Quinn King ’20 and Alec Gillinder ’20 (both VPA School of Design), co-founders of MedUX, heading to the EO GSEA US National Competition in the Silicon Valley on February 8 – 13. King will be pitching as one of 33 students representing teams from state and regional US GSEA competitions to vie for the chance to represent the United States at the 2020 EO GSEA Global Finals in Cape Town, South Africa. The national event will be held on the Startup Grind Stage, where top student startups from across the United States will share their stories, pitch their businesses, connect with peers, and attend Startup Grind’s Global 2020 Conference.
The Global Student Entrepreneur Awards (GSEA) is the premier global competition for students who own and operate a business while attending college or university. Nominees compete against their peers from around the world in a series of local and/or national competitions in hopes to qualify for GSEA Finals. The program is hosted by the Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) program, which is EO is the only global network exclusively for entrepreneurs.
(Photo: William T. Palisano, President, Lincoln Archives, Inc./ LACyber and coordinator of the WNY GSEA competition with Quinn King).
King won first place and $7,500 at the WNY GSEA EO qualifying competition in Buffalo in November 2019. Working with fellow VPA School of Design student Alec Gillinder ’20, they launched MedUX as students, getting a boost from the Invent@SU – Blackstone LaunchPad powered by Techstars at SU Libraries partnership. Over the past 18 months, they created an initial prototype, and then developed their product roadmap and a business model to take them from concept to commercialization. Along the way, they built a powerful community and industry mentor network, and won more than $65,000 in student business plan competitions during the 2018 – 2019 academic year to help seed their idea. They are now embarking on a joint venture with a European company, and expect to be selling into the global market by spring of 2020.
Both King and Gillinder are Rubin Family Innovation Mentors at the LaunchPad in Bird Library where they mentor other student innovators. They are currently fifth year Industrial and Interaction Design students completing their graduation thesis projects as well.
About the Entrepreneurs’ Organization’s Global Student Entrepreneur Awards:
As the premier global competition for university students, the Global Student Entrepreneur Awards (GSEA) represents more than 1,500 prominent student entrepreneurs from over 50 countries. Built on a mission to inspire students to start and grow entrepreneurial ventures, GSEA brings global visibility to pioneering student business owners. Since 1998, the GSEA, a program founded at the John Cook School of Business at Saint Louis University, has honored outstanding students who simultaneously attend university full-time while running their own businesses. The Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) took on leadership of the GSEA in 2006 to offer student entrepreneurs access to a global network of mentors, resources and connections from the most influential community of entrepreneurs in the world. The Entrepreneurs’ Organization’s GSEA is generously supported by Thomas Franchise Solutions.
The Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) is a global, peer-to-peer network of more than 13,000+influential business owners with 188 chapters in 58 countries. Founded in 1987, EO is the catalyst that enables leading entrepreneurs to learn and grow, leading to greater success in business and beyond.