May 02, 2025
Meghan O'Toole
Students identify real-world solutions in 2025 Venture Design Challenge
The 2025 Venture Design Challenge finals were held on April 26 in the Lily Reid Holt Memorial Chapel. This year, two teams shared the prize title.
WeSteel AI, an AI-powered vertical software for steel service centers, and CrowdView, an app for displaying current information on crowd density at popular campus spaces, were both recognized as winning projects. Other projects spanned across industries such as golf, flooring, agriculture, and more.
In all, 13 teams competed in the 2025 pitch competition for a total of 49 individual student participants. Six teams made it to the final.
View photos from the final.
Winning teams
WeSteel AI
Venture: AI-powered vertical software for steel service centers
Teammates: Ali Gaber '28, Nicole Bugrimenko '28
CrowdView
Venture: App for displaying crowd information
Teammates: Alvaro Huizar '27, Pearl Kongolo '27, Caleb Mukasa '27, Diya Kandal '27, Iain McAlister '27
Runners-up
GPSwing
Venture: A golf ball that allows you to track your ball on a mobile app so you can never lose it
Teamates: Colin Bella '26, Tyler Buonopane '25, Dylan Kruss '26, Philip Quetell '26, Griffin Samon '26
Titan Flooring
Venture: Resilient industrial flooring solutions
Teammates: Vincent Colasacco '26, Luke Kedzierski '25, Cayden Mazurek '25
APEC
Venture: On-line course to analyze the morfologia of the Nelore cattle breed
Teammates: Jack Kennedy '27, Gustavo Machado '27, Andrey Paiotti '25
Team RAIA
Venture: An app for optimized and streamlined résumé building
Teammates: Matthew Lungu '25, Christian Wolthusen '26
Through the annual Venture Design Challenge, Lake Forest College students identify a problem worth solving and mobilize the resources to solve it. Pitch competition participants connected with mentors, received coaching, and competed for a share of a $10,000 prize.
The CrowdView team aims to have their app up and running by the next calendar year.
"As a team, we feel excited to have the opportunity to improve students' time management," Iain McAlister shared. "We also are looking forward to offering universities better insights into the popularity of certain spaces and the benefits that come with the analytics."
The competition is designed for students with an early-stage social impact or business idea. It is open to all current Lake Forest College students regardless of year or major.
Guest judges
John Russick is the Managing Director of the Bronzeville Center for the Arts in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Visiting Director of International Projects for the Future Museum Studio at the Institute for Cultural and Creative Industry at Shanghai Jiao Tong University. His interactive augmented and virtual reality experiences for the Chicago History Museum won a Chicago Innovation award in 2019.
Andrew Simnick, PhD (Duke University biomedical engineering), is the founder and CEO of Operationally, a firm that helps cultural organizations with mission delivery. After working at McKinsey & Company, he was Senior Vice President for Finance, Strategy, and Operations at the Art Institute of Chicago and has been named to the Crain’s Chicago Business 40 under 40.
Lisa Wilkerson worked in the pharmaceutical industry for nearly 30 years, including 23 years as a General Manager at AbbVie. She won the prestigious and coveted Chairman’s Award, awarded annually to fewer than 100 of the more than 50K AbbVie employees. Having an interest in entrepreneurship, Lisa is the owner of two companies and teaches Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Lake Forest College.