For the Mitchell brothers, aviation has been a part of their lives since their childhood. Raised by a pilot father, some of their earliest memories include flying in their Piper Cherokee plane from Chico to San Diego, California. “We probably were in an airplane before we could walk,” one of the brothers said. 

Co-founders Chase Mitchell, a California Polytechnic State University aerospace engineering alumnus, and Weston Mitchell, a senior accounting student at Santa Clara University, officially became student pilots during the COVID-19 pandemic. Their firsthand experience of feeling challenged by flight planning inspired them to create a better solution for pilots. 

“We grew up in it, and now we’re trying to make our mark in it,” Chase Mitchell said. 

Together, they founded Flyer Design Solutions, the company behind the flight planning platform, AviateVFR (visual flight rules), combining Chase Mitchell’s technical knowledge and Weston Mitchell’s business and financial expertise. 

“A lot of student pilots and newer pilots get discouraged by the complexity of general aviation (GA) flight planning, specifically VFR planning,” Weston Mitchell said. “We found that the tools that do exist are not sufficient, and we figured that we could make one that would be better.”

AviateVFR is designed for GA pilots, student pilots and newer pilots, helping them plan routes more efficiently while promoting safer, more informed decision-making. The platform transforms what has traditionally been a fully manual flight-planning process by introducing automation and interactive visualizations, giving pilots a clearer understanding of their current position, planned route and the overall flight before takeoff.

Their sibling partnership has brought a unique relationship to the company, the duo having a specific delegation of work and understanding of how each other works.

“I think that us being brothers is an advantage from the standpoint of we know what the other person is thinking,” Weston Mitchell said. 

Working closely with their dad, they have been able to add, test and iterate features and easily gain a pilot’s perspective without needing to search for consumer outreach repeatedly. 

“When we were still developing features, he would come up with something every week that he’d want added,” Weston Mitchell said. “He’s been really helpful by putting us in front of people that he knows that are potentially good connections for us. It’s awesome that he’s highly supportive of it.”

Beyond family feedback, the brothers have validated AviateVFR with certified flight instructors (CFI), GA pilots and several different flight schools. They recently launched their platform’s beta version at the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) chapter in San Luis Obispo. 

“Everyone really liked it and could see a lot of great use cases. We’ve had a substantial amount of customer interaction so far,” Chase Mitchell said. “Now that we’re in public beta, we’ll be getting feedback based on people using the app rather than people just seeing a demonstration.”

The duo entered the Cal Poly Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship’s (CIE) Innovation Quest (iQ) competition after being introduced to the opportunity by the Cal Poly Orfalea College of Business Dean, Damon Fleming. Through iQ, Chase Mitchell said it provided a key learning step for them, motivating them to create a strong business strategy. 

“Even though we didn’t win, it still was a big step for us because it forced us to sit down and say, ‘Okay, the business is what we’re working on, and the product is a part of that business,’” Chase Mitchell said. “That flipped our mentality around and forced us to think about things differently.”

Their participation and validation in iQ led them to want to continue developing their business in the CIE Summer Accelerator program. 

The Accelerator is a 10-week intensive program that provides Cal Poly students and recent graduates with resources to turn their innovative ideas into full-fledged startups. Participants receive $10,000 in seed funding, mentorship, entrepreneurial workshops, and a dedicated workspace in the HotHouse, the CIE’s downtown San Luis Obispo office.

“The Accelerator program has been a massive growth point for our business,” Weston Mitchell said. “Having a space that we can come to every day to work and be surrounded by other teams that are doing the same thing has been very motivating.”

By Demo Day, the duo is aiming to transition AviateVFR from public beta to paid beta. As they continue developing the platform, the brothers are eager to gather feedback from pilots who have seen the impact and consumers, and provide an easy-to-use solution for pilots ranging in expertise.  

“Every time someone gets on a plane, or gets a package shipped, they’re touching aviation in one way or another. We’re seeing that we’re helping to make it easier to approach; that’s something a couple steps outside of what we’d ever imagined it to become,” Chase Mitchell said. “We’re really hoping to see that it’s just going to hit the industry like a wildfire and just take off.”

---

To learn more about AviateVFR, click here.

As climate change intensifies, California’s water supply continues to be under pressure. Frequent and severe droughts are leaving farmers with less water to grow crops, forcing difficult decisions about how to manage a highly limited resource. 

For California Polytechnic State University alumnus William Stevens (economics, ‘25), the solution lies not in finding more water, but in using existing supplies more efficiently. He developed his startup, AquaX, to help growers transfer water to its highest value use and maximize agricultural production during times of scarcity.

“Living in California, you’re constantly faced with droughts, and the more you learn about water,” he said. “Every year the impacts become greater. So we have to deal with that in a way that makes the most sense.”

Stevens pitched an early concept in the Cal Poly Center for Innovation and  Entrepreneurship’s (CIE) Elevator Pitch Competition in 2024. He then refined the idea and committed to AquaX full-time in September 2025 through joining The Residency, a global network of hacker houses. He spent four months at its Bangalore, India, chapter from September where he continued building AquaX.

“I moved to Bangalore for four months and hosted a few hackathons with some really talented young developers. I ended up hiring three of them to help build out AquaX,” Stevens said. “Being there was definitely eye-opening for me, and the experience that I had there I’ll take forward with me for the rest of my life.”

While in India, Stevens reached out and stayed connected to innovation and entrepreneurship faculty, including Thomas Katona, Cal Poly Professor and CIE academic programs director, to talk through ideas, receive feedback and stay connected to Cal Poly. 

“Sometimes when you’re building or starting a company, you don’t know the right direction to take, and there’s a lot of different paths,” Stevens said. “Having an extra person that has  more experience than you to just give you guidance, even if you don’t take it all the way, is still really helpful.”

This connection, along with hearing previous positive testimonials from friends, led Stevens to return to Cal Poly CIE for the Summer Accelerator.

​The Summer Accelerator is a 10-week intensive program that provides Cal Poly students and recent graduates with resources to turn their innovative ideas into full-fledged startups. Participants receive $10,000 in seed funding, mentorship, entrepreneurial workshops and a dedicated workspace in the HotHouse, the CIE’s downtown San Luis Obispo office. 

“I always knew that I wanted to come back for the Summer Accelerator. There are so many connections that Cal Poly can give you, especially in this industry, so I knew that was something I wanted to do,” he said. 

Expanding this venture as a solo founder has allowed Stevens to find more confidence in leading his development team and making decisions for the company.

“You have to have confidence in yourself in order to move forward quickly,” he said. “You don’t really have specific times you’re supposed to work—it’s just you—so you have to hold yourself accountable. The biggest question is: Can you stay focused?”

During his time in the Accelerator, Stevens has been most surprised by the amount of support from mentors, guest speakers and opportunity for one-on-one meetings. He appreciates the support and freedom in developing a schedule that works for him.

“The CIE fosters curiosity, and they let you do your own thing,” Stevens said. “Having that freedom is incredibly helpful.”

To aspiring entrepreneurs, Stevens recommends focusing on the problem before immediately trying to find a solution.

“Water was a problem that I was looking at for a long time, and I didn’t know the best way to approach it,” Stevens said. “I just kept iterating, and then I eventually found my way.”

 

Premature babies in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) are among healthcare’s most fragile patients, with roughly 13.4 million babies born preterm each year globally. While respiratory assistance devices are essential to their survival, they can also introduce challenges with treatment.

California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly) biomedical engineering alumna Josiah Waltner was introduced to this challenge two years ago by local neonatologist Dr. Steven Van Scoy of Adventist Health Sierra Vista in San Luis Obispo. Recognizing the need for a better solution, Waltner co-founded PNOIA, a startup developing a respiratory device designed to improve care for premature infants and the clinicians treating them.

“We did a lot of outreach and found that it’s not just happening on a local level, this is happening all across the nation and potentially the world, so we felt called to advocate for those patients,” Waltner said. 

Waltner’s co-founder, Cal Poly mechanical engineering alumnus Aidan Geurts, joined PNOIA roughly a year ago through a senior project. Waltner said Geurts’ addition marked a turning point for the startup, helping transform the company with having visible momentum and growth. 

Geurts said initial curiosity motivated him to join the startup, but visiting a local NICU and seeing premature babies firsthand solidified his commitment to the project.

“It completely moved me. If my baby was right there using these devices, I would be up in arms.” Geurts said. “From that moment on, I said, ‘Okay, this is a serious problem.’” 

Waltner and Geurts said their complementary skill sets and collaborative approach have helped drive PNOIA’s development. While Waltner mainly focuses on research, development and commercialization, Geurts brings expertise in medical device design and computer-aided design (CAD). 

“Aidan and I work very collaboratively, so we’re just bouncing ideas off of each other,” Waltner said. “We have a bunch of whiteboards set up in our space, and we’re always drawing diagrams or little notes.” 

Their collaboration even continues over their coffee breaks. “We take little breaks and work on making some lattes together, and that’s where a lot of ideas stem from,” Geurts said. “We have a very similar mindset around research and development and figuring out how to solve this problem.”

After winning the $15,000 first-place award at the Cal Poly Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship’s (CIE) Innovation Quest this spring, the team said the recognition gave them the momentum to continue building PNOIA before joining the CIE’s  Summer Accelerator program. 

The Accelerator is a 10-week intensive program that provides Cal Poly students and recent graduates with resources to turn their innovative ideas into full-fledged startups. Participants receive $10,000 in seed funding, mentorship, entrepreneurial workshops, and a dedicated workspace in the HotHouse, the CIE’s downtown San Luis Obispo office.

“It shifted our mindset from this just being a cool project that we’re working on to this being a viable business and something worth pursuing,” Waltner said. “That was the moment where I really decided that I was ready to go all in.” 

Before joining the Accelerator program, both Waltner and Geurts had full-time jobs planned following their graduation from Cal Poly. Geurts planned to move to Philadelphia, while Waltner was headed to Southern California. Instead, the pair chose to put those plans on hold and committed to PNIOA full time. 

“The energy that Josiah brought into the idea of doing the Accelerator program moved me to have confidence not in just myself that I can do this, but in having such a quality co-founder,” Geurts said.  

Working in the Accelerator together, the team has appreciated the endless connections they have made so far. 

“We have made so many incredibly valuable connections; we’re being poured into from every angle,” Waltner said. “To be in this hub of entrepreneurship and excitement has really put our wheels in motion.”

As PNOIA continues to grow through the Accelerator, the team is focused on three priorities: Refining their prototype, pursuing patent protection and navigating the costly process of bringing a medical device to market, Geurts said. 

“Our healthcare system isn’t designed for it to be easy to put a medical device into rotation — we have been stretching every dollar that we’ve received,” Waltner said. 

By the end of the Summer Accelerator program, the team hopes to take the next steps towards protecting its intellectual property, begin benchtop testing and identify the appropriate FDA regulatory pathway this fall.  

“I think our mission – we have it up on our whiteboard – is saving babies,” Geurts said. “This is what we’re here for.”

San Luis Obispo is one of the least affordable places to buy a home, with only 19 percent of families being able to afford a median-priced home. As it is officially ranked the fourth least affordable county in the United States, housing affordability stems from a variety of factors; lengthy permitting processes are often cited as slowing new construction. 

Three California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly) students saw this bottleneck as an opportunity. Computer engineering senior Soe Ko Ko Lin, software engineering alumna Muska Said Hasan Mustafa and computer engineering alumnus Wilson Yu founded Permi, an AI-based platform designed to help architects cut down the time it takes to submit building plans.

“One of the things that people in construction all complained about was how difficult the permitting process is, how long it takes and how it’s a waste of resources,” Said Hasan Mustafa said. “We realized that it’s a pretty big issue.” 

To address this common frustration, the team developed Permi, which allows architects to upload site plans and compare them against relevant building codes before sending an application. By identifying potential code violations early, the platform aims to reduce resubmissions and increase first-round approvals.

“Architects often submit codes to the city first to allow them to check it, and then fix the mistakes that the city provides them with,” Lin said. “We’re trying to make sure that there aren’t multiple rounds of resubmission.” 

What began as a senior class project quickly evolved into a startup with greater potential. The team entered the Cal Poly Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship’s (CIE) Innovation Quest (iQ) competition to test both their idea and business model. While they reached the finals of iQ, they did not place in the top three. However, Lin said the experience prepared them for a much bigger opportunity: acceptance into the CIE’s Summer Accelerator program. 

“It really forced us to think on the business side of things. If we didn’t go through iQ, we wouldn’t have a lot of the answers to the questions we were asked in the Accelerator interview,” Lin said. 

​The Summer Accelerator program is a 10-week intensive program that provides Cal Poly students and recent graduates with resources to turn their innovative ideas into full-fledged start-ups. Participants receive $10,000 in seed funding, mentorship, entrepreneurial workshops and a dedicated workspace in the HotHouse, the CIE’s downtown San Luis Obispo office. 

“The Accelerator felt like the proper next step because we had quite a few interests from the government side when we’re doing customer development,” Lin said. “We thought ‘let’s try this out and see where it goes.’”

Early consumer interviews have produced promising feedback, with architects expressing interest in beta testing the platform once it becomes available. For the team, the positive feedback has been both validating and motivating as development continues.

“It shows us that what we’re working on is something that actually interests people, and could be useful for them,” Said Hasan Mustafa said. “Being able to see the start of that positive impact makes you feel really good as a founder.”

Before working with the CIE, the three founders had little experience with common business practices. Through the Accelerator’s mentorship, workshops and collaborative environment, they’ve developed both business skills and relationships with fellow founders. 

“Having the mentors around, the advice that we hear and the workshops has been super helpful in thinking about how this can become a legitimate business,” Lin said.

Beyond developing the business, Said Hasan Mustafa said the CIE has helped her grow professionally by improving her networking skills and showing her the value of building meaningful connections. 

“A common phrase that we hear in the business world is ‘your net worth is your network’. The better that you know how to network and who your network can connect you with, will take you a long way into being able to be successful in whatever field you’re pursuing.” Said Hasan Mustafa said.  

Ahead of Demo Day, the Permi team aims to gather performance metrics on their software to show their platform’s effectiveness with architects. Long-term, they aim to grow their user base and overall aid the housing crisis. 

“To see that we were even able to help make an affordable housing process come back a little bit faster, which allowed maybe even one family to like get affordable housing. I would say that’s a mission success in my eyes,” Lin said. 

Every student learns differently, yet most classrooms still rely on a one-size-fits-all approach. Inspired by a loved one’s experience, California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly) business administration alumna Lily Bryan is developing Hopscotch, a personalized learning platform designed to support students with different learning styles.

“It’s really hard for teachers to meet every student where they are and provide them personalized support that they need,” Bryan said. “That’s where Hopscotch came about — the belief that different ways of thinking deserve different ways of learning.”

Hopscotch supports students by allowing them to upload their homework and by translating the learning process into their preferred approach, catering to a variety of ways to engage with the material.

“As students interact with our platform, Hopscotch learns as they learn, and we get a better idea of the type of learner they are and what kind of representations would make most sense for their brain,” Bryan said. 

As Bryan developed her entrepreneurship senior project, she attended the Cal Poly Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship’s (CIE) Summer Accelerator information session to seek the technical expertise needed to bring her idea to life. There, she met Liam Hyde, a Cal Poly computer science alumnus who will return this fall to pursue a master’s degree in quantitative economics.

“Liam also had a very personal connection to the problem, and he hopped on board that same day. He helped us make moree technical progress than we had all year in the span of two weeks,” Bryan said. 

Hyde immediately connected with the mission, having seen firsthand the learning challenges many students face. Confident he could build a solution, he joined Bryan and together applied to the Summer Accelerator program, expanding both the platform and the startup’s vision. 

The Accelerator is a 10-week intensive program that provides Cal Poly students and recent graduates with resources to turn their innovative ideas into full-fledged startups. Participants receive $10,000 in seed funding, mentorship, entrepreneurial workshops, and a dedicated workspace in the HotHouse, the CIE’s downtown San Luis Obispo office.

“Twenty-one percent of California 11th graders are proficient in math, and that’s a complete disaster. Anything we can do to start bumping those numbers up would be a good thing,” Hyde said. “The education system in this country has failed a lot of people, and we’re hoping to start to turn that around.”

The Hopscotch team has said one of the Accelerator program’s biggest strengths has been the network of mentors, who offer workshops and one-on-ones for teams. “Regardless of their industry, they’re always able to apply their expertise to our situation,” Bryan said. “Hearing from people who know what it’s like to take that risk when your friends are in comfortable nine-to-five jobs is reassuring.” 

After speaking with their target audience, the Hopscotch team decided to focus on algebra initially, with plans to expand the platform to include other areas of math, physics and other STEM subjects. 

“We have discovered from parents and teachers that algebra is where parents aren’t able to help their students with their homework anymore,” Hyde said. 

Teacher feedback also broadened Bryan’s vision for Hopscotch beyond individual students. She learned this platform could cater to an entire class, supporting students who have foundational education gaps needing greater assistance, while also supporting students needing accelerated learning. 

“Hopscotch not only adapts those representations horizontally, but we also take a vertical approach and really allow students to focus on where they need to be,” Bryan said. 

By Demo Day, the duo aims to narrow down their customer segment and launch an algebra-focused pilot program and begin helping students who are looking for a simpler, more engaging way to learn. The team plans to use feedback from the pilot to refine the platform before expanding to several classrooms this fall. 

“We are really making sure that the experience isn’t just helpful but also engaging for students at the end of the day. Math has the stereotype of being boring, but we really want to make it an engaging experience for students,” Bryan said. 

The Accelerator has given the Hopscotch team an opportunity to grow their startup alongside student entrepreneurs experiencing similar challenges, creating a supportive community, as they work to generate real businesses. 

“We’re all in the same classes, taking this risk together,” Bryan said. “Even though we’re in different industries, we’re facing many of the same challenges, so being able to help each other has been a really great experience.”

---

Learn more about Hopscotch and how it works—those looking for an algebra refresher, or learning algebra for the first time, can join Hopscotch’s pilot program here.

---

Watch Hopscotch and our six other Accelerator startups pitch live at Demo Day.

###

About the Cal Poly Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship:

The CIE opens a world of entrepreneurial opportunity to Cal Poly students, faculty and community members and promotes entrepreneurial activity and dialogue across the university and throughout San Luis Obispo County. For more information, visit cie.calpoly.edu.  

For California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly) agricultural business alumni Joshua Van Tassel and Alex Pope, giving up dessert was never an option. Instead, the pair set out to reinvent it by creating Nibble Foods, a company that produces healthier, protein-packed versions of indulgent desserts.

​After being assigned the category “impulsive indulgers” for a dairy-based entrepreneurship class project, Pope and Van Tassel set out to create a sweet treat that wouldn’t carry the same guilt as traditional desserts. The result was Nibble’s first product: a bite-sized, healthy, protein-packed cheesecake bite formulated with clean ingredients. 

“We wanted to eat something that tastes like the real thing, one of our favorite desserts, cheesecake, but actually feel guilt-free about what we were putting into our bodies,” Pope said. 

Pope and Van Tassel’s friendship began during Cal Poly’s Week of Welcome, when the two met as neighbors in the Yosemite Tower Three dorm building. From sharing at least one class every quarter to building a business together, Van Tassel said they “worked well from the start.”

“Once you start building an idea full-time, it becomes more than just a group project. This experience is definitely going to push our friendship to places it’s never gone before, but it’s only made us stronger and better for the long run,” Pope said. 

​The team learned more about the Cal Poly Center of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE) through their senior project course, where agribusiness professor Dr. McGowan  suggested that they participate in the CIE Elevator Pitch Competition. The experience led them to continue participating in CIE programs, including Builder Bootcamp, Innovation Quest and, most recently, the Summer Accelerator. 

​The Accelerator is a 10-week intensive program that provides Cal Poly students and recent graduates with resources to turn their innovative ideas into full-fledged start-ups. Participants receive $10,000 in seed funding, mentorship, an entrepreneurial workshop, and a dedicated workspace in the HotHouse, the CIE’s downtown San Luis Obispo office. 

​“I would say one of the things that we struggled with in the very beginning, especially myself, was presenting in front of people, being able to talk to others and being more open and willing to connect with people,” Van Tassel said.

​Not knowing what to expect initially from the Accelerator program, the team has enjoyed the amount of resources and connections they have made so far.

“In just the first two weeks, the speakers and mentors we’ve been introduced to have already been incredibly helpful,” Pope said.  “One of the co-founders of Yerba Madre was an amazing person to talk to and get help and insight, and that’s just one of the many.” 

​Both coming from an agricultural business background, the team initially did not have experience in food formulation or cooking in general. Creating their recipe involved extensive trial and error, with roughly 15 different iterations of the recipe before landing on their final formulation, highlighting Greek yogurt as their hidden win.

“It was hard to create a formulation that actually tasted like the real thing, so once we found it, we stuck with it,” Van Tassel said.  

Growing Nibble in the Summer Accelerator, the founders have agreed that the program has helped them accomplish more work in less time. 

“We’ve accomplished more in the last three weeks than we have in the past two months,” Van Tassel said. “It’s been nothing but beneficial, and has really pushed us to our absolute limits to bring out the best results.”

​By Demo Day, Nibble hopes to launch California-wide shipping and secure local retail partnerships. Looking beyond the Accelerator, the pair plan to grow beyond cheesecake bites by reinventing more classic desserts with healthier ingredients. ​“I think the sky’s the limit in establishing Nibble really as Nibble Foods,” Pope said. 

“The biggest thing we’ve learned is that so many startups fail — they tell us that all the time,” Van Tassel said. “But for us, we don’t fail until we give up. As long as we keep showing up every day, learning, improving, and working toward our goals, we consider that success.”

Watch Nibble and our six other Accelerator startups pitch live at Demo Day here.

###

About the Cal Poly Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship:

The CIE opens a world of entrepreneurial opportunity to Cal Poly students, faculty and community members and promotes entrepreneurial activity and dialogue across the university and throughout San Luis Obispo County. For more information, visit cie.calpoly.edu.  

A decision to stop drinking while studying abroad in Italy inspired California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly) agricultural business senior John Piro to create Tango, a mocktail mixer designed to bridge the gap between social presence and physical well-being. 

​“I was desiring a drink that I could have in social gatherings that would match my energy without making me feel like garbage the next day,” Piro said. 

Tango is a low-sugar, sparkling mocktail and mixer, formulated with clean ingredients and electrolytes. 

Piro first developed the formula for the lime jalapeño margarita-flavored beverage while studying abroad, using ingredients from local Italian grocery stores for preliminary taste tests. “When I got back to the States that winter, I got advice from different flavor houses, sourced ingredients from suppliers and started putting real work into the formula,” he said. 

Around the same time, Piro was seeking a business partner. He decided to reach out to a highly entrepreneurial Cal Poly business administration senior, Nate Donovan, who also happened to be one of his best friends. 

Doubling as business partners and roommates, the Tango team said they have enjoyed the constant drive to continue growing their startup. “It’s awesome,” Piro said. “We always get to hang out, whether we’re in the office or at home, and the ideas are constantly flowing.” 

​The team decided to apply to the Cal Poly Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship’s (CIE) Summer Accelerator because of the available resources and financial support to help develop their business further. 

The Accelerator is a 10-week intensive program that provides Cal Poly students and recent graduates with resources to turn their innovative ideas into full-fledged startups. Participants receive $10,000 in seed funding, mentorship, an entrepreneurial workshop, and a dedicated workspace in the HotHouse, the CIE’s downtown San Luis Obispo office.

“You get the entire summer to focus without any other obligations,” Donovan said. “The environment of working with other people who are doing similar things is the best space to create a company in.”

Piro said he is “very new” to the entrepreneurial scene at Cal Poly and has appreciated all the guidance available to help start a business through the CIE.

“To be honest, I’m 21 years old. I don’t know a lot about what goes into starting a business, so having these resources as a foundation is a blessing,” Piro said. “The CIE offers everything you would need.”

Donovan described the Accelerator as fast-paced but rewarding, saying guest speakers with expertise across industries have helped the team identify potential problems before encountering them on their own.

Currently navigating user feedback, the Tango team has focused on identifying its target audience. “Not everyone is going to love the product or the branding, but it’s all about finding the segment of people who do love it, focusing on them, and scaling it beyond them,” Donovan said.

Developing their product with long-term goals in mind, Piro describes Tango as a “safe haven,” eager to help others facing similar challenges in their relationship with alcohol or social environments where drinking can feel expected.

“The more our company grows, the more people we can help who are struggling with the problem that we are tackling,” Donovan said.

​As the Tango team continues building its business, Piro and Donovan agree that the Accelerator has provided guidance while giving them room for trial and error. By Demo Day, they aim to have their actual product in customers’ hands.

​“A truth of business and life is to just take it one day at a time,” Piro said. “It’s important to plan, but if you’re not focused on what you can do today, you won’t be able to get to tomorrow.”

Watch Tango and our six other Accelerator startups pitch live at Demo Day here.

###

About the Cal Poly Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship:

The CIE opens a world of entrepreneurial opportunity to Cal Poly students, faculty and community members and promotes entrepreneurial activity and dialogue across the university and throughout San Luis Obispo County. For more information, visit cie.calpoly.edu.  

Every year, millions of electronic devices are discarded, many of which still have value. GreenSight Technologies, a startup founded by three California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly) graduates, is working to ensure fewer of those devices go to waste.

Founded by CEO Jake Daniels (General Engineering, ’24), CTO Diego Curiel (M.S. Electrical Engineering, ’26) and CPO Mackenzie Kettwig (Computer Engineering, ’24), GreenSight is building tools that help recyclers identify and evaluate used electronics, ensuring devices that still have value don’t end up in the waste stream. 

“At GreenSight, we’re helping facilities sort and value used electronics faster and more accurately,” Daniels said. “We want to make sure that every device that deserves a second life actually gets it.”

The idea began at Cal Poly in an entrepreneurial senior project class, where the team set out to find the biggest problem they could solve and landed on electronic waste. The concept took shape when Curiel brought a collection of development boards to class, sparking a conversation about what happens to electronics once they are no longer in use. The team soon realized the scale of inefficiencies within the electronic waste industry and began exploring solutions. 

GreenSight’s product allows technicians to take a photo of a device and instantly receive identifying and appraisal information, helping facilities determine whether an item should be resold, recycled or redirected through other channels. By streamlining this process, GreenSight reduces unnecessary waste while improving operational efficiency for its customers.

What sets GreenSight apart, Kettwig says, is a commitment to building with the customer at the forefront. “We’ve done hundreds of customer interviews and talked to many people in the industry,” they said. “We prioritize going to conferences and really connecting with who it is that we’re working with.” That customer-first approach also shapes how GreenSight presents its data with an emphasis on transparency so facilities can trust and rely on what they’re seeing.

The company’s transition from project to startup was heavily shaped by the Cal Poly Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE). GreenSight first participated in Innovation Quest (iQ) 2024, a high-stakes competition where Cal Poly students pitch their innovative business ideas to a panel of judges in the hopes of winning funding for their startups. 

This was the first time the team presented their idea outside of the classroom, and they didn’t place. “I think that was really good for us,” Curiel said. “It forced each of us to decide whether we really believed in what we were building. We did, which is why we kept going.” 

From there, they joined the CIE Summer Accelerator, an intensive program that provides Cal Poly students and recent graduates with the resources necessary to turn their innovative ideas into full-fledged startups. Participants receive $10,000 in seed funding, as well as access to expert mentorship, entrepreneurial workshops and a dedicated workspace in the HotHouse, the CIE’s hub located in downtown San Luis Obispo. 

The experience helped the team establish internal processes, refine their product and begin thinking more strategically about growth. After completing the Accelerator, GreenSight returned to iQ for a second time, earning the second-place Rich and Jackie Boberg Innovation Award of $10,000.

The decision to join the CIE Incubator after the Accelerator was deliberate and intentional. “It was really clear that we had a business on our hands, but the three of us knew that we couldn’t build it alone,” Curiel said. “We knew that the Incubator was going to offer the support and the resources that we needed to really take this to the next level — and it has totally come through on that promise.”

The Incubator is a two-year program that provides early-stage startups with workspace, mentorship and a collaborative environment designed to support growth. For GreenSight, that environment has been critical, not only in developing their product, but in learning how to operate as a company.

“We’ve been working out of the HotHouse for about two years through this program,” Daniels said. “Being surrounded by other founders who are going through similar challenges has been really powerful.”

For Kettwig, the Incubator has served as a home base where the team has launched and iterated on multiple products, weathered setbacks and relied on their support network to keep moving forward.

That persistence has translated into real traction. GreenSight now has a working product in use at multiple facilities and has expanded its team. Next, the founders are relocating to San Francisco, where they plan to tap into a larger pool of investors and opportunities. “The Incubator has done such a great job at preparing us for the next steps, and we’re looking for more investors and a bigger pool of opportunity to continue taking the company in the right direction,” Kettwig said. 

After several years of research and development, GreenSight’s focus is shifting. “We now have a handful of customers all around the world, and we’re trying to expand our reach,” Curiel said. “The problem that we’re solving is global and it deserves a global solution.”

The inspiration behind AwareNet traces back to observations made by Sam Veazey in the mid-1980s, when he envisioned a tool that could help communities respond to emergencies by connecting neighbors in moments of crisis faster than traditional dispatch systems allowed. At the time, the technology to build it simply didn’t exist yet.

Decades later, his son and now co-founder Jake Veazey (Computer Science, ’19) picked up where that vision left off and acts as the company’s CEO. His father serves as the other co-founder and CFO, bringing an extensive multidisciplinary background to the venture, holding an MBA in finance, a master’s degree in biomedical engineering and bachelor’s degrees in biology and mathematics. 

After Jake Veazey earned a computer science degree at California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly) and spent seven years at Amazon building cybersecurity tools for AWS, he had both the technical foundation and the industry experience to finally bring his father’s idea to life. When the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted just how disconnected communities had become, the urgency became impossible to ignore. In March 2025, Jake Veazey officially began building AwareNet and transitioned into the venture full-time through the Cal Poly Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE) Incubator program.

The CIE Incubator is a two-year program that includes everything needed for early-stage companies to develop into financially stable, high-growth enterprises by providing the tools, training and infrastructure that help facilitate smarter, faster growth.

AwareNet is building real-time safety networks for individual neighborhoods, designed to fill the critical gap between when an emergency happens and when professional help arrives. That window, on average, is seven to 14 minutes. With more than 240 million 911 calls placed every year, that gap represents an enormous opportunity to save lives. AwareNet contacts a user’s connected community, 911 and friends and family simultaneously, mobilizing help within seconds rather than minutes.

What sets AwareNet apart from existing solutions is its focus on privacy and accessibility. Unlike platforms that broadcast emergencies publicly or charge monthly fees, AwareNet keeps information secure, sharing it only when and where it is needed — and it is completely free to use. “Solutions like Pulse Point and Life 360 are great, but they are either too niche or too broad,” Jake Veazey said. “We work before the call even gets to dispatch, and we keep your information as private as possible.”

Transitioning from a structured corporate environment to the uncertainty of a startup was smoother than Jake Veazey expected. His time at Amazon, where his team operated with a startup mentality despite having significantly more resources, prepared him well for the technical side of building AwareNet. The business side, however, was a different story.

“Learning the business side as a non-business major — marketing, go-to-market strategy, how to handle customers, how to sell — I don’t think I could have done it without the Incubator,” he said. “Anyone can build a project, but you need help to build a company. Being part of the Incubator forces you to think bigger, act faster and constantly iterate with a feedback loop from mentors and advisors who have been there before. It really teaches you not just what you’re building, but why.”

Two advisors in particular have made a significant impact. Their lead mentor, Mitch Emerson, has been a steady guide through the complexities of running a startup, while public relations advisor Becky Mosgofian has helped the team sharpen how they communicate AwareNet’s mission to the world. “The mentors and advisors here have all been a major part of learning what it takes to run a business,” Jake Veazey said.

Since joining the Incubator, AwareNet has grown from a concept into a functioning product with a beta launch on the horizon. The team is preparing to roll out on the Central Coast, working directly with neighborhoods and homeowners associations to deploy the platform in real communities. “The Incubator is probably one of the fastest ways anyone can go from an idea to an actual product,” Jake Veazey said of the program. “You can’t find any other program that gives you such a solid foundation over two years.”

Their goal is simple: make AwareNet the trusted safety layer for neighborhoods across the country by providing a free, accessible tool that helps communities respond before the first responders arrive.

“We want the name AwareNet to be synonymous with emergency response in your community,” Jake Veazey said. “A tool that is not only free to use, but accessible, giving people who didn’t necessarily have the ability to get help the means to get it.”

It’s been ten months since the 2025 Cal Poly Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE) Summer Accelerator wrapped up. Throughout the 12-week program, Cal Poly students and recent graduates dedicated their summer to turning early-stage ideas into tangible ventures building out their business models and learning what it really takes to launch a company.

The program concluded with Demo Day, where each team took the stage to pitch their startup and share the progress they had made over the summer.

Now, months later, the 2025 cohort has taken the momentum they built and channeled it into exciting new directions, whether that means continuing to grow their startups, pivoting to something new or carrying the lessons of the Accelerator into what comes next.

Here’s a look at where each team is now:

---

One Fountain Health

One Fountain Health set out to help people maintain their independence through smarter medication management. Their automated pill dispensing system was designed to eliminate the most cumbersome aspects of managing medication. 

Co-founders Eli Lazar (Business Administration, ’25) and electrical engineering master’s student Victoria Asencio-Clemens (Computer Engineering, ’25) brought complementary skills to the team and transformed their idea from a class project into something much bigger.

“The Accelerator completely changed our approach,” Asencio-Clemens said. “Our idea went from a class project to a company and we had to figure out what that meant for us. Instead of thinking about what we felt the best solution would be, we had to find a concrete product-market fit that allowed us to stay on mission while creating something that would financially succeed.”

For Lazar, the Accelerator’s most lasting impact was personal as much as professional. “The Summer Accelerator empowered me to be the CEO of my own life,” he said. “After the summer, I knew what I wanted to work towards and how to get there.” Learning to trust his own instincts became one of his biggest takeaways. 

Though One Fountain Health is no longer active as a startup, both founders carry its lessons forward in meaningful ways.

Lazar has channeled his experience into a new pursuit entirely, taking a job as an elementary school music teacher while simultaneously earning his teaching credential. He sees a direct line between what he learned in the Accelerator and his ability to step confidently into that role. “We were trained to make decisions that we felt confident in and see if they worked out later,” he said. “I couldn’t have expressed my autonomy in that way without the Accelerator.”

Asencio-Clemens returned to Cal Poly to pursue a master’s degree in Electrical Engineering, focusing on medical and rehabilitation devices. She credits the Accelerator with reshaping how she approaches problems across the board. “We did all different kinds of research — patent searches, focus groups, interviews,” she said. “It changed the way I look at problems in all aspects of my life.”

She also leaves the experience with a clearer sense of where she’s headed with more confidence in her ability to be part of future teams, as a founder or an employee, because of the insider perspective she gained throughout her startup journey. 

As for what the Accelerator ultimately taught them about success, Lazar put it plainly: “People may measure this program by how many startups survive, but that’s not the only metric that matters. Our hypothesis may have been wrong. Our idea may have been wrong. Our willingness to learn and grow from that was right.”

Vandra

When Alex Malone (Agricultural Business, ’26) and business administration senior Wian Roothman entered the Accelerator, Vandra was a probiotic-rich frozen dessert made with dairy-based kefir. The idea was born from Malone’s personal experience growing up relying on kefir to support a compromised immune system. The mission was to make gut health accessible and enjoyable, replacing supplements with something people actually wanted to eat.

The Accelerator taught the team how to pivot. As the program pushed them to dig deeper into their business model, finances and long-term vision, Malone and Roothman began to realize that ice cream wasn’t the direction they wanted to go. The logistical challenges of a frozen product with a short shelf life only reinforced their decline in passion for the idea. 

Shortly after, they pivoted to a new product: energy lollipops for concerts and festivals. “With the lollipops, we could work on it day and night and never tire,” Malone said.

The pivot proved to be the right call. Still operating under the Vandra name, the team has built an entirely new brand around caffeinated functional lollipops and is now months away from their official launch. You can find them at thevandra.com and on Instagram at @vandralollipops.

Looking back, Malone credits the Accelerator with giving them the foundation to move fast and build smart. “I learned how to start a company in 12 weeks,” she said. “Never forget a name and talk to everyone. Those are lessons I carry everywhere.”

With their launch approaching in June and Roothman set to graduate, the team is focused on building Vandra into something profitable enough to support them both full time. 

Devscribe

For developers, one of the biggest headaches isn’t writing code, but keeping Application Programming Interface (API) documentation up to date. Co-founders Gianni Hart (Business Administration, ’25) and Samuel Solano (Computer Engineering, ’25) created an AI-powered platform that automates API documentation, generating clear, brand-tailored docs that update automatically as code evolves, saving developers time and keeping teams on the same page.

Since the Accelerator, Devscribe has been heads down building their product. The team spent three focused months perfecting their product before turning their attention to sales and growth. “We decided we wanted a great working product because our switch cost for customers might be high,” Hart said. That patience paid off, as Devscribe finished their product in March and within two weeks of outbound sales, had landed three paying customers, bringing in roughly $1,000 in monthly recurring revenue.

The team is also now part of Founder University, a 12-week accelerator hosted by Jason Calacanis and Launch Co., where they continue to sharpen their approach to growth. Despite working fully remotely across time zones, the team has found their rhythm through a daily 30-minute check-in to keep them aligned and moving forward together.

The Accelerator, Hart says, instilled a willingness to throw out what isn’t working and start fresh without hesitation. “During the Accelerator, Sam and I had multiple weeks in a row where we completely started our pitch over trying to find the right way to convey our vision,” he said. “Today we use that same approach to product and sales. If something isn’t clicking, no worries, try a new path.”

The lesson that has stayed with them most is to remain “simple, simple, simple,” Hart said. “To this day, I still catch myself trying to over-explain in a technical manner and have to slow down.”

Ecoplasticity

Ecoplasticity is on a mission to tackle two environmental problems at once: sargassum, an invasive seaweed that blankets coastlines from Florida all the way to the Caribbean, and the plastic lining on takeout containers that ends up in landfills. Mayela Fernandez (MBA, ’25) and polymers and coatings master’s student Michelle Cullen are developing a biodegradable coating that replaces that plastic lining, making paper food packaging fully compostable and anaerobically digestible.

Since the Accelerator, Ecoplasticity has been moving fast. The team found a lab in San Diego, expanded their advisory board with experts from the packaging and coatings industry, and are preparing for their first commercial pilot. They were also selected as finalists for AngelCon 2026, where they took home the Audience Choice Award, and have been active in competitions and events, including LA Climate Week, VenTech, and Pepperdine’s Most Fundable Companies. Fernandez also received the Young Leaders Award from Walking Softer, recognizing her work as a climate founder.

One of the biggest shifts since the Accelerator has been product refinement, driven directly by customer discovery. “With further talks with potential customers, we discovered that there is a market for an oil-only barrier coating, giving us a faster path to market,” Cullen said. The team has since narrowed their focus to fine-tuning that formulation, with plans to begin pilot trials within the next few months while keeping the full oil and water barrier coating in their long-term roadmap.

“The Accelerator prepared us by refining our value proposition, knowing the pain points of our customers through customer discovery and understanding the market,” Fernandez said. A key validation moment came when the team confirmed that their invasive seaweed material could be used specifically for paper packaging solutions.

Both founders are now balancing Ecoplasticity with their academic pursuits. Cullen is completing her master’s degree in Polymers and Coatings at Cal Poly with plans to graduate this June, while also in the midst of a nine-month internship as part of her degree requirements. Fernandez, now based in San Luis Obispo but planning a move this summer, is working on Ecoplasticity full time and is part of both the Cal Poly CIE Incubator and the LA Blue Accelerator. Both programs have proven to be incredibly helpful as the company grows more complex in navigating the bigger challenges of building a business, from product roadmap decisions to financial modeling. 

Elora

Drink spiking is a threat that millions of women navigate every time they go out. Elora is building a solution that doesn’t ask them to compromise style or safety. Co-founders Addison Bounds (Business Administration, ’25) and biomedical engineering master’s student Kiara Robichaud are embedding drug detection sensors into aesthetic jewelry, giving users a discreet way to test their drinks and receive an instant alert on their phone if date-rape drugs are detected.

Since the Accelerator, Elora has hit several milestones. The team has raised $85,000 toward their pre-seed round, incorporated as a C-corp, filed toward a provisional patent and are deep into polymer development for their electrode coatings. They also took first place at the Embark Collective pitch competition in Tampa, Florida, and were selected as one of 1,500 teams — out of 18,000 applicants from over 130 countries — to advance to the second round of the 2026 Hult Prize.

For Bounds and Robichaud, the motivation to keep pushing came into sharp focus right after Demo Day, when two young women reached out on Instagram to share their drink spiking stories. “Having these women reach out and share not only their stories, but their gratitude for what we are creating, sets us on fire to keep going as fast as we can,” they said. “It was a reminder of why we are taking risks and making sacrifices to solve this problem.”

The Accelerator gave them the foundation to move with both confidence and intention. Steady goal-setting, leaning on key mentors and learning to trust their instincts all became core to how they operate. Their pitch deck being refined over countless hours during the Accelerator has become one of their most valuable assets. “I am so grateful for the time that went into our deck,” Bounds said. “We use it so much, and it’s nice to feel so confident in it.”

Understanding their financials and how to build forward-looking projections for a scalable startup also proved critical as they began meeting with investors. The Accelerator gave them the foundation to walk into those conversations with confidence, such as knowing how to pitch, how to engage with investors, and how to make decisions under pressure.

The lesson that has stuck with them most is simple but powerful: focus on the next step in front of you, and trust your gut. “No one knows your company like you do,” they said.

Both founders have been balancing Elora with demanding academic and athletic schedules. Bounds is completing her MBA at the University of South Florida and wrapping up her final season as a Division I beach volleyball player, set to graduate in July. Robichaud recently defended her thesis to earn her master’s degree in Biomedical Engineering and currently serves as the Graduate Assistant for the Cal Poly Beach Volleyball team. Their next plans are to go full time in August and complete validation testing of two Schedule IV drug-facilitated rape drugs.

NeuRelief

Insomnia affects millions of people, and most treatments haven’t evolved in decades. Biomedical engineering master’s student Rex Walker and Jeremy Laufer (Biomedical Engineering, MS ’25) developed a sleep mask that gently stimulates the vagus nerve through personalized earpieces, while tracking biometrics to optimize treatment for each user.

After the Accelerator, the team continued pushing early product development forward through the fall before Walker made the personal decision to step away from NeuRelief in December. It wasn’t easy, but working through that decision became its own kind of lesson. “You can’t always get what is 100% right for you on your first try,” Walker said. “If you trust yourself and stay focused on the same general direction, you will keep progressing, and the path might not look like anything you could have anticipated.” 

The Accelerator itself, Walker says, was the most valuable experience of his time at Cal Poly. “It pushed me harder than any coursework ever did, and I genuinely enjoyed it every day,” he said. The program sharpened his ability to identify problems worth solving, navigate FDA and market considerations for medical devices, leverage his network and prioritize progress when everything is pulling in different directions at once.

Today, Walker is finishing his master’s degree in Biomedical Engineering and channeling his experience into a new area of focus: data gaps in women’s health. He has been exploring solutions around perimenopause care and postpartum reproductive health monitoring, working alongside industry professionals and researchers in the femtech space to identify where data-driven tools are needed most.