Yesterday, I had the privilege to serve as a judge for the 5th Imagine U Demo Day. For the past 80 days, 5 teams have had access to extraordinary mentors from industry professionals, a program that pays a stipend and is fostered to college students. Generally, Imagine U curates teams with educational partners from all over Shelby County, this year there was representation from The University of Memphis, Memphis College of Art, Southwest Tennessee community College, Lemoyne Owen College, Xavier University, University of Tennessee at Martin, Agnes Scott College, Agnes Scott College and non-profit partner LITE Memphis.
All five teams, truly unique in their ideas, pitched with all teams being represented by their female founders. I am unsure if it was by design or the sheer grit of the female founders but it was an authentic display of the inclusion the program stands for in uniting these students together over summer break. I was highly impressed with the caliber of content and structure these businesses had developed just over the summer. It was a testament to the leadership of Mike Hoffmeyer and Bryan Barringer, entrepreneurs from the Memphis Start Up Ecosystem that lead these students in their journeys. Hoffmeyer and Barringer have truly achieved "start up self-actualization" transitioning from starting up their own businesses to academia, being the catalyst that ignites others to start up and pouring into them their knowledge.
After watching 5 dynamic pitches, with judges Hillard Crews, Doug Marchant, Ben Bryant and myself we concluded that PetsFurU and founder Emily Wolfe of the University of Memphis delivered the best product and pitch. PetsFurU solves the problem of pet retention, ownership education and lack of a universal adoption platform by creating a website/app that streamlines the operations of animal shelters and rescues while simultaneously connecting adopters to the perfect pet that correlates with their personality and lifestyle. Statistics tell state that 6.5 million companion animals enter shelters every year, 3.5 million are adopted but of those 350,000 are returned to shelters at some point and another 1.5 million are euthanized. PetsFurU alleviates these problems by working with organizations to build a strong community, revolutionize their day-to-day processes and provide an easy to use platform for adopters that will streamline pet adoption from top to bottom. I remember being a new cat owner, newly pregnant and then being told by my physician that kitty litter may harm my growing child. As a new mom I was terrified and had not formed and emotional attachment to the cat so "Taffy" had to go. It took weeks to find someone to take her and if I had PetsFurU it would have been such an easier transition.
As the winner the PetsFurU team won $2,500 and the opportunity to pitch on the big stage at Memphis Demo Day hosted by StartCo on August 15, 2019 in Memphis, TN! The main stage will be at the Halloran Centre located at 225 S Main St, Memphis, TN 38103.
To RSVP or more information, please reach out to info@neverstop.co.
For more information:
PetsFurU
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