Brandywine and Berks LaunchBoxes collaborate for Idea TestLab Pitch Competition

Penn State Brandywine’s and Penn State Berks’ LaunchBoxes, powered by Penn State, collaborated with Penn State Great Valley to hold the Fall 2023 Idea TestLab Pitch Competition on Wednesday, Nov. 8. Nine startup entrepreneurs participated in the competition, which was held at Great Valley and included two students from Brandywine as well as seven teams of the campus’ respective communities.

The Idea TestLab is a five-week business accelerator program for early-stage entrepreneurs who want to explore their scalable idea or address a customer problem for a potential business. The Idea TestLab is a “customer discovery” investigation designed to help entrepreneurs better understand the customer problem they are trying to solve and how to provide value in a different way.

Participants must be in an early stage, which means they have already conceived an idea and are ready to seek proof of concept and engagement in a customer discovery process.

The winner of the Fall 2023 Idea TestLab Pitch Competition, Mike Aman, won for his startup focusing on easing the lives of aging parents. Second place winner, Stacey Murrell, a Lansdowne resident, won second place for her company Master the Pieces, a mental health coaching startup. Third place was awarded to Kubarius Kerner and Vera Hempel for their startup Kiss UX, a digital experience company focused on web design.