First-place winners Neuroclip
On the evening of March 11, nearly 100 people gathered in the University of Denver’s Community Commons to watch six teams pitch their new tech-based business ideas to a panel of seasoned entrepreneurs in a competition for cash prizes.
This experience wasn’t for established business professionals or even for graduate business students. It was for first- and second-year undergraduate students in the Daniels College of Business introduction to business course, “The Fourth Industrial Revolution.” Required for all business majors but also open to students from any area of study at the University, the Entrepreneurship@DU class helps students build skills in resilience, creativity, teamwork and quick critical thinking.
The quarterly 4impact Challenge event celebrates the culmination of 10 weeks of intense educations and teamwork. For the first three weeks of the class, E@DU professors teach students about Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) technologies—innovations like AI, 3D printing, autonomous vehicles, biometric devices, virtual reality and blockchain cryptocurrencies.
After learning the fundamentals of entrepreneurism and 4IR tech, students self-select into groups and work on developing their own 4IR-enabled product, business plan and sales pitch in just five weeks.
At the 4impact Challenge, friends, family, faculty, staff, alumni, community members and judges heard five-minute pitches from the top six teams, narrowed down from 25 in an open call with E@DU faculty the previous week.
The six semifinalist teams chose to address unique problems with opportunities for innovation: Barriers to accessing neuropsychological testing for young children; lifestyle disruptions from later-in-life vision loss; private-party auto sales fraud; executive dysfunction from decision fatigue; fishing failures; and poor prosthetic limb fit affecting amputees’ athletic performance.
After the presentations, judges Kristen Gendron, principal and COO at Wildwood Ventures; Jonathon Rapacki (MBA 2007), CFO at GWS Consulting; Zach Mangelsdorf (MBA 2012), CEO at Full Send Management; and Kristen Janssen (BA 2011, MBA 2011), head of customer success at Reeplayer, shared feedback with the competitors.
“My favorite thing about entrepreneurship is that it takes guts not only to do things like stand on this stage in front of a lot of people, but it also takes guts to see something in the world that other people haven’t imagined yet,” said Gendron. “It takes that vision, and then the tenacity to immediately start to execute against it, to learn and fail, and then go back to the visioning…I think the fact that you all did all of this in five weeks shows an incredible capability.”
The judges deliberated for 20 minutes, determining the first-, second- and third-place winners of the 2026 Winter Quarter 4impact Challenge. Entrepreneurship professor Joshua Ross was the faculty advisor for all three final teams this quarter.
MindBand won third place and $400 for their IoT and generative AI-enabled wearable decision-making aid bracelet and app.
Fishin’ Chip won second place and $1,200 for their smart water sensor and AI app that analyzes real-time data like barometric pressure, water health, fish activity and hyper location for anglers to make informed fishing decisions.
NeuroClip won first place based on the judging criteria of clearly articulating their problem; developing a clear and feasible solution; incorporating two or more 4IR technologies; clearly defining their target market; and delivering a quality pitch in under five minutes. Team members Kira Frey, Juliana Ramirez and Jake Whitaker won $2,000 and their names will be engraved on the 4impact trophy in “The Hub” on Daniels’ first floor.
Their pitch began with an emotional story from Ramirez, who shared that her neurodivergence diagnosis at age 13 finally explained why “it was taking me hours to complete assignments that took my peers 20 minutes,” and helped her understand she was not to blame. She and Frey then shared the scale of the problem—high costs, low insurance coverage and long wait times create barriers for parents to access neuropsychological testing for children exhibiting signs of behavioral, attention and learning disabilities.
With children’s brains rapidly developing through age 5, early diagnosis and intervention is key, they explained, to helping people with neurodivergences like autism spectrum disorder, dyslexia and Attention-deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder succeed in school, career and life.
With the help of the DU Innovation Lab and E@DU Create Studio, the students created a child-friendly wearable Bluetooth EEG headset prototype. When developed, the device would connect with an AI/machine-learning companion app to compare measured brain waves and parental observations against benchmark data sets from neurotypical and neurodivergent children for quick and accurate diagnoses. Parents could connect with specialists through the app to access support for their children.
Demonstrating a deep understanding of their target market of 25-35-year-old parents of children ages 2-8, the team pitched their app as costing “less than an average Disney+ subscription.”
The 4impact Challenge has occurred every fall, winter and spring quarter for the last 14 years, beginning at a time when many 4IR technologies were mere concepts. The competition, formerly known as the Madden Challenge, has awarded 443 students with $157,600 in prize money.
E@DU director, assistant professor of the practice and Koch Endowed Chair of Entrepreneurship John Sebesta said the goal of the class is for students to “explore how [4IR tech] is going to influence and shape business going forward” and to learn skills in resiliency, navigating uncertainty and creating value in uncertain environments.
The 4impact Challenge is designed to help students face fears of public speaking, and practice and refine their ability to effectively communicate business problems, solutions and outcomes for career readiness.