SAN LUIS OBISPO — The Cal Poly Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE) hosted Builder Bootcamp, a three-day intensive program designed to help student innovators transform early ideas into real-world prototypes. The event took place Feb. 6–8 at the HotHouse in downtown San Luis Obispo and brought together 20 student teams from across disciplines.

Builder Bootcamp provides Cal Poly students with hands-on support as they develop both physical and digital prototypes stemming from senior projects, research, classes or student clubs. Open to individuals and teams, the program offers an immersive environment where participants receive mentorship, early-stage coaching and funding to accelerate their ideas.

The weekend-long program also serves as a stepping stone for students interested in applying to CIE programs such as Innovation Quest or the Summer Accelerator, giving participants early exposure to entrepreneurial frameworks and expectations.

“Builder Bootcamp was a big success! At the CIE, we value being interdisciplinary, and we had way more demand than we expected. We narrowed it down to the top 20 teams with more than 50 students from 15 majors participating, working on projects from a healthy cheesecake to a battery backup system,” said Sophie Hosbein, manager of student innovation programs. “Students benefited from having uninterrupted, dedicated time to make progress on their prototypes over the weekend.”

Participants received up to $150 in prototype funding, access to experienced mentors and founders and coaching focused on preparing teams for future pitch competitions and accelerator programs. 

The program kicked off Friday evening with dinner followed by a keynote address from Brian Riley (Finance & Entrepreneurship, ‘10), a Cal Poly alumnus and founder of Guardian Bikes. Teams then introduced their ideas and began initial collaboration. 

Saturday focused on building and iteration with meals and dedicated work time and mentor coaching sessions throughout the day. The mentors included: 

• Benjamin Arts (M.B.A., ‘26), founder of Mr. Turtle
• Kim Bisheff, journalism and media innovation professor
• Bill Burns (Materials Engineering, ‘24), founder of ENTEIN
• Troy Campbell, chief scientist at On Your Feet and marketing professor
• Jenna Eissman (M.S. Engineering Management, ’25), founder and CEO of Everest Medical
• Daylin Enriquez (Art & Design, ‘27), art and design student
• Ashish Hingle, information systems professor
• Thomas Katona, academic director of the CIE
• Srishti Kush, lead product designer at Cisco
• Avery Taylor (M.S. Computer Engineering, ‘26), co-founder of SafePlate Technologies

On Sunday, teams prepared demos, participated in executive panels, engaged in a networking mixer and shared their progress. The executive panel included: 

• Nathan Bair, co-founder of InPress Technologies
• Rob Barrow, chief operating officer at PurPose Care
• Louis Camassa, director of product at Rithum
• Michael Delay, CTO of Mantis Composites
• Peter Falzon, executive director of the CIE
• Brian Riley, founder and CEO of Guardian Bikes
• Anan Seth, assistant professor of entrepreneurship
• David Zilar, co-founder and COO of Mantis Composites

“Builder Bootcamp was an incredibly impactful experience. It connected me directly with experienced founders, CIE leadership and mentors who have successfully built and scaled their own ventures. Many of them were once Cal Poly students in the same position I am now, which made their guidance especially meaningful,” said industrial technology and packaging junior Justin Schroeter of San Luis Obispo, California. “The weekend created an environment of high-level thinking, honest feedback and real entrepreneurial energy that pushed our team to elevate how we think about our business.” 

The teams that participated in Builder Bootcamp included 52 students across 15 majors:

• Campus Cuts, an on-campus scheduling and demand platform that helps student barbers get more bookings while giving college students access to convenient and quality haircuts, created by Justin Schroeter and economics junior Liam McKeown of San Jose, California.
• Catalyst Lollipops are sleek, portable wellness lollipops powered by clean functional ingredients to deliver smooth, enjoyable energy and clear focus without the crash, created by agricultural business senior Alex Malone of Los Gatos, California, and business administration junior Wian Roothman of Johannesburg, South Africa. 
• Echo, a hearing-wellness platform that helps people with mild to moderate hearing loss understand, track and improve their hearing in real-world environments before they need hearing aids, created by computer science student Trey Martin of Bridgeport, West Virginia; business administration senior JD Teran of Pasadena, California; and mechanical engineering senior Alex Yannelli of Salt Lake City, Utah.
• Ferrell Foods upcycles excess foods into healing bone broths that nourish people who live with digestive, autoimmune and thyroid conditions, created by agricultural business sophomore Leightyn Ferrell of Minnetonka, Minnesota.
• FLARE, a bio-based sunscreen that is completely reef-safe while providing premium application, look and feel, created by business administration senior Luke Soulie of Encinitas, California; biochemistry senior Eva Voss of San Luis Obispo, California; and business administration senior Cate Freundt of San Diego.
• Flow Sense, a startup offering support and guidance for endurance athletes fueling mid-race through human factors engineering solutions, created by biomedical engineering senior Trevor Wilkinson of Ventura, California; business administration senior Dominic Maxfield; and biomedical engineering senior Arthur Klujian of Los Angeles.
• Gameloop, connects indie game developers with playtesters through a revenue-sharing platform to crowdsource quality assurance, created by mechanical engineering freshman Remy DaGiau of Louisville, Colorado, and computer science sophomore Lucas Hom of Lafayette, California.
• Hopscotch, is democratizing education by using AI technology to support teachers, allowing students to learn in an individualized style that prioritizes their dynamic understanding, not static data points, created by business administration senior Matthew Affinito of San Francisco; business administration senior Lily Bryan of San Diego; and industrial engineering senior Alan Sebastian of San Francisco.
• Learning Curb CAP, a centralized accommodation management system for high school students and teachers, created by biomedical engineering freshman Avari Brocker of Troutdale, Oregon.
• MockMentor, is like having a senior Google engineer available 24/7 to practice coding interviews with you, except it’s an AI that talks to you naturally and adapts to your skill level in real time, created by computer science sophomore Jay Rajesh of San Francisco.
• Motor Arm Pump, a real-time and data-driven noninvasive device for forearm recovery for motorcycle riders of all types, created by biomedical engineering student Amanda Le of Oakland, California.
• NeuroNetworks, a short, guided VR task that places users in a familiar environment, walks them through a simple everyday activity and records behavioral signals to surface early cognitive patterns, created by liberal arts senior Kaitlyn Le of Yorba Linda, California; industrial engineering junior Aaron Caparaz of Aliso Viejo, California; general engineering senior Gabe De Guzman of Brentwood, California; computer engineering student Jose Ornelas; general engineering senior Manuel Hernandez; and electrical engineering student Ryan Iglesias of Daly City, California.
• Nibble, bite-sized frozen cheesecake made with clean ingredients to take the guilt out of desserts and snacks, created by agricultural business seniors Josh Van Tassel of Los Altos, California, and Alex Pope of Pleasant Hill, California. 
• Permi AI, a system that checks building permits against municipal code books for code compliance, created by computer engineering students Soe Lin and Wilson Yu of San Gabriel, California; software engineering senior Saed Mustafa of Gilroy, California; and business administration senior Alexios Sideris of San Francisco. 
• PureRise, a high-protein latte made with real, clean ingredients to help people, especially women, start their mornings properly fueled, created by agricultural business sophomore Brea Rossiter of San Marcos, California.
• SLOP, a low-cost, shelf-stable, nutritious rice and beans meal made with simple ingredients and minimal packaging, ready to eat in about 10 minutes with just hot water—designed for backpackers, created by industrial technology and packaging sophomores Owen Hacker and Ty Chapman from San Luis Obispo.
• STOEL, an ergonomic dining chair that seamlessly fits into your home, so when you’re working late without a traditional office setup, your posture, comfort and biomechanics don’t suffer, created by business administration senior Emily Bezinover of Los Angeles; business administration sophomore Cameron Whicker of Santa Barbara, California; and biomedical engineering seniors Sofia Buduchina of San Francisco and Jake Larson of Monterey, California.
• Volts, a battery pack using reclaimed lithium cells from e-waste to make backup energy more affordable, created by computer engineering senior Guru Yalakanti of Rocklin, California; industrial engineering senior Rowan Imlay-Morris of Sacramento, California; and computer engineering seniors Advika Deodhar of Pleasanton, California and Victor Petrov of Union City, California.