Cockrell School Interim Dean Sharon L. Wood with Mark Cuban and professor of innovation Bob Metcalfe.
For its fifth Demo Day, the Longhorn Startup Program had a packed house in the LBJ Auditorium on Dec. 5. The night featured entrepreneur, Dallas Mavericks owner and "Shark Tank" investor Mark Cuban, RetailMeNot CEO Cotter Cunningham and presentations by 14 student startups from The University of Texas at Austin.
More than half of the teams were made up of Cockrell School of Engineering students, from the Departments of Biomedical Engineering and Electrical and Computer Engineering. Cockrell School students presented startups that range from apps to rate restaurant dishes and to find your friends in social settings to devices that help increase the quality of hypothermia treatment and improve the online experience for individuals with disabilities. Of the 49 students enrolled in the Longhorn Startup Lab, about 40 of them are engineering students.
Biomedical engineering senior Ani Sharma told The Daily Texan that through the Longhorn Startup Program, he learned what it takes to put together and commercialize a product. At Demo Day, Sharma presented the startup MicroMulsion, a new technology for cell culture research.
“I want to hear the feedback people give me as we look to move our business forward,” he said.
During the semester, Longhorn Startup Lab students not only work on developing their startups (which they must already have in progress before applying to the program), they also participate in lecture series and networking events, as well as receive hands-on mentoring from hand-picked entrepreneurs and experts. The Longhorn Startup Program is run by Cockrell School professor of innovation and Ethernet co-inventor Bob Metcalfe, Cockrell School Entrepreneur-in-Residence Ben Dyer and Capital Factory founder Josh Baer.
View a Storify of the Dec. 5 Longhorn Startup Demo Day.
View photos from the event by the Center for Lifelong Engineering Education.
