Written By Erik Halaas, BASE Accelerator Coordinator

In early August the Toaster played host to the Business Accelerator for Student Entrepreneurs (BASE). The 8-week summer program coordinated by the Technology Leadership Institute plays host to a select batch of new product, service, or business concepts developed within a UMN class, program, or student group. 

Different from your typical entrepreneurial challenge, the students (current and recent grads) don’t compete for top concept or a cash prize but rather work alongside each other and a team of coaches to confront their next market driven milestone… for some, this may mean getting their early concept in front of users or launching into fundraising effort. For others, it may mean a significant pivot or even calling it quits and that is okay.

BASE participants have a variety of hands-on workshops hearing from the University Libraries, experts from the entrepreneurial ecosystem both on and off campus, and a host of recent graduates who have moved their entrepreneurial concepts from idea to action outside of the University landscape. 

“What we really want to drive home through this program is that you should know well before launch that your idea is validated by doing the research and getting it in front of your target audience” says Erik Halaas, BASE Coordinator “and they did just that!”

ThoughtX, founded by Ashley Lauren (CSE ‘25) and Ilana Andrev (CSE ‘27), launched an early version of their app where you can “connect over content you care about.” The app helps you to find people that listen to the same podcasts, read the same books, and have the same hobbies as you. They are excited to keep building brand awareness, growing their user base, and improving their app!

Rora, a company launched via the Entrepreneurship in Action course out of Carlson, is aiming to become the go-to intimacy brand for the broader queer community, empowering folks by crafting intimate tools, supplements, and branding created with them and tailored for them. Not only have they been working with local couples to test their first product, the team was out in full force at Pride this summer connecting and learning from the community and increasing their contact list by 400%.

Evan Gill (CDES ‘24), came into the program with a few concepts in mind. “The program allowed me to get feedback on several ideas & narrow my thinking.” As a product design major with an active interest in 3D printing, he was going back and forth between developing product or leveraging his skills to offer 3D printing / prototyping as a service. “With feedback from my mentor and time to think, I was able

to narrow focus of my business.” Evan has decided to move forward with Habitat Homies, a company that builds customizable, eco-friendly habitats for happy, healthy pets. His early product concepts are being tested at a reptile supply store in Iowa. 

Lalit Divakarla (MS Robotics ‘25) and Nicole Vu (MS CSE ‘27) are developing “Vivarent,” a peer-to-peer platform set to make high-end items accessible to everyone. As active participants in MIN-Corps’ Value Proposition Design course, they interviewed a wide variety of stakeholders to inform their concept. 

These are just a few examples of the inspiring student creativity. Additional project concepts include a wayfinding and entertainment app for EV users (Shesha Sai Kumar Reddy Sadu, MS Data Science ‘25), a skincare product (Faisa Belel, CSOM ‘24), a fiberoptic intubation trainer (Rana Abdelshahed CBS ‘24), and a Japanese Beetle management product (Aditya Prabhu CSE ‘24 and James Duquette CSOM ‘24).

You can follow two of these projects, Alure LLC and Rora, as finalists in the student division of the MN Cup.

Have your own unique ideas for a product, service, or business? 

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