Scenes from an afternoon at The Collider Cup

Written By Anastasia Ashman

The semester is over! Time for an all-star pitch competition at the Sutardja Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology, run by Melissa Glass.

Along with cojudges Stephen Torres from UCB, Luke Kowalski of Oracle, and Peter Nachbaur from Keen IO, I was honored to judge the afternoon Fall Showcase at UC Berkeley. 

We heard and gave feedback on all-star business pitches from teams from various classes with distinct approaches:

Technology Entrepreneurship, and the Management of Technology Innovation Program with Naeem Zafar, 

Product Management with Ken Sandy,

and finally, some familiar-to-me teams (hi, Acuity & CoffeeX!) from the Berkeley Method of Entrepreneurship Bootcamp with Gigi Wang.

Some highlights:

  • A venture using CRISPR technology to solve an unsustainable aquaculture practice -- feeding farmed salmon with fish oil that is too high in unhealthy Omega acids.
  • A peer-to-peer investing tool to tap into the most successful fund managers who happen to be regular joes. 
Anastasia Ashman

Anastasia Ashman has built a portfolio career across publishing, entertainment, technology, entrepreneurship and civic life in four countries. She now writes, researches, works on neighborhood readiness, and is developing the narrative nonfiction project Family of Mine.

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Judging the all-star Collider Cup at UC Berkeley