SwatTank

2024-2025 Applications are now closed

Student pitching product at SwatTank 2024

SwatTank is an idea competition, guiding students through the process of conceptualization to pitch. Students start with a rough idea or product and develop it with workshops, mentorship, and collaboration. The students with the most well-developed ideas are invited to pitch their product to a panel of judges in the SwatTank finals. Teams are assessed on overall business idea, creativity, and quality of their pitch and are rewarded through cash prizes. 

Important Dates

  • Find Your Founder Events:  Oct 30, 12-1pm; Nov 11, 2-3pm; Dec 6, 1-2pm 
  • Application Opens: Nov 15th
  • Application Due: Dec 13th
  • Decisions Sent: Winter Break
  • Bootcamp 1: Sat, Feb 1st-Sun, Feb 2nd
  • Bootcamp 2: Sat, March 1st-Sun, March 2nd
  • Final: Fri, April 18

Find Your Founder

Do you have a great idea for SwatTank but haven't found the right collaborators? Are you interested in learning how to start a venture but don't have an idea? You're in the right place! Come to a Find Your Founder event (Oct 30: 12-1pm, Nov 11: 2-3pm, and Dec 6: 1-2pm), grab some lunch, learn about SwatTank, and connect with your peers to form a team. Register here.

If you can't make it to an event or just want to work on meeting your future collaborators anytime, fill out our Find Your Founder form with your information, and explore our Founder Database to find other interested students (please email cil@swarthmore.edu to gain access to the Founder Database spreadsheet). If you see someone you might want to collaborate with, reach out!

Must apply as a team (3-5 students) and a preliminary idea.  Applicants must agree to participate in both boot camps if accepted. 

Boot Camps

Two mandatory bootcamps:

  • Boot Camp 1: Developing your concept (2/1, 10am-4pm & 2/2 9am-12pm)
  • Boot Camp 2: Implementing/pitching your concept (3/1, 10am-4pm & 3/2 9am-12pm)

Participants will engage in two bootcamps designed to transform them from innovators into entrepreneurs. Teams will apply entrepreneurial tools, lessons, and perspectives to their idea and take it to the next level. Students will leave with a tool kit to critically examine and shape ideas into enterprises. 

The SwatTank Boot Camps are designed and facilitated by Jay Friedlander, a professor/entrepreneur who has over a decade of experience working with students from across the curriculum to transform their ideas into enterprises. As the Sharpe-McNally Chair of Green and Socially Responsible Business at College of the Atlantic, Jay founded one of the earliest enterprise accelerators providing academic credit to liberal arts students – the Diana Davis Spencer Hatchery. His experience includes consulting with Fortune 100 companies and major nonprofits; helping raise over $6 million for a natural foods venture; demystifying business concepts for 100s of entrepreneurs so they can bring their passion to life.  

Mentorship

Mentorship is a critical part of SwatTank. Jay Friedlander will be available to mentor all teams. Additionally, students are matched with an alumni mentor relevant to their idea to provide guidance and support as they work through this process. Their mentor is meant to be a resource to talk through ideas and questions, connect with someone in a professional context, and provide experience necessary to help a new business. We are thankful and proud that our mentors are each experienced, knowledgeable, and care tremendously about helping students!  

Judging

Teams of students will be assessed on a set of criteria specific to ideation and creativity. Teams who complete the boot camps will compete at the SwatTank Finals in April where they will give a more developed idea and project presentation. The general judging criteria are as following:

  • Overall concept of the business 
  • Creativity
  • The Pitch: Verbal delivery + visual design of presentation 
  • Depth of understanding of market and customer segments

Prizes

SwatTank Prize money is a step towards making student ventures a reality! The prize will be split between all members of the team. At the SwatTank Finals, audience members will also have an opportunity to cast their vote for "Audience Choice", an additional $500.  

  • First Place: $3,000
  • Second Place: $1,000
  • Third Place: $250 

Finalists are encouraged to apply for Venture Funding!

SwatTank 2024 Finalists and Resaults

NudgeBudge - 1st Place + Audience Choice

Elisha (Seoyoon) Bae ‘26, Suhyeon Abby Hong ‘27, Yaejie Kwon ‘27, Aiden Park ‘27

NudgeBudge is an innovative mobile app designed for college students. It helps them manage and maintain healthy habits by seamlessly integrating them into their daily campus life. Users can set personal goals like exercising regularly or maintaining a study routine. And it’s easier to maintain motivation with our app – leveraging principles of behavioral economics and psychology, NudgeBudge employs 'nudging’, a subtle yet powerful way to influence behavior. 
What sets NudgeBudge apart is its feature that allows users to 'nudge' their friends. This social component fosters a supportive community, boosting motivation and enhancing accountability within peer networks. With NudgeBudge, you’re always supported in your journey to better health and productivity. 
Also, its campus-specific personalization makes each reminder and nudge feel relevant and tailored, increasing the likelihood of sustained habit formation and goal achievement. For example, users may get in-app notifications saying, “Take a walk in Crum Woods” or “It’s lunchtime at Sharples!”. NudgeBudge's personalized, community-driven approach makes it an essential tool for students aiming to balance health, academics, and social life effectively.

Rush - 2nd Place

Bayarjavkhlan Bayanmunkh ‘25, Mya Chuluundorj ‘26, Aashish Panta ‘26

RUSH is an innovative mobile application designed to significantly enhance navigational experiences for individuals with disabilities by incorporating locations of accessible entrances into a digital map. This app is particularly tailored to assist users with disabilities by integrating assistive technology that meets web accessibility requirements. Users also have the capability to contribute actively to the community by adding new accessible entrances and reviewing existing ones, thereby continually improving the app’s usefulness in future.

The application not only provides practical benefits in terms of mobility and convenience but also empowers users with disabilities by boosting their confidence when traveling to various locations. By simplifying access to detailed entrance information, RUSH ensures that individuals can plan their visits with ease and comfort, reducing the anxiety associated with inaccessible environments.

Furthermore, RUSH offers institutions an opportunity to affirm their commitment to inclusivity by facilitating better accessibility options. Market research indicates a significant demand among individuals with disabilities for such a tool, as many encounter difficulties with non-inclusive entrances. By filling this gap, RUSH not only addresses a critical need but also fosters a more accessible and equitable society. Through its innovative features and community-driven approach, RUSH is set to transform the way people with disabilities interact with their urban environments.
 

Chants - 3nd Place

Andrew Henin ’25, Theron Mansilla ‘24, Olivia Medeiros-Sakimoto ‘25

An estimate of 15-26 million protesters went out between 2020 and 2023 protesting against police brutality following the murder of George Floyd. According to the Washington Post, the number of protesters has tripled. Protests and other forms of activism aren’t just any gatherings; they’re powerful movements for change. And while you anticipate unity, there is often an undercurrent of chaos - misinformation spreading like wildfire, organizers struggling to communicate, and the powerful chants becoming disjointed echoes in different corners. 
 
For organizers and participants, there is no one place that structures the event organization process, livestreams legitimate updates, unifies the chants of the protesters, promotes outreach to a larger set of participants, maintains a secure demonstrations archive, has one unified means of mass communication, promotes opportunities for community contributions (e.g., donations), and provides easy access to resources and information to the crowd. 
 
We introduce you to Chants, our visionary platform born from the heart of such demonstrations. Join our 26 early adopters in exploring a platform that consolidates the fragmented pieces of activism. Where updates are real and immediate, not lost in the void of social media. Where organizing an event doesn't mean juggling a dozen platforms but steering a single, powerful tool. This is Chants - an all-encompassing ecosystem tailored to the needs of modern activism.

Sortify - Finalist


Arys Aikyn ‘27, Germain Hirwa ‘27, Carson Lin ‘27, Jaehoon Son ‘27

Sortify is an innovative solution designed to assist colleges and universities to achieve its sustainability goals by providing effective means to identify and sort trash. Over 78% of recycling bins are contaminated on college campuses, these numbers yield an astronomical amount of trash that needs to be re-sorted on recycling facilities. By leveraging Artificial Intelligence (AI), Softify aims to reduce contaminated recycling bins and increase diversion rates on college campuses. 

On the Sortify mobile app, it features an accurate AI system that allows users to very quickly detect the type of trash it is just by scanning a barcode of the item or taking a picture. 

To encourage user engagement, we also provide stress free gamified trashing experience and incentive programs developed through cooperation with colleges and universities.  In addition to streamlining the waste storing process, Sortify also provides valuable data analytics that can aid colleges and universities in their sustainability reporting and decision making.
 

TigerBoost - Finalist

Matthew Fleming ‘27, Arthur Wang ‘27, Thaniel Illuzzi ‘27

Introducing TigerBoost – a revolutionary approach to health and nutrition, driven by our core values of Innovation and Quality. Our mission is simple yet powerful: to make health and nutrition accessible to students and athletes through convenient solutions. Our product fills a market segment that is untouched: the cross between protein bars and supplements. Our bar will pull consumers from both industries, offering substantial growth potential. TigerBoost (currently prototyping) is a multivitamin bar fortified with essential vitamins and minerals. Tailored to meet the needs of ambitious students and dedicated athletes, our bars provide a seamless solution to the relentless demands of college life. Rather than having to buy multiple supplements and remembering to take each one every day, one can get the same nutritional benefits from one tasty bar. 

The creation of our project stems from our shared passion for fitness – all three of us are either athletes or dedicated gym enthusiasts that understand the importance of optimizing performance and fueling our bodies with the right nutrients. It was this shared pursuit of excellence that illuminated the gap in both the bar and supplement industries, inspiring the creation of TigerBoost.