Marquette students to compete in the BIG EAST Startup Challenge Feb. 22

The BIG EAST Conference will host its third Big East Startup Challenge, a competition featuring startup teams of student entrepreneurs representing all 11 schools, on Tuesday, Feb. 22, from 5 to 7:30 p.m. 

The BIG EAST Startup Challenge offers undergraduate entrepreneurs the opportunity to pitch their idea to a panel of experienced entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and Big East alumni. Join on Zoom or Facebook Live to watch our student founders showcase their ideas to the Big East community and beyond. 

Teams will be evaluated on concepts, market need, feasibility, sustainability and presentation, with the top three finishers receiving an honorarium. 

Electi, a startup founded by students Brady Walczak and Ronnie Ortiz, will represent Marquette in this year’s competition. Electi is an iOS app that makes the gym as simple and productive as possible with features such as equipment demonstrations, local rewards and live time capacity updates. The Marquette community can currently experience Electi at the Helfaer Recreation Center. Each machine in the Rec Center has a clearly-visible number that corresponds with a video tutorial in the Electi app that explains how to safely and properly perform the exercise.

To support Walczak and Ortiz, register to watch the pitch event virtually. 

A Zoom link for the event will be sent to event registrants before the event begins. Those who wish to make use of closed captioning during the competition are encouraged to watch the event on the Facebook Live page.