The NCAA is changing the current rules and regulations around a student-athlete’s name, image, and likeness. Previously, student-athletes were not allowed to participate in business activities or noninstitutional promotional activities. With the new rule changes, student-athletes will be able to engage in business activities related to their own name, image, and likeness. The goal of the team was to help “prepare athletes to understand and properly navigate the evolving restrictions and guidelines around athlete name, image, and likeness”. In order to accomplish this, the team had to understand the problems student-athletes face with these changing rules and regulations. The team conducted basic market research to identify the problem. The problem discovered was the lack of communication between student-athletes and businesses. In order to verify this problem, the team conducted several interviews with Arizona State University Athletic Department personnel. From the interviews, the team identified that the user is the student-athletes and the buyer is the brands and businesses. Once the problem was verified and the user and buyer were identified, a solution that would best fit the customers was formulated. The solution is a platform that assists student-athletes navigate the changing rules of the NCAA by providing access to a marketplace optimized to working with student-athletes and offering an ease of maintaining relationships between student-athletes and businesses. The solution was validated through meetings with interested brands. The team used the business model and market potential to pitch the business idea to the brands. Finally, the team gained traction by initiating company partnerships.

When examining the average college campus, it becomes obvious that students feel rushed from one place to another as they try to participate in class, clubs, and extracurricular activities. One way that students can feel more comfortable and relaxed around campus is to introduce the aspect of gaming. Studies show that “Moderate videogame play has been found to contribute to emotional stability” (Jones, 2014). This demonstrates that the stress of college can be mitigated by introducing the ability to interact with video games. This same concept has been applied in the workplace, where studies have shown that “Gaming principles such as challenges, competition, rewards and personalization keep employees engaged and learning” (Clark, 2020). This means that if we manage to gamify the college experience, students will be more engaged which will increase and stabilize the retention rate of colleges which utilize this type of experience. Gaming allows students to connect with their peers in a casual environment while also allowing them to find resources around campus and find new places to eat and relax. We plan to gamify the college experience by introducing augmented reality in the form of an app. Augmented reality is “. . . a technology that combines virtual information with the real world” (Chen, 2019). College students will be able to utilize the resources and amenities available to them on campus while completing quests that help them within the application. This demonstrates the ability for video games to engage students using artificial tasks but real actions and experiences which help them feel more connected to campus. Our Founders Lab team has developed and tested an AR application that can be used to connect students with their campus and the resources available to them.

When examining the average college campus, it becomes obvious that students feel rushed from one place to another as they try to participate in class, clubs, and extracurricular activities. One way that students can feel more comfortable and relaxed around campus is to introduce the aspect of gaming. Studies show that “Moderate videogame play has been found to contribute to emotional stability” (Jones, 2014). This demonstrates that the stress of college can be mitigated by introducing the ability to interact with video games. This same concept has been applied in the workplace, where studies have shown that “Gaming principles such as challenges, competition, rewards and personalization keep employees engaged and learning” (Clark, 2020). This means that if we manage to gamify the college experience, students will be more engaged which will increase and stabilize the retention rate of colleges which utilize this type of experience. Gaming allows students to connect with their peers in a casual environment while also allowing them to find resources around campus and find new places to eat and relax. We plan to gamify the college experience by introducing augmented reality in the form of an app. Augmented reality is “. . . a technology that combines virtual information with the real world” (Chen, 2019). College students will be able to utilize the resources and amenities available to them on campus while completing quests that help them within the application. This demonstrates the ability for video games to engage students using artificial tasks but real actions and experiences which help them feel more connected to campus. Our Founders Lab team has developed and tested an AR application that can be used to connect students with their campus and the resources available to them.

Obesity rates among adults have steadily grown in recent decades all the way up to<br/>42.4% in 2018. This is a 12% increase from the turn of the century (Center for Disease Control<br/>and Prevention, 2021). A major reason for this rise is increased consumption of processed,<br/>high-calorie foods. People eat these foods at a young age and develop bad eating habits that can<br/>last for the rest of their lives. It is essential to intervene early and help adolescents form<br/>balanced, healthy eating habits before bad habits are already formed. Our solution to this<br/>problem is Green Gamers. Green Gamers combines adolescent’s passion for gaming with<br/>healthy eating via in-game rewards for healthy eating. People will be able to purchase healthy<br/>food items, such as a bag of carrots, and on the packaging there will be a QR code. They will<br/>then be able to scan the code on our website, and earn points which will unlock in-game items<br/>and other rewards. Video game rewards act as effective motivators for you people to eat more<br/>healthy foods. After the solution was formulated, a preliminary survey was conducted to<br/>confirm that video game related rewards would inspire children to eat more healthy foods.<br/>Based on those results, we are currently in the process of running a secondary market research<br/>campaign to learn if gift card rewards are a stronger motivator. Our end goal for Green Gamers<br/>would be to partner with large gaming studios and food producers. This would allow us access to<br/>many gaming franchises, so that rewards are available from a wide variety of games: making the<br/>platform appealing to a diverse audience of gamers. Similarly, a relationship with large food<br/>producers would give us the ability to place QR codes on a greater assortment of healthy food<br/>items. Although no relationships with large companies have been forged yet, we plan to utilize<br/>funding to test our concept on small focus groups in schools

Through Entrepreneurship at ASU, I became passionate about venture creation and the behind the scenes work that comes with creating a startup company. This allowed me to create my own venture in the realm of travel called "OverLay", where I learned that entrepreneurship is much more than coming up with a solution and solving it. I went into the community and had informational interviews with founders of startups and successful entrepreneurs to collect qualitative analysis of what must be done to have a successful venture. Through this analysis, I continued working on my own personal venture and was able to reassess some of the initial problems that I was having. I learned the importance of being customer oriented and of creating a successful team. I am continuing to progress my venture "OverLay" and am working on an official prototype to be released. With unyielding determination and a relentless pursuit of excellence, I am excited to bring my vision to life and make a meaningful impact in the travel industry.

The Clutch Services App is a platform that was imagined with the intent to bridge the gap in the Arizona State student commerce market that exists between student entrepreneurs and consumers. Our thesis validated the gap in the market through intensive research that emphasized student demand and an in-person demonstration of the problem the application would seek to solve. We consistently surveyed the student population testing if there is an existing platform that closes the gap in the market, their awareness of entrepreneurs on campus, interest in supporting student-owned businesses, and overall interest in a platform that would host ASU student-owned businesses. Additionally, we hosted an ASU Student Business Fair, on campus, to physically represent the functionality of the app and its purpose. Through these methods we were able to successfully validate the demand for a platform, exclusively for ASU students, that showcases student-owned businesses to better connect them with the student population.

Baking is a popular past-time among Generation Z, and ‘bakeries’ are an equally popular intention. Baked by Barrett is a charity-oriented bake-sale platform for Generation Z members who are passionate about baking, and would like to sell their goods within the Tempe, Arizona college ecosystem. Baked by Barrett facilitates the collection, review and sale of home baked goods through various means on a weekly cadence. This will include, while not limited to, hosting tabling and social events throughout the academic year. This user-led platform will share the proceeds towards bakers, local charities of choice as well as maintaining a percentage internally to ensure efficient operations. Because businesses for profit are a conflict of interest for ASU, the organization will work to promote students and charity along with the learning for business and entrepreneurial ventures. Instead of generating profits, Baked by Barrett will focus on sustaining itself while the rest of the revenue will go to charity. This will help the organization avoid conflicts of interest with asu allowing it to use campus space to sell. Marketing will, initially, be based on word-of-mouth, with supporting tools including a dynamic website, flyers and partnerships around local newsletters. Rotations of charities and menu items will be used to add incentives for students and passersby to buy from Baked by Barrett. In order to promote the organization, there will be a website, flyers and even contact information through the Barrett digest to market the platform in the weekly newsletter.