Seattle-area high school students recently competed in the TiE Young Entrepreneur (TYE) Seattle chapter finals competition, with a team called Soundwave emerging as the winner and moving on to TYE’s Global Business Plan Competition next month. Led by Pradyu Kandala, Andy Kurapati, Dhruv Arora, Vedaant Kulkarni, Prithvi Aravind, and Koshin Sharma, Soundwave developed an artificial intelligence-enabled accent softening program for call center agents to enhance customer satisfaction, earning them the top prize of $2,750. Other notable business ideas recognized at the competition included KEY Beauty, focusing on creating accurate makeup matches for girls and women of color, and MyPath, offering AI-driven college counseling for high school students.
In addition to the top three teams, several other student business ideas showcased during the competition included a two-sided marketplace for carbon credits, a haptics and LIDAR-enabled camera for the visually impaired, biodegradable bottles, analyzing real-time concussion-related data, and an AI bot for communicating with special needs and autistic individuals. Throughout the TYE 2023-2024 program, young entrepreneurs are guided and mentored through the process of creating and launching their first real businesses, with a focus on ideation, market opportunity assessment, product-market fit validation, and prototype creation. The program aims to equip students with essential skills and knowledge for developing a successful startup and fostering innovation.
The Soundwave team, along with other participants at the competition, showcased impressive dedication and commitment to their projects, despite their busy schedules. SeekOut CTO Aravind Bala, who serves as a TYE instructor and mentor, commended the students for exceeding expectations by collaborating with team members, developing innovative ideas, creating demos, and preparing presentations. These activities not only form the core of the TYE program but also instill vital skills that will benefit the students in their future endeavors in the entrepreneurial world. The TYE mentors and judges emphasized the students’ role as a source of inspiration and energy, providing a positive impact on the entrepreneurial community.
The TYE program, led by individuals such as Yash Wagh, TYE program chair, aims to nurture young entrepreneurs and offer them a platform to showcase their innovative business ideas. The final competition was judged by a panel of Seattle-area tech executives, including Anoop Gupta, CEO of SeekOut, Joseph Sirosh, CEO of Creators AGI, Aseem Datar, vice president of Next-Gen Computing & AI at Microsoft, and Sabrina Wu, a principal at Madrona Venture Group. These industry professionals were impressed by the students’ creativity, enthusiasm, and professionalism displayed throughout the competition, highlighting the potential impact of these young entrepreneurs on the future of entrepreneurship in Seattle and beyond.
The TYE program, established in 2000, is a chapter of The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE), a global nonprofit organization with 61 chapters in 14 countries, dedicated to promoting and fostering entrepreneurship worldwide. Through initiatives like the TYE program, TiE Seattle aims to support and encourage young innovators in pursuing their entrepreneurial dreams and developing the skills necessary to thrive in the competitive business landscape. Participants in the program are exposed to real-world challenges, opportunities, and mentorship from successful entrepreneurs, providing them with a unique learning experience and inspiring them to explore the world of entrepreneurship further. Soundwave’s upcoming participation in the TYE Global Business Plan Competition in Silicon Valley is a testament to the program’s success in cultivating the next generation of innovative business leaders.
