Startup Spotlights

Natalie Lui ’22 on inclusive entrepreneurship

August 30, 2021

Twenty two year-old Natalie didn’t know that she would win the Intelligence ++ gold prize with her cofounder Madison Worden during the global pandemic in her junior year. Her experience of growing up with her family in Burma and being an international student in the U.S., inspired her to create an accessible dating app for people with visible, invisible and neurodiverse disabilities.

Natalie Lui ’22 is a fashion design rising senior at Syracuse University College of Visual and Performing Arts with a minor in History at Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs.

Before she came to SU, Lui hasn’t decided what to do in the future. However, she has an artsy mind and fell in love with colors and fabrics. So, she committed to fashion design. With the in-depth learning and multiple hands-on projects at school, she found fascinating the logic behind the human interaction of designing. “I want to build another app that will help seniors interact with each other. I want it to be easy to use because sometimes even I blank out when using a new feature,” said Lui.

People say that a college is a place where you get a free trial of experiencing life without any backlash. No matter what path you choose, you will always pick up the little thing along the way and eventually help you find your passion. That’s how Lui gained her inspiration from various fields, such as humanity, music, sports, and spirituality. Being like a young adult who has a positive attitude toward the future, she ventured out to more things outside the fashion industry.

Last year, Lui took an Intelligence ++ class that helped her find the niche that she felt comfortable with and passionate about. The course intended to identify and research the social issues and help people with disabilities with a creation using a non-linear and iterative process.

Lui quickly went through the ups and downs when she first came to the U.S. without her friends and family. Further, she had to deal with the military coup in her country, mental health issues and family loss amidst the pandemic. Overcoming the stressful time, Lui learned that being carefree makes her focus on the real problem. The problem that resonates with her the most is helping the marginalized group with her design, MeetCute.

Lui grew up with her grandparents when she was young, and she realized older people still experiencing loneliness even when people are around. Besides many interests she had in mind, she wants to help children and seniors as much as she could as well. “MeetCute is a safe and inclusive app for everyone looking to meet compatible people for companionship and dating… compatible with the most common accessibility features such as voice-over, text to speech, and changing color contrast. MeetCute will change dating in an image-obsessed culture and provide genuine people a way to meet in a safe digital environment.”

MeetCute, as a great combination of business and social assistance, was started by Madison a semester before Lui’s joining, and now the two promising entrepreneurs plan to go beyond the school project and make the app comes true. The Intelligence ++ competition boosted their energy of further pursuing their career. The team of two is now excited and looking forward to making a significant impact in the future. They expect a new tech co-founder to help build the app together and more funding from the investors.

To talk about how Lui gained this opportunity. The answer is simple, don’t be scared. People with zero experience don’t know their destination, but it is worth trying it out before you give it up. Lui encourages fellow students that “don’t be afraid of whether it’s to ask for advice or opportunities from a professional,” the worst scenario is rejection, and you lose nothing. With the carefree life attitude, Lui can genuinely devote herself to MeetCute and help people along the way.

Story by Aorui Pi, LaunchPad Global Media Fellow; photos supplied

Edward Shao ’19 is saving ocean ecosystems through his impact venture

July 27, 2021

Edward Shao ’19 is an international man. From growing up with immigrant parents from Shanghai, China, to being raised in New York City, to now starting ProjectQRRestore, an environmentally conscious non-profit in Quintana Roo, Mexico, Edward Shao is definitely a lover of the world.

As a young teen, Shao was in love with magazines like the National Geographic and Scientific American. Shao always found it fascinating reading about the animals and the environment. He remembers reading about the white rhinos which are sadly extinct today. These magazines had an immense effect on Shao’s passion for the environment.

Apart from these magazines, teenage Shao also was aware of constant new scientific discoveries that promised to change the world. However, having a look around his city, things still looked the same. Where were all the great innovations that he was reading about? He was certainly not seeing any of it around him. He felt a disconnect between what he was reading and the reality he saw in NYC.

It should not then come as a surprise that Shao went to SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, majoring in Environmental Resources Engineering for his bachelor’s degree. He came to know Syracuse University’s innovation ecosystem through a class in the Whitman School of Management with the Department of Entrepreneurship and Emerging Enterprises. One of the courses was taught by LaunchPad executive director Linda Hartsock and this was also how Shao got involved in the Syracuse University Blackstone LaunchPad located in the Bird Library.

At age 16, Shao did a study-abroad program in Latin America. He had studied Spanish in school for about four years but today he insists that you need to go down there and immerse yourself in the culture to truly live and breathe the language. After living with the welcoming families and wonderful people, Shao grew to love Latin America. Shao said that the people he met there were less materialistic and more spiritual, friendly, family-oriented and generally much happier than people in the U.S.

Taking back a picture of a mountain sunset view of Valparaiso, Shao promised himself that he would go back there one day. Shao also went to Tulum, Mexico for a vacation after college and joked that he wished his parents would have settled a life there.

Shao’s return to Quintana Roo, Mexico in October 2020 was prompted his decision to leave a government job and his love for the Yucatan Peninsula during that fateful vacation after college. Leaving for Mexico to escape U.S. turmoil and the cold winters, opportunities arose unexpectedly.

“When the world goes to chaos, you can only rely on yourself”, says Shao.

For six months last year, Shao lived throughout Quintana Roo and other states in Mexico, where he met people who invited him to work on an electric scooter rideshare startup. Along with his cofounder from London and team members from all over the world, Shao excitedly embarked on the adventure. However, this startup met with some difficulties.

Shao’s cofounder had great and honest intentions but not all of the other start-up members did. Due to a variety of complex reasons, the electric scooter business that existed in Mexico had gone through major difficulties including theft and interference from organized syndicates that control many business operations and the taxi industry throughout Quintana Roo. Uber drivers were being harassed and even assaulted, and the electric scooter business faced insurmountable challenges.

As he saw the electric scooter business decline, Shao says he went back to the lesson learned in his Syracuse EEE classes that he could now put into use in real life. We remembered the value of being resilient and recognizing when to make a “pivot.” He realized that being a good entrepreneur means knowing when to switch focus and cut losses.

Shao talks about the Mayans and many indigenous people he met in the Yucatan and was still drawn to the culture and tradition. He states that he felt a deep connection with them that has stayed with him. He learned that all indigenous people in the Americas first crossed over from Asia through Siberia over the Bering Land Bridge. So, one can say his ancestors were here first, he says.

Immersing himself in a different culture and society really gave Shao a different perspective on things. Shao says that different cultures have a lot to teach us, and we can learn by reading about it, but we don’t truly learn them until we live there.

Shao has now started Project QRRestore with some of the great people who had worked with him on his original start-up. The purpose of Project QRRestore is to unite environmentalists, professionals, and activists throughout Quintana Roo and restore and rebuild the ocean’s ecosystem by growing healthy mangroves and coral reefs.

Shao says that the ocean’s ecosystem is the same as it is on land except that it works with salt water, and he hopes to eventually work with oceans around the world.

He is now trying to win a competition through the Blue Climate Initiative to gain traction and funding for the non-profit to take it even further.

Shao has always loved the water. Growing up, he swam competitively, worked as a lifeguard for fun and scuba dives now. The ocean absorbs carbon dioxide and covers so much of the world and coral sheefs shelter one-fourth of Earth’s aquatic species. Coastal communities around the world depends their livelihood on the ocean. People are starting to care about the environment more than they did before but eventually world news around climate change and environmental destruction are waking people up in dramatic ways.

There are good people in the world who truly care about the environment and Shao is certainly one of them.

Story by LaunchPad Global Fellow Natalie Lui ‘22; photo supplied

Zachary Goldstein ’22 believes blockchain will replace the web

July 26, 2021

Zachary Goldstein ’22 an iSchool major in Information Management and Technology with a concentration in cyber security, was always interested in tech since he was young. From being a kid obsessed with Legos to a teen unscrewing iPods, Goldstein is now a cyber security intern at National Grid.

Goldstein says the hands-on experience at National Grid has been very instrumental for him in learning more about what cyber security is and how the cyber security team operates.

At Syracuse University, Goldstein is the vice president of WiTec, a graduate student research organization, and co-founder and vice president of CryptoCuse, a club that educates fellow students about cryptocurrency with education and collaboration. Along with president of WiTec and co-founder and interim president of CryptoCuse, Catherine Forrest ’22, Goldstein has also created the blockchain start-up Edgucoin, a blockchain education platform and cryptocurrency. With Edgucoin, Forrest and Goldstein’s vision is to help people become more literate on cryptocurrency and blockchain.

Goldstein is passionate about blockchain and believes that blockchain will replace the web one day. All servers where the Internet is hosted are now centralized in a physical location, but Goldstein feels that when blockchain replaces the web, servers won’t be physical anymore. Personal computers will be able to exist as servers and will be able to be stored in the cloud.

Technology is fascinating to Goldstein because it can do so much for people and everyone has a super computer in their pockets.

When Goldstein was considering colleges, he heard Professor Lee McKnight, who is a faculty advisor for WiTec, give a webinar on blockchain technology, Goldstein was instantly interested in the subject. This prompted Goldstein to write his college essay on Bitcoin and blockchain technology and come to Syracuse University. Goldstein is an active member of the Blackstone LaunchPad at SU Libraries in Bird Library, which he uses as for collaboration. LaunchPad executive director Linda Hartsock is also faculty advisor to Crypto Cuse which meets in the LaunchPad.

When not immersing himself in the world of technology, Goldstein likes to listen to old school rap or alternative music, as well as spend time with friends and ski on the Syracuse University ski team. Goldstein also used to be a lifeguard where he refined his work ethic.

Story by LaunchPad Global Fellow Natalie Lui ‘22; photo supplied

Aorui Pi ‘21 encourages international students to share their perspectives through the roundtable program, WeRound

July 2, 2021

In light of multiple racial incidents on campus in 2019, WeMedia Lab, an international student-run new media organization that thrived on the WeChat platform, has gained a great deal of attention since then. Intending to break the boundary of stereotypical fellow internationals’ images, Aorui Pi ’21 initiated WeRound to encourage students to talk about the problem.

Pi is an advertising major student in the S.I. Newhouse School of Communications with minors in French and psychology at Syracuse University’s College of Arts and Sciences. She grew up in a strict parenting household in China. She witnessed the deeply ingrained misogynistic attitudes and racism in a society that contradicted the education she has been exposed to.

With the passion of empowering people with a simple compelling message, Pi joined six different student organizations during her undergraduate career at Syracuse University. Before joining WeMedia Lab, she had already gained knowledge of the daily administration of student publications. She adopted the methodology to build and shape current WeMedia Lab content as the editor-in-chief. “Many international students are afraid of speak up about their distress due to the language barrier and culture differences. I want to do as much as I can to change that image. International students deserve a voice,” Pi said.

Pi had a hard time discussing her identity crisis and peer pressure as an international person in the United States. “We are not alone. In this mixed-culture community, international students consist of 20% of the SU student body, and we have abundant resources at SU. Why not talk about it?” Pi decided to help students with the same struggles. She was deeply moved when her professor told them to do what was right for themselves during the #Notagainsu movement. “We are humans first, then students,” she said.

Decorative graphic — *WeRound program cover picture. Designed by Aorui P ‘21*

The pandemic causes anxiety among the internationals and forced many people to adopt a new lifestyle. “The dilemma of being international in the U.S. scared many students. I’ve seen friends have eight canceled flight tickets in hand worried about their families every day.” Pi and fellow WeMedia Lab members had a heated conversation discussing the worthiness of studying abroad during the turbulence and attempted to find a solution for students who took a gap year. Inspired by Jubilee, an interactive YouTube channel that enables people to share opinions on multiple topics, Pi pitched the idea of an open roundtable and encouraged students to listen to people with different backgrounds and experiences.

WeRound covers five sections: student life, family, career, identity, and social issues. Participants have talked about post-graduation life, gap year, Chinese New Year tradition, body dysmorphia, and Stop Asian Hate. Pi wants to create a safe space for marginalized students and help them find peace by sharing their experiences. On top of that, Pi said, “Inviting and hearing people outside our age group also remedies the anxiety we might have.”

*Stop Asian Hate poster. Designed by Liqi Ma ‘23*

On March 16, eight Asian women’s death exacerbated issues for people around the world. With the help from the Associate Director of Operation and Outreach at Center for International Services, Wei Gao, Pi, her team quickly coordinated another session of roundtable confronting the Anti-Asian hatred. “Hearing all the stories from peers, professors, and counselors from the Barnes Center, I realized we made the right decision,” Pi said.

With the influence of current affairs, Pi found her passion for journalism and is excited about her post-graduation journey of living in New York City. She attended her first protest when she participated in the Newhouse NYC program during the Spring semester. “The experience of studying abroad gives me a new perspective of viewing the world and media. Seeing both sides of a story firmed my belief of becoming a responsible storyteller,” Pi said to the fellow international students, “There was no secret for maximizing your college journey. Read emails carefully and find resources that will help you along the way will be my recommendation.”

Story by Aorui Pi, LaunchPad Global Media Fellow; photos supplied

Catherine Forrest ’22 is using blockchain to change the world

July 1, 2021

student standing in front of computer display screen with a decorative graphic

From cryptocurrency to COVID-19 response technology, Syracuse University student Catherine Forrest ’22 is utilizing the power of blockchain technology to develop lifesaving security solutions. Catherine Forrest is a rising senior and fast track masters student at the iSchool majoring in Information Management and Technology, with concentrations in web design and data analytics.

As an iSchool student, Forrest worked to gain an advanced technical education in software development while further developing her natural talents in project management. Her diverse set of skills and passion for learning garnered the attention of the esteemed Professor Lee McKnight during her time enrolled in his “Blockchain Management” course. The two immediately began working together to further educate Forrest in blockchain. Not long after, McKnight became Forrest’s official academic mentor, turning her passion for software development into blockchain software development. Forrest’s love for blockchain technology in rooted in its ability to serve as an advanced security solution, in that “blockchains purpose is to create integrity and trust on a decentralized and distributed peer-to-peer network, where you don’t know who the peers are or If they are trustworthy.” She also notes that “the decentralized nature of the technology gives power back to the people, as they no longer need to relay on centralized power which can host a plethora of security flaws.

Forrest is the president of WiTec and the co-founder and interim co-president of CryptoCuse.

As the president of the established iSchool organization WiTec, Forrest has been engaging in undergraduate research on two grants she was awarded to fund her innovative blockchain research: “Creating & Blockchaining the COVID-19 Response MEWPUL Digital Twin” by the Syracuse University SOURCE, and “Blockchaining the IMcon Internet Backpack for COVID-19 Emergency Response in Rural Central America” by the Internet Society Foundation.

Forrest was originally the CTO of CryptoCuse starting off on the technical side, however she has now shifted to an administrative leadership position. Forrest runs the club alongside co-founder and interim co-president Zachary Goldstein, with whom she created the blockchain start-up Edgucoin, a blockchain education platform and cryptocurrency. Forrest leads club communication, organization, delegation, and mission fulfillment, in addition to being the creator and manager of the CryptoCuse website. At CryptoCuse, Forrest’s expertise lies in the blockchain technology which empowers cryptocurrency. Forrest runs weekly and biweekly meetings for CryptoCuse this summer. The group is growing quickly and there are already about 42 people on the emailing list. When students return to his fall, Forrest expects even more people to join.

The values of CryptoCuse are education and collaboration, as it serves as a place where students can gain an education and engage in discussions in all that is crypto, blockchain, and DeFi. Forrest has made sure to make it a space which welcomes and caters to the needs of students with all levels of experiences present, beginner or advanced you are welcome at CryptoCuse. CryptoCuse meetings usually start with an introductions and mission statement, then go into an educational lecture, then are followed by an organization wide discussion of investments and of the market. The club is also working to provide members with hands on projects such as setting up nodes to blockchain and teaching people how to code smart contracts to create their own cryptocurrency. Interested individuals can look out for a cryptocurrency investment simulation competition, with the most successful investor winning real cryptocurrency.

CryptoCuse aims to be the epicenter for blockchain startups. Working closely with the Blackstone LaunchPad at SU Libraries, located in Bird Library, CryptoCuse encourages students to create their own cryptocurrency startups by giving them knowledge, education and confidence to pursue their goals. Although Forrest has only started engaging with the LaunchPad recently, she says that it is one of the coolest places on campus. She even sees herself being a mentor at the LaunchPad in the future.

The media circulates theories about trends, but CryptoCuse educates people with facts. Forrest recommends investments to be made in coins backed up by a company or a technology instead of following trends on social media.

Forrest says that it has been great working with her co-founder and interim co-president Zachary Goldstein. However, Forrest is usually the only woman in the meetings and hopes to get more women involved in STEM. Nonetheless, there is great diversity in the club in regard to race, religion, ethnicity and background. Forrest believes that diversity and inclusion is an incredibly important component of an organization and has made it her personal mission to make sure both CryptoCuse and WiTec excel in this area. Forrest says, “No matter who you are, where you are from, you have a place at CryptoCuse and WiTec.”

Although very busy with work and school, Forrest makes sure she spends her time by staying active and working out every morning. Before COVID-19, she also played on the girl’s club iced hockey team at school. A 4-day backpacking trip through Yosemite is also on Forrest’s agenda this summer.

Forrest’s motivation and aspiration comes from wanting to develop technology that will help real people. Forrest recognizes the privilege she had growing up as a member of a middleclass white family. She realizes how much of a privilege it is to have access to a plethora of academic resources and financial support, enabling her to attend a school like Syracuse University. She missions to not let this go to waste, as she lives her life in the pursuit of utilizing her education and resources to provide opportunities and education to those less fortunate, hoping to help create a future in which STEM is much more diverse.

When prompted to provide a piece of advice for future entrepreneurs like herself, Forrest replied, “Hard work beats talent in every way and showing up is everything. If you work hard and show up, the world will open up in ways you couldn’t have never imagined. Attending Syracuse University is an absolute privilege, so don’t waste it. Take the time to build meaningful relationships with professors, these great minds can and will change your life.”

Story by LaunchPad Global Fellow Natalie Lui ‘22; photo supplied

Ben Ford ’23 is changing philanthropy for good

June 2, 2021

Many first forays into the frustrating ordeal of fundraising, perhaps for some school project or trip, involve asking scores of people with little success, only to fall back on the donations of kind family members. Anyone whose raised funds for a social campaign, college club, or charitable organization knows how time consuming and frustrating it can be to pour energy into advertising with resulting minimum contributions. What if there were a more effective form of fundraising, a way to spread the word not just across your immediate social network but to those around the world who cared about your work?

Ben Ford ’23, studying marketing in the Martin J. Whitman School of Management and data analytics in the School of Information Studies, hopes to create a system of fundraising that maximizes both financial and social impact. Ford’s company, Fundwurx, is a multi-service platform that works to accelerate impact driven projects by using data, algorithms, and AI

to pair donors with funding needs according to one’s social passions, skills, and interests.

Built on the knowledge that 80% of crowdfunding campaigns fail, Ford is committed to creating a new platform in the fundraising space, by adhering to this underserved market in order to better connect people and projects.

Ford’s inspiration comes from his own disheartening experiences raising funds for meaningful social projects. Committed to philanthropy and doing good wherever he is, Ford in high school had a legacy for the number of social projects he was involved with. From raising money for pediatric cancer research, to selling reusable bags in his community to reduce single-use plastic bags, Ford cared about bettering the world around him and valued making a difference in his community.

When he was asked to lead a project designing a sustainable study space for his school filled with upcycled furniture and live moss walls, Ford immediately took on the challenge. There was just one problem — the school didn’t have funding for the project. Challenged to raise funding on his own, Ford endeavored to find the means for a $15,000 dollar project through community funding. “We expected this thing to blow up in no time,” Ford recalled their fundraising efforts. Yet they were not as successful as hoped. “There are so many people who care about the environment and a project like this would be so attractive to people all over the world- but they had no idea of knowing who we are.”

Hoping to forge a way for impact projects to connect with passionate donors all around the world, Ford stuck the idea of an online algorithm-driven fundraising platform in his back pocket. This past year at Syracuse, Ford’s idea surfaced through competition in a business competition at the Blackstone LaunchPad & Techstars at Syracuse University.

Ford had always been an entrepreneur. In addition to the multitude of social projects he worked tirelessly on, he started his own company in high school for tailgate apparel: Jersey Boy Apparel. After successfully growing and running Jersey Boy Apparel from high school into college, the LaunchPad competition CuseTank caught his eye in fall 2020 to generate funding for scaling his company. Ford had never competed in a business competition before but brought his pitch and vision, and won. Impressed by his talent, others urged him to compete in the next LaunchPad competition: The Impact Prize. Yet Jersey Boy Apparel was not an impact-driven business and could not qualify to compete in the competition. So, Ford, intrigued and excited by the possible prospects of business competitions, decided to enter the competition on a whim with his idea for impact fundraising, and in short notice threw together a full pitch deck and presented in merely a week, and won. Again.

After this, Ford knew he wanted to pursue his fundraising idea. Starting in January, in the past few months he has defined his company vision and model, placed in several other business pitch competitions, incorporated as an LLC, created a clickable prototype, built a board of advisors, and is now working with software developers to create the MVP for his company. By summer he hopes to have secured angel investors to fund further development for launching Fundwurx.

Ford is being mentored by many, including LaunchPad alumni Matt Shumer who is his AI expert and is providing strategic insight into building a scalable company.

Ford’s vision to transform the landscape of giving for good is on a swift trajectory towards success. Philanthropy is evolving and as Ford has mentioned, there is a need for a service like this to reshape fundraising and create the new era of giving. Fundwurx strive to build an environment where donors can become mentors and provide the help and support projects need to succeed. Ford cares about fostering strong relationships and constructing greatness through the help of others.

Ford’s story of an idea carried around for years in the hope to impact society for better inspires action for individual ideas of helping make the world a better, more generous place.

In Ford’s own words, “We are at the forefront of the rise in social impact, which is led by a generation of do-ers, with a care to do good that will last forever in the world and help lay the groundwork for a better future.”

Story by LaunchPad Global Fellow Claire Howard ’23; photo supplied

Jon Templeton ‘23 launches his first application, Skosh!, on the App Store

May 20, 2021

Python, MATLAB and Swift — For people who are not coding enthusiasts, all these programming languages may sound like something that will never be their cup of tea. For Jon Templeton, however, he is a passionate explorer and problem-solver in the field of computer science.

Templeton, a computer science sophomore at the College of Engineering and Computer Science of Syracuse University, just launched his first application, Skosh!, via App Store in April. This is the project that he has spent much of his time over the past year designing and developing. He is the type of person who eventually found his real interests after immerging in and practicing in the world.

Back in his high school time, Templeton is part of Team USA, a competitive drone racing team of the Drone Champions League. He served as a drone pilot and designer and won sixth place in several national competitions. Because of his outstanding performances, he also received sponsorships from several companies in the droning industry. This experience, more importantly, led him to his major of aerospace engineering.

“I really enjoyed the MATLAB class that I took in school, but I wanted to do more because that was kind of limited in what I can do [in class],” Templeton said. “Then, I went ahead to learn Python over the summer [of 2020] and started getting pretty interested in it.”

Because of his passion for learning more about coding, Templeton decided to switch his major to computer science, which focuses more on coding, starting in the spring of 2021. As this is the first semester in the new major, he took a few introductory classes that serve to build up his base for further engineering.

Besides normal coursework, however, Templeton is an eager learner and explorer in the field that he always wants to figure out something more by himself to develop some projects.

“I wanted to do different projects that were more mainstream, so I was just kind of motivated by what we learned in the classroom and wanting to dive deeper,” Templeton said. Skosh! is what he created during his spare time.

The idea of Skosh! came from Templeton’s thought of designing a good way for couples to talk and give one another a love note, and this note can be shown on the home screen by using widgets on an iPhone. Therefore, Templeton started in December 2020 to teach himself how to code and design an application like this.

It is not an easy process for Templeton to develop this application because he is not an experienced developer and, more importantly, knew no one to reach out to when he encountered problems except using tutorials.

“I had been working, which took me a long time, to fix all the bugs [for the application] because there’s just a lot of different test cases that it’s hard to do all of them,” Templeton said, adding that he ultimately found a couple of friends to help beta test.

Fixing bugs took Templeton plenty of time because he has been the only developer so far for the application. When he was the only one writing and designing the program, he was aware of all the “ins and outs” that he might not encounter any inconvenience during his using process. Nevertheless, as soon as he introduced the app to more new users, they provided various feedback that was not something Templeton expected during the designing process.

“I have to make sure that the application runs smoothly for every single user,” Templeton said. “Some of the issues I ran into with it were in development or the lack of documentation, especially with widgets because they’re still beta on the Apple documentation, so it was really difficult to get help from anyone.”

The documentation that Templeton referred to is that for all coding languages, whenever they implement a new feature or a language in general, they will give developers instructions and tools — documentation and exemplar cases of how a certain function should be used with a description of what it exactly does.

“A lot of the apple documentation, however, it gives you a good description of what it is, but there aren’t a lot of examples of somebody using it,” Templeton said, which caused him more problems during the developing process.

The whole developing and pre-launching process took Templeton around four months, and he finally got the approval and launched his application on the App Store in April. Right now, instead of fully focusing on polishing the application, Templeton also hopes to spread the word to more people for getting a wider user base.

Recalling back his long process of developing Skosh!, Templeton is satisfied with and proud of his achievement so far.

“I’m happy that I got it on the App Store, and that was the goal of this project,” Templeton said. “I also don’t have any bugs [so far,] so I’m really happy that people can use it smoothly.”

Download the five-star rated app and give it a try this summer: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/skosh/id1549767246

Story by LaunchPad Global Fellow Kaizhao Zero Lin ’21; Photos supplied

Filmmaker Peter Hartsock ’19, founder of Fantasma House Films

May 9, 2021

Have you ever watched a movie so unique that it became an unforgettable experience? Peter Hartsock ’19 produces these films. His production company, Fantasma House Films, is already gaining acclaim and festival awards as a genre house producing original and boundary breaking content. He has garnered multiple awards as a student filmmaker and grown the audience for his work through festivals he has been featured in, including: Sydney Australia Underground Film Festival, Syracuse International Film Festival, Binghamton SEFF Experimental Film Festival, Upstate New York Horror Film Festival (Best Student Film, three years in a row), IndieX Film Festival, Los Angeles (Best Student Film and Best Student Director), Atlanta Horror Film Festival, Horror Haus, San Diego and Vancouver Horror Show, Chattannooga Film Festival, Hollywood Horror Fest, and more.

A rising bi-coastal filmmaker in the Los Angeles and Syracuse communities, Peter is an artist with a creative mind beyond words.

More than a VPA student and filmmaker, Peter is also an entrepreneur. Hardworking, ambitious and inventive, he combined his entrepreneurial and film making skills to create a film company that produces and distributes micro-budgets films, and also does commercial work.

Seeded in a scenic region of Upstate NY that is becoming a film hub, where the Finger Lakes meets the Thousand Islands and Adirondack Mountains, Fantasma House Films is a bi-coastal company, with a second base of operations in Los Angeles. His goal is to makes high-quality niche genre films in the growing independent film industry.

For Peter, his mission goes beyond making movies. He aspires to be a new creative voice in the world of independent film making.

Entrepreneurship has always been part of his life, especially because of the environment he was raised in. He grew up in a family and community where innovation was valued as a way to bring ideas and aspirations to life. He started his first film company when he was only 11 years old in the Syracuse University Student Sandbox at the Tech Garden in downtown Syracuse. He drew his inspiration from early Syracuse student innovators and startups like BrandYourself, and produced videos for entrepreneurs. In high school, he apprenticed to talented area filmmakers like James Domroe, founder of 325 Productions, and also worked on videos with artists for projects in Syracuse. He worked with Syracuse University VPA faculty and Imagining America Scholars on public art video projects in downtown Syracuse.

With high school friends, he made distinctive experimental art videos which went to film festivals and captured the attention of experienced filmmakers. He taught himself lighting technique and sophisticated film editing software. He soon began making films that came to embody his trademark style, combining anti-humor with suspenseful, existential exploration of the human psyche.

When it came time for college, Syracuse’s renowned film program was his clear choice. It was a decision that changed his life. While at SU, he has worked on or created 30 films, and became a master of all aspects of film making, from concept, to production and post-production. In creating his business, and pitching in the campus iPrize and Panasci business plan competitions, he also came to better understand the industry, how it is changing, and where opportunity exists for young independent filmmakers.

Peter is not afraid of stepping up to confront hard questions related to his beloved art. He also says that creating a business centered around his dreams is a very rewarding experience. He is blazing his own trail while following in some big footsteps.

Always looking up to the grandiose filmmakers of the industry, he admires Stanley Kubrick, a studio filmmaker, but an artist nonetheless, capable of everything from producing and marketing a film, to micromanaging every camera shot. Understanding each single component of the film production process is essential for Peter who comprehends the indispensable need to collaborate across every aspect of the film production process.

His early works have been inspired by the Giallo film movement and filmmakers like Italian filmmaker Dario Argento, best known for Suspiria, Deep Red and Phenomena. Giallo refers to an Italian genre that has elements of ambiguity of memory and perception that can escalate to delusional hullucination, delirious paranoia, horror, psychological terror, existentialism and sometimes supernatural elements.

He particularly admires the work of indie film house SpectreVision, a genre-driven company that produces stylized horror films, and which is led by a Syracuse University graduate Lisa Wolk Whalen, working with SpectreVision creative director Elijah Wood.

Peter cherishes the idea of being part of a creative community, which plays an important role in how he views film production. It allows him to build relationships with people working in related creative sectors, including writers, actors, composers, sound and lighting artists and more. “Collaboration is the bedrock of my creative medium,” says Peter.

He has been organizing communities since he was young, and his house was always the gathering place for creative endeavors — going back to making films with longtime childhood friends in the basement and “spooky” spaces of his historic 200 year-old “haunted” childhood home, and telling ghost stories around his backyard fire pit under tall pine trees. He premiered his first “ghost story” film to a packed house at the Center for Arts of Homer, an 1893 Romanesque “haunted” theater when he was just in middle school. Peter started a free film screening program at the Center while in middle school, and also ran midnight horror film festivals there as he was just starting to experiment making his own films. At his own film debut, a bat emerged at the closing scene, swooped the audience and then disappeared. It was other-wordly, especially in a place reputed to have its own ghosts. The bat was never seen before or after Peter’s film screening, which told the story of ghosts of Homer where he grew up.

He recreated the community he built in his hometown as a member of the Syracuse University film community. His dorm apartment was packed with film equipment, props, and other student filmmakers watching movies they all admired. When they weren’t in class, shooting films, or locked in the basement of Shafer Hall for hundreds of hours doing post-production to get it just perfect, Peter’s filmmaking tribe were writing screenplays, working out complicated pre-production schedules, scouting talent, assembling crews, and generally breaking genre boundaries. His group quickly gained its own brand on campus — a collective of passionate, driven, crazy-hard-working professionals who could knock out awarding films that left the audience … well, sometimes a little unsettled. Their goal was to produce complex stories that got into the psyche.

When they were challenged as how they would turn their idea into a real business, they dove in and wrote a detailed 30 page business plan that showed they understood every aspect of the indie movie business, end-to-end. As film students, they made it to the final stages of the prestigious Panasci Business Plan Competition sponsored by the Whitman School of Management — a feat that was truly unique for a team of film students.

From there, they went on to produce their work at the state of the art Syracuse Soundstage, and crewed for professional movie companies shooting studio films in Syracuse. They cast and produced films by some other students, as well as SU film faculty. They earned the respect and admiration of SAG actors and technicians who worked for them.

As a student filmmaker and entrepreneur, Peter’s key advice to any creative innovator is to know your own assets and leverage resources and networks around you as efficiently as you can.

“The film industry at this point in time is losing its originality, and creativity in film making is dissipating,” he says. This trend goes against Peter’s philosophy of movie making which is to create powerful and unique films that break ideals and social norms, and to transform how film making is perceived.

Watching one of his movies is indeed a strange and amazing experience. His movies are an exploration of the human consciousness, and he aims to trigger a spectrum of emotional reactions. This is what Peter adores: making the audience feel and emote. Watching one of his movies once will make you remember it forever. It is the ultimate movie experience that elegantly embraces the creative thinking of film lovers, while leaving the viewer both contemplative and slightly disquieted.

In order to pursue his work, Peter has built a catalog of productions for distribution platforms and submission to juried film festivals. and continued to build his repertoire of skills, and to network with professionals. He is building an impressive resume because his films have won honors in top 100 festivals, including best student film in New York State.

He’s come a long way from that 11 year old who made videos for student startups in the Student Sandbox in the Tech Garden. Now he is their peer — his own startup. A video he made for SU startup SparkCharge opened Techstars Demo Day in Boston in front of a sold-out crowd of more than 1,000 people. His content creation work and videos also helped propel SparkCharge to the main stage of SharkTank. He’s also made a variety of other commercial films and content for SparkCharge and other high profile clients like Techstars LA venture CLLCTVE. He is supplementing his film production with commercial work to create a balanced portfolio of work and is a very in-demand content creator and producer of music videos. He is also an influencer in the space with a devoted following on his Fantasma House Films Instagram account.

Peter mentors other students while continuing his own film making. He would love to one day teach film making at a university as a visiting film professional or faculty member, while continuing his independent film production business.

As he looks to become a bi-coastal filmmaker, Peter does not want to lose his roots. “I am incredibly passionate about making films in this region’s rural landscape of farm country and rolling hills, a place of timeless beauty that keeps secrets about its myths and mysteries, and the cryptic characters that dwell within them. I loved growing up here and it influenced my path to building a production company that falls into its own unique narrative space. Folklore and myth are tied to mystical places, and Upstate NY is one of those places where the imagination can truly run wild.”

One of Peter’s favorite quotes is that “Monsters are real, ghosts are too. They live inside us, and sometimes they win,” inspired by iconic writer Stephen King. “I am keen to explore the disquieting and conflicting emotions of this genre. Arthouse horror is taking the prestige festival world by storm, as well as mainstream media which is seeing commercial success as this genre gains acceptance and acclaim by critics and audiences alike. Fantasma House Films looks forward to being part of that boundary-breaking movement.”

Story by Blackstone LaunchPad Global Fellow Quentin Rosso ’18

Vaishnavi Varma ’21 uses sentiment analysis to improve social media health

April 12, 2021

As humans, we are in constant “go mode.” We are continuously transitioning from doing work, to going to class, to checking social media without taking a moment to take a deep breath and become mindful of what we are doing. Particularly, as technology has progressed over the past decade, we are taking in more information than ever without taking a second to realize what we are reading and how it is affecting our well-being.

Over quarantine, Vaishnavi Varma, a senior majoring in Physics from Abu Dhabi, began to realize the toll that her media consumption was taking on her mental health after finding the meditation app Headspace. She says, “I really like meditation because it’s not super time-consuming and it helps me become more aware of my emotions.”

Through meditation, she was able to realize how much her social media use was impacting her. Varma says it “was difficult to find a balance because when I would go completely off social media, I felt super disconnected, but I also noticed the negative effect it had when I was on it too often.”

She wanted to create an application that helped social media users realize what they were consuming and how it was affecting them. As an intern at Bank of America, Varma learned about an interesting subject called sentiment analysis, essentially how neutral, negative, or positive words were in any form of media. Using this newfound knowledge, she decided to create NewZone, an application that would be incorporated into your Instagram newsfeed and would tell you if content is rated positively, negatively, or neutral so users can be more aware of how their consumption is affecting their mental health.

This is not Varma’s first idea as she’s had the entrepreneurial spirit ever since middle school. She says, “I’ve always done small business here and there… I’ve been upcycling old jeans since middle school… I think it really helps me explore my own creativity.”

Varma says that she couldn’t have done this without the help from the Blackstone LaunchPad and Techstars at SU Libraries. She explains, “My idea was very new, and I came up with it during winter break, but I had very little direction.” With the help of her Rubin Family Innovation Mentor Sam Hollander, she was able to get insight into how to develop her idea. Varma said, “Sam was super helpful in asking the right questions to help guide me in the right direction and build a solid foundation of what I wanted my venture idea to be.”

Varma will be working as a Business Technology Analyst at Bank of America after school but is excited to continue building out NewZone. She says, “Social media has some great aspects but there needs to be some awareness surrounding it.”

If you want to learn more about NewZone check out its website.

Story by Jack Lyons ‘22, LaunchPad Global Fellow; photos and graphics supplied

Camila Tirado ’23 raises awareness about the Wayúu tribe

April 12, 2021

In the small town of La Guajira, Colombia, resides a tribe of the Wayúu people. A woman sits cross-legged with thick, colorful thread in one hand and a weaving needle in the other. Around her, ten more women are working on the same creation: beautiful, handwoven bags.

While visiting her friend, Sofía Castaño, in Colombia, Camila Tirado stumbled upon the Wayúu bags that inspired her to begin her business.

Camila — born in Tijuana, Mexico and now a biotechnology major with a French minor at Syracuse University’s College of Arts and Sciences — has always had an appreciation for other culture and a desire to see others succeed.

“I enjoy enabling communities to succeed by breaking down people’s mental barriers and helping them believe in the art that they create,” Camila said.

The day Camila discovered the Wayúu people, she bought 15 bags on the spot.

Camila explained that in the U.S., everyone has a go-to bag to take everywhere, but they are often made out of polyester and lack handmade, artful expression. In Colombia, however, the Wayúu bags are not uncommon.

“It’s something everyone has, and they’re very proud of it. The bags are not a trend — people are carrying Colombia’s culture with them,” Camila recalled.

Camila told Sofia, “Let’s start a business. It will be hard and exhausting, and we won’t know what we’re doing half the time, but I think we can pull it off.”

Upon returning to the U.S., she successfully sold all 15 bags.

Touched by the receptiveness of U.S. customers, Camila worked with Sofia — her intermediary and quality control — to buy 50 more bags from the tribe and send them to the U.S.

“I know the bags are beautiful. I have no worry that they ‘won’t sell.’ I just need to get the right eyes on them,” Camila said.

Recently, Camila switched from using Instagram shop to opening an Etsy store after noticing that buying on Instagram creates friction and hesitancy to buy, compared to the more reputable Etsy platform. Over the past couple months, she also developed a better grasp on shipping.

While fine-tuning her shipping process, Camila realized that to make money she needs to invest money. When funding her business, Camila used her own money to maintain peace of mind and remain free of debts and obligations.

“I can make my own decisions and take cool risks, knowing it’s my money,” she said.

Camila invested in a shipping label printer and switched over to decomposable packaging.

“I would rather lose $5 of profit than to know my business is contributing to pollution, which affects the very same people I’m trying to help,” Camila stated. She emphasizes that often, companies say that they support a certain cause, but in reality, this acts as just a nice label rather than a practice adopted in all aspects of the company.

Currently, Camila is searching for an organization that helps the Wayúu people in a sustainable and meaningful way, rather than taking major profit cuts or merely donating the money. Once they identify and meet with an organization that genuinely supports the Wayúu tribe, Camila will be donating a percentage of her proceeds to help them.

After being featured on the Daily Orange, Camila realized, “The story of the Wayúu people matters. Now it’s up to me to spread that history to each person that purchases a bag.”

Camila noted that in Wayúu culture, the women lead the tribe and bring economic profit. They deeply value nature but are terribly affected by climate change. This is the story Camila hopes to raise awareness for.

“I also want people to gain an appreciation for handmade things in a world where it’s so easy to ship something from a factory in China,” she added. “With handmade bags, you can feel the spirit of the woman who made it. If the bag is stiff, that means the knitting was harder, and the woman was feeling something. If the bag feels lighter, she was more relaxed. No bag is exactly the same.”

With every product purchase, Camila also includes a handwritten thank you note to cultivate a special customer experience for every buyer.

Camila has experienced many challenges running the business while being a full-time student, working four other jobs, coordinating with Sofia overseas and managing exchange rate differences. Despite these trials and tribulations, however, she has found the startup process to be very rewarding.

“We live in a really cool era where you can make your own career,” she stated. “And just like I found the Wayúu people, I can find so much more out there.”

Looking forward, Camila plans to expand the shop to include other accessories and work with the Wayúu women to request more in-demand color designs.

“By wearing a Wayúu bag, you’re wearing history,” Camila concludes.

Camila’s Wayúu bag shop can be found on Instagram and Etsy.

Story by Sasha Temerte ’23, LaunchPad Orange Ambassador; photo supplied