An app designed to help schools manage cell phone use by students in the classroom won the top prize recently at SparkLab, Union’s annual business competition.
TapIn was designed by Theo Goldman ’26, an economics and environmental science major, and Theo Steiger ’26, a computer science and physics major.
Using near-field communication (NFC) technology similar to Apple Pay, students would tap their phone to an NFC tag when they enter the classroom. That will record the student’s attendance and restrict access to pre-selected apps by the teacher on the student’s phone.
An app designed by Theo Goldman ’26 and Theo Steiger ’26 won the top prize recently at SparkLab, Union’s annual business competition. The pair won $20,000 in startup capital as the winning design. Judges included Joe Long '01, associate partner, Strategies for Wealth; David Hogenkamp '06, executive director, Schenectady Metroplex Development Authority; and Bobby Syed '03, COO, iSimulate.
“We believe our product can solve the issue of phones in schools while still letting students harness the power of phones when appropriate,” said Steiger.
The pair won $20,000 in startup capital as the winning design.
Seven teams of students representing a diverse mix of majors had five minutes each to pitch their idea to a panel of alumni judges in Olin Auditorium last Thursday for a chance to win up to $40,000 in seed money.
The prize money is from the Vash Venture Fund. Established 30 years ago through a gift from former College trustee, entrepreneur and venture capitalist Arthur M. Vash '51, the fund supports entrepreneurial activities.
UCoach, a platform that connects young athletes and their parents with verified local coaches—especially collegiate student-athletes—for safe, accessible, and personalized training, finished second and received $12,500. It was created by Kurtik Appadoo ’25, Ryan O'Rourke ’25 and Kasey Walsh ’25.
Sproute, a virtual college counselling and sports recruiting platform designed to make global admissions more accessible and effective for students from underrepresented backgrounds, took third place and received $7,500. It was designed by Michael Dinardo ’27 and Aaradhya Sharma ’27.
Other ventures included:
- Fred, a fast way to write and edit with AI, created by Luodi Wang ’25.
- Posturous, a mobile app that uses AI and computer vision to provide real-time form correction for strength training exercises in order to make safe training more affordable and accessible; co-founded by Nathan Goldstein ’27 and Dylan Robichaud ’25.
- Spheres, an AI-powered networking assistant that helps young professionals build meaningful personal networks without the ambiguity or guesswork. Founded by Nicholas DeBaise ’25.
- VANFIST, a startup creating retrofit kits that bring affordable self-driving features to older cars; co-founded by Trung Ngo ’27, Phuc Nguyen ‘27, Wendy Pham 27 and Hoang Tran ’27.
SparkLab is an entrepreneurial initiative created by Roger Woolsey, executive director of the Career Center in Becker Hall. Students meet weekly for 17 weeks to learn basic business principles from accomplished alumni. Topics include marketing, sales, fundraising and technology.
Judges included David Hogenkamp '06, executive director, Schenectady Metroplex Development Authority; Joe Long '01, associate partner, Strategies for Wealth; and Bobby Syed '03, COO, iSimulate.
“This year's SparkLab was an excellent display of what a liberal arts education at Union does to foster problem solving, creativity and execution,” Woolsey said. “All of the student contestants showed commitment, resilience, gumption and discipline.”