Shark Tank style student startups

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — It’s sink or swim for 27 students at Golisano Institute for Business & Entrepreneurship.

“I was really nervous, but I think I am ready,” CEO of PawPro Grady Bastianello said.

Twenty-five business startups competed in front of a panel of local business representatives, “Shark Tank” style.

“My business is Study Stylez,” CEO of StudyStylez Kendall Jones said. “It’s an online test that analyzes results to supply them with a report about how they should best study.” 

“It’s called Paw Pro,” Bastianello said. “We sell collars with cameras on them.”

“I’m creating a mirror that will help people at home online shop by visually trying on their clothes to get the size and color,” CEO of Reflect Alexah Loeser said.

Rochester-area middle and high school students between the ages of 11 and 18 enrolled in the Young Entrepreneurs Academy program (YEA) and took to the stage in hopes of wowing the crowd. Only three students will advance to the national competition to compete for a college scholarship.

“We’re very excited to see the potential of these young students and really equip them with the entrepreneurial mindset and demonstrate for them that with a good plan, a well thought out plan, and determination and energy, anything is possible,” founder of Young Entrepreneur Academy Gayle Jagel said.

Several students have found themselves always passionate about the world of business.

“I’ve always really admired entrepreneurs in general and people who worked in business,” Jones said. “I think that they are really inspirational in many ways, creating a business from the ground up and becoming multimillionaires. It’s just the best path for me and it just felt right.”

While others have gained a calling throughout time. 

“This is my first time,” Loeser said. “I think perseverance is the hardest thing but if you can find that you can do anything.” 

Some students were able to work alongside mentors and professionals to help their ideas come to life. 

“It was super exciting for me and I just gotta see it recently and just to see it in person, not on paper, is fantastic,” Loeser said.

“It was stressful for me, but it’s OK because it’s here and it actually is doing exactly what we needed to do,” CEO at Brilliant Repairs Briannah Williams said. “I couldn’t wait to tackle it. I couldn’t wait to be a part of it.”

And, in the process, students develop not only businesses but self-confidence as they learn they can accomplish anything they set their mind to.

“Whether they are in high school wanting to start a new club or get to their own college campus and they want to start a business there, we teach them that process, that magic formula, and it’s transformational,” Jagel said.