Realizing That “a-ha!” Moment
Tom Witmer '14 knows his team is on to something big. The challenging is convincing investors that's the case.
"[We] reached out to many relevant people in the industry, including nurses, neonatologists and NICU coordinators, to understand the field and ultimately build recommendations," says Witmer, a finance and Integrated Business and Engineering (IBE) double major.
Those conversations led to a better understanding of the potential lifecycle of NEATCap, a "cap" that reduces the harmful noise to which infants are exposed in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs). Witmer and his IBE teammates pitched the NEATCap concept to a team of entrepreneurs, consultants and business owners—a competitive forum affectionately known as the "Tiger Sessions."
"As part of the capstone course, students work with outside clients—startup companies and entrepreneurs in the early stages of product development who are trying to grow their vision—and spend a year on a specific product," says Pat Costa, professor of practice, who teaches the course.