GradeScout Wins $3,000 From Northeastern University Entrepreneurs Club
Since early this fall, one of our cofounders, Troy Gunawardene, has been working towards representing GradeScout at Northeastern University's Husky Startup Challenge (HSC) — a competition where $10,000 in obligation-free seed funding are distributed to the highest-potential startup competitors.
The HSC program begins with weekly workshops featuring guest speakers and lessons about essential topics pertaining to idea formation, pitch decks, and general startup concepts. Once the workshops end, the cohort of startups must audition to be eligible for the Demo Day event; the audition process reduced the number of competing teams from 20+ to 8 finalists. Afterwards, an intense, iterative cycle of rehearsals and feedback takes place between the finalist teams and HSC directors, finally culminating in Demo Day.
This fall's Demo Day event took place on November 20th. Hundreds of Northeastern community members and others from the Boston area attended. Before the pitches, guests were able to speak with each venture's founders at the tabling session.
GradeScout at the Demo Day tabling session.
Next, founders and attendees assembled in the Curry Student Center Ballroom to view the pitches. Each startup gave a short pitch (limited to 5 minutes) and then answered questions from the panel of judges. Out of the eight finalist startups, the judges would decide 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners, while additional awards were given for public choice, social media engagement, and high effort in the program.
Cofounder Troy Gunawardene pitches at Demo Day on behalf of GradeScout.
We are very proud to announce that after weeks of intense preparation for the challenge and pitching alongside many other amazing startups, GradeScout was the recipient of both second place and the social media award, totaling $3,000 in prizes.
A few celebratory pictures.
It will take some time for GradeScout to receive and be able to utilize the funds, but regardless, this victory is the first of many milestones to come. Keep an eye on our blog and social media for future announcements — big things are on the horizon!
Several photos used courtesy of NEU Entrepreneurs' Club. Others were taken by Troy's friends — thanks!