Company founders from across different industries came together in mid-November to present their businesses to potential investors at an exclusive startup pitching event.
Held at Stanford University due to each founder’s connection to the institution and overall difficulty in finding investor backing in the industry, nine entrepreneurs explained how their product or service is solving a market problem.
Adele Smolanksy, CEO and founder of AI Learners, was inspired by her sister, who has Rett syndrome, to create an online educational hub that helps students with all abilities learn elementary math and literacy through computer games for ages three and up.
®Frustrated by the challenge of finding the right business partner, CoffeeSpace CEO and co-founder, Hazim Mohamad, created a Hinge-inspired platform where startup founders can match with potential partners to further grow their startup.
Venture capitalists attending the event as potential investors differed on what they were looking for in the startups, focusing on each company’s narrative, motivation, team and results before committing to funding, said Rajesh Kadam, angel investor.
Audrey grew up in Jakarta and Singapore, then moved to Washington D.C. for college and graduated with a B.A. in Broadcast Journalism from the University of Maryland College Park in 2020. After graduation, Audrey worked at Metro TV and Metro Globe Network in Jakarta. She was a news presenter, producer and reporter for Jakarta Movers & Shakers, a business and economic program. She anchored the nightly news for Asia Prime & World News and hosted the entertainment program ShowBiz, interviewing artists and musicians. Her work has also been published in Voice of America and The Jakarta Post. At Stanford, Audrey focuses on becoming a data-driven journalist specializing in business and technology reporting while deepening her understanding of artificial intelligence. Outside the newsroom, Audrey loves running marathons, reading romance books and spending time with her Shiba Inu.
Sana holds a bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism and psychology from New York University. While at NYU, she interned at CNN, MSNBC and KPRC2, and reported as a foreign correspondent when studying abroad in Germany, Australia, Ghana and Cuba. Her coverage on the Ghanaian economy’s dependence on women-owned, open-air market stalls was awarded the Edgar Wilson Nye Prize for outstanding student journalism. Before coming to Stanford, she produced local news throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, protests in the wake of George Floyd’s death and the 2020 election season in her hometown, Houston, Texas, on digital platforms for ABC13 KTRK-TV. She also co-hosted newscast segments on online trends and won an Investigative Reporters and Editors fellowship for showing promise in early-career watchdog reporting. She then wrote about global events for theSkimm and covered Texas for Hearst Newspapers. At Stanford, she wants to use data, investigative skills and programming to uncover mental health and disability-related stories, among other underreported issues.
