart set on launching a renewable energy business. He founded The GREEN Program, a study abroad program that takes Rutgers students to Costa Rica to learn about sustainable energy projects. Other universities, including Princeton and Penn State, have joined the program.
GREEN aims to revolutionize study abroad programs by having students actually implement the sustainable solutions they are learning about in the classroom in the real world. Most recently, students helped put together rainwater collection systems that help give Costa Rican families greater access to water.
Charlie Dolan is helping companies in 11 states get rid of their trash cheaply and sustainably
Villanova University, Class of 2014
Charlie Dolan came up with a way to reduce the amount of waste that companies dispose of daily. He founded Sequoia Waste Solutions, a waste management company that helps its clients read through the fine print of their waste disposal contracts and find more cost-effective solutions to recycle and get rid of their trash.
While the 20 year-old Dolan attends his classes and works towards a degree in management information systems, he continues building his business.The company, based in Pittsburgh, is active in 11 other states.
Jorjan Tang built a wheel chair that helps disabled people go camping
Arizona State University, Class of 2012
Tang's classmate Nicholas Gough's father uses an electric wheelchair that isn't practical when he travels or goes camping. According to those involved in the project, these wheelchairs don't allow users to go uphill or navigate rough terrain. Further, the constant reaching over and bending can cause users to develop arthritis.
To help Nick's dad, they founded Vantage Realized and came up with a new prototype for a wheelchair that functions on a level system. The idea is to not only create a better wheelchair but to start making other products that people with disabilities can use. As CEO of Vantage Realized, Tang has secured funding from ASU's Edson Student Entrepreneur Initiative.
Eric Wahl and Matt Lowe are making athletic apparel for the growing sport of Muggle Quidditch
Emerson College, Class of 2013
Eric and Matt are the co-founders of Quiyk, an athletic apparel company that primarily focuses on apparel for a modified version of Quidditch (a fictional sport from the Harry Potter novels) which was created by students at Middlebury College in 2006. It has become increasingly popular on college campuses since then.
The company launched at the 5th annual Quidditch World Cup in New York City in 2011, sold out almost its entire inventory, and is now the official apparel provider for the International Quidditch Association.