SHREVEPORT – Movement was a central theme in the winners of LSUS’s Pilot Pitch competition, a contest in which students develop and present their business plans in front of a panel of judges for cash prizes.
Graduate student Khaled Saif and his team coined the phrase “play moves,” dance-like moves that parents and children imitate after watching animated characters on his phone app “UDoIt” (play off the words “You Do It”).
Undergraduate student Shayna Schexnayder aims to target school and travel sports teams by building an indoor sports facility in her hometown of Lafayette.
Saif, an MBA student, said kids spend way too much time on cell phones and other screens, so he aimed to create an app that could connect families while encouraging movement.
“My 2-year-old daughter always comes to me and wants to watch YouTube,” Saif said. “We came up with the term ‘play moves’ because many people don’t like to exercise or like me don’t like to dance.
“Play moves are a mix of dance and exercise that are movements that families perform together to have fun.”
Saif uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to create and animate digital characters to perform play moves, and then cell phone cameras to capture families attempting the same moves. The app will score the accuracy of the intended play move.
Dancers perform movements on video that Saif collects and uses to train his animated characters.
The “UDoIt” app is nearing completion and will be offered with ads for free or without adds for a monthly subscription fee.
Turn on ESPN’s baseball or softball Little League World Series, and there’s a chance a team from Lafayette may be in the mix.
The hotspot for bat-and-ball sports as well as football and soccer could produce an abundance of clients for Schexnayder’s aspiration of a comprehensive indoor sports facility.
The mom of two wants to solve the problem of inadequate field space at affordable rates with an indoor facility that features batting cages and pitching areas on cables, making these areas mobile to accommodate larger areas for football or soccer.
“Teams often struggle to find and afford field rentals, leading to canceled practices or subpar field conditions in unpredictable weather,” said Schexnayder, an undergraduate business student. “By constructing a dedicated climate controlled indoor space, athletes can maintain a consistent practice schedule no matter if there’s sudden rain, blistering heat or bitter cold.
“This would have a meaningful impact on our community.”
The winners received $3,000 cash prize, a credit to use with LSUS Continuing Education and six months’ worth of services from the Entrepreneurial Accelerator Program (EAP).
EAP, a northwest Louisiana organization that helps launch and mentor small businesses, collaborates with LSUS to orchestrate the competition. EAP is part of BRF, an economic development organization aiming to diversify and grow the region’s economy.
Saif and Schexnayder shined in a competitive field of eight finalists (five graduate students, three undergraduate students) whose ideas spanned the gamut from a nutrition health app targeted at men to a financial advising app powered by artificial intelligence.
Brian Shedleski, an MBA student and registered dietician, won second place in the graduate student division with his Dietician For Men wellness app, which takes public health information and packages it to engage middle-aged men.
Jordan Kynn offers a “sip of paradise” with her Vacay Smoothies, luxurious smoothies served out of refurbished shipping containers directed at clientele in larger cities with disposable income. Kynn took third in the graduate student division.
In the undergraduate competition, Xzayvier Ford-Smith pioneered his app LifeQuest, a self-improvement app in which the individual is encouraged to complete daily tasks through playing games. The biological sciences major won second place.
Dylan Satkunam has already launched his Accession Tech company, which pairs his expertise in weightlifting and web design as he designs websites for personal trainers.
The computer science student from North Dakota won third place.
Second-place winners in each category won $1,000 each, EAP assistance, and LSUS Continuing Education credit while third-place winners took home $500 and the aforementioned benefits.
Students entered the competition by submitting a business idea early this fall semester, learning from entrepreneurial workshops with a team of LSUS mentors to sharpen that business plan for presentation.
One goal of this year’s Pilot Pitch competition was to attract students from outside the business program. The second- and third-place winners from the undergraduate division were non-business students.
“We wanted to appeal to students of all majors, and it’s exciting to see that some of our finalists came from other disciplines,” said Dr. Mary Lois White, College of Business dean. “This wouldn’t be possible without our mentors, our judges, EAP and the LSUS Foundation among a host of others.
“It’s invaluable for students to go through this process and see first-hand what it takes to launch a business.”
Finalists are eligible to compete in regional competitions this spring like the Pelican Cup at UL Monroe and the Arkansas Governor’s Cup.
