Luke Gilligan
A company founded by Grove City College student entrepreneurs is a finalist in a nationwide pitch competition with a $20,000 prize package.
In a bid to win some of that cash to advance the company’s business plan, junior Luke Gilligan will make the case for Resense in person this weekend in Chicago at the Collegiate Entrepreneurs Organization’s 39th Annual Global Pitch Competition.
Gilligan, an Entrepreneurship major from Fishers, Ind., is CEO of Resense LLC, which was founded in a Grove City College entrepreneurship class and fostered by the Center for Entrepreneurship + Innovation’s Venture Lab program. Resense created and markets the Memory Box, an activity toolkit designed to increase brain health, exercise the senses, and elicit long term memories for those with Alzheimer’s and dementia.
In the last year, the company has placed Memory Boxes in four care facilities and is working on a strategic partnership with one care network to distribute the toolkits nationally and internationally, Gilligan said.
“So far, we have bootstrapped this company. However, for this deal to be successful, we would benefit greatly from funds from this competition to help purchase inventory, hire interns, and increase product development to implement this deal,” he said.
Resense is one of 20 ventures that made the Collegiate Entrepreneurs Organization (CEO) competition’s semi-finals out of more than 500 entries from student entrepreneurs. Competitors completed an online startup pitch deck that lays out the problem their product or service addresses and how it offers a solution, details a business model and revenue projections, explains how it would use Global Pitch Competition funding to advance the business, and presents a 90-second video pitch.
Judges reviewed the pitch decks and evaluated each venture based on a variety of criteria with a focus on the growth potential of the company. In Chicago, finalists will deliver a five-minute pitch and stand for a Q&A session on the main stage of CEO’s Global Conference.
Resense, a 2022 VentureLab company, has achieved a solid record in pitch competitions on campus and around the country, according to Yvonne J. English, executive director of The Center for Entrepreneurship + Innovation and professor of entrepreneurship.
The company has been a national finalist in the Washington University of St. Louis’ Olin Business School’s BIG IdeaBounce contest, won 5th place and $10K at e-Fest (Schulze School of Entrepreneurship and EIX.org) at the University of St. Thomas, and placed Top 42 of the TCU Values and Ventures Competition. Resense earned second place and fan favorite in the 2021 Wolverine Venture Battle at Grove City College.
“We have seen the mission of Resense resonate with people from all walks of life. Luke and his team have clearly identified a problem in the market, and Resense’s success on the competition circuit is validation that their solution to the problem has merit,” English said. “We are incredibly proud of the team’s early wins and have been excited by the moving testimonials from caregivers who have successfully used the Resense Memory Box with loved ones.”
Watch Gilligan’s Resense pitch here: resense.ceo.pitchpages.io. For more about Resense, visit resensebox.com.
For more about the Center for E+I, visit gccentrepreneurship.com.