The Princeton Mercer Regional Chamber of Commerce’s annual competition, “Pitch Stop VI,” returns for the sixth iteration of its “Shark Tank”-style event where three local startups compete for a $10,000 prize package of professional services on Thursday, February 22, from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Grounds For Sculpture, 80 Sculptors Way, in Hamilton.
The startups, which have been selected by PMRC’s Innovation and Entrepreneurship Council, will present to a panel of investors including James Howard, the executive director of the Black Inventors Hall of Fame; Cora Park, the founder and president of Diamond Business Communications; and David Stengle, the CEO and founder of Board ++, as well as the chapter director of Startup Grind Princeton.
Cost: $55; $45 members. Register at princetonmercerchamber.org. Beer, wine, and refreshments are included. In addition to the networking opportunities available during the event, all attendees will receive a complimentary ticket to “Night Forms” at Grounds for Sculpture, the final iteration of Klip Collective’s nighttime “multisensory light and sound experience” showcasing projection mapping in motion, “on a separate night of their choosing.”
This year’s featured startups are ByeByeCry, the developer of a white noise sound machine for colicky babies; Embrace Tutoring and Educational Services, which provides tutoring and academic advising services; and Lambent Data, the creator of a shared software solution for health and social service providers and patients.
Samantha Myers, a self-described “mompreneur,” invented the ByeByeCry Sound Machine after both of her infant daughters suffered from colic. After a range of failed home remedies, Myers noticed that the sound of vacuuming had a calming effect on her first child, and when her second was diagnosed with the same condition, she realized “unconventional” noises like the vacuum and others — including hair dryers, lawn mowers, and even chainsaws or jackhammers — soothed the child when nothing else did.
The ByeByeCry product features 10 sounds, five of which are designed for young children who do not have the condition, and it functions as an all-in-one system featuring the sounds of the ocean, fans, rain, shushing, and classical music.
Embrace Tutoring and Educational Services is a national tutoring and academic coaching organization headquartered in Chatham. According to its website, Embrace connects students with subject-matter experts for “one-on-one, personalized instruction,” test preparation, and college planning.
The Princeton-based healthcare technology company Lambent Data invented “OurREACH,” a “collaborative software platform” that serves as a hub for families, healthcare and social service providers, administrators, and frontline staff to access data analytics and assess patient needs.
The application “empowers” patients by providing them with the knowledge and tools to, according to Lambent Data’s website, “improve outcomes” and “reduce healthcare costs” while increasing access to quality care.
Howard is an industrial designer, lecturer, design historian, and entrepreneur who oversees the Black Inventors Hall of Fame, a nonprofit “virtual museum dedicated to highlighting the achievements of African American inventors.” He also runs a private career school focused on design thinking, “Entrepreneurial U,” in Morris County. (For more on Howard, see U.S. 1’s “Introducing a Vision for Giving Black Inventors Their Due” from February 1, 2023).
Park oversees Diamond Business Communications in Hamilton, a telecommunications and managed IT network company that provides data backup services, cybersecurity, and support to businesses and nonprofit organizations in New Jersey.
With years of experience in establishing enterprise software startups, Stengle has, according to his biography, “worked in the startup ecosystem his entire career — as an operator, investor, community organizer, instructor, and advisor with multiple successful exits.”
He started Board++ with a mission to “diversify startup boards” and fill seats with qualified executives “by building an on-ramp for underrepresented groups in a collaborative, constructive way that brings business benefits to all participants.”
Startup Grind is an entrepreneurial connection platform offering “startups everywhere the education and opportunities they need to build, grow, and scale their companies.” The only director to receive Startup Grind’s Lifetime Achievement Award and Inclusivity Award, Stengle founded the Princeton chapter of Startup Grind, which has since become “one of the most active chapters worldwide.”
Stengle is also a lead mentor and instructor for the NSF I-Corps Hub Northeast Region, an entrepreneurial coalition of ten universities funded by the National Science Foundation to further research across the country, “where he helps deep tech researchers commercialize their efforts,” as his bio continues.
