Sustainability is a lifelong passion for Ava Lubkemann 鈥�27, a student entrepreneur who blends profit and purpose.
Speaking before a captivated audience at , she explains how thrifting鈥攁 lifestyle choice instilled by her parents鈥攈as inspired her to launch a social enterprise. Her new venture, called Revamped, provides underserved communities with access to textile donations centers and affordable clothing.
鈥淥ur city lacks an accessible infrastructure for donating and buying secondhand goods,鈥� says the environmental engineering major in the (ECS). 鈥淲e鈥檝e created a mobile storefront out of an upcycled school bus that goes almost anywhere.鈥�
I鈥檝e judged a lot of competitions, and Syracuse鈥檚 students are among the most prepared. They鈥檙e very professional.
Savneet Singh, president and CEO of PAR Technology
Lubkemann鈥檚 presentation is part of , an annual pitch competition organized by the . She is one of four finalists from a pool of 50-plus applicants, seeking to turn a dream into reality.
For the occasion, Lender Auditorium in the Whitman School Building has been transformed into a Shark Tank-like set. Everything is created for effect, down to the onstage judge seating and professional lighting.
Lubkemann鈥檚 five-minute pitch is airtight. Afterward, she fields questions from a star-studded panel of judges: Jeff Knauss, a self-proclaimed 鈥渟erial entrepreneur鈥� and AI strategist; Savneet Singh, president and CEO of PAR Technology, a global leader in restaurant technology; and Stacey Tank 鈥�02, a Fortune 500 veteran-turned-CEO and owner of Bespoke Beauty Brands.
Ava Lubkemann 鈥�27 is the founder and CEO of Revamped, which gives underserved communities access to textile donations centers and affordable clothing. She won Orange Tank鈥檚 $25,000, first-place prize.
鈥淩evamped is a business and a movement,鈥� says Lubkemann, noting that the average college student annually generates more than 640 pounds of trash, 20% of which are textiles and clothing. 鈥淪ustainability drives economic vitality and environmental resilience.鈥�
Unlike a linear supply chain that ends with disposal, hers is an eco-friendly, closed looped model. Revenue comes mainly from retail sales as well as textile pickup and diversion services.
Lubkemann is rendered speechless when, at the close of the program, she鈥檚 presented with a giant cardboard check for $25,000. The grand prize will enable her to lease a workspace and textile recycling equipment, acquire a second mobile storefront, and expand her business into other urban and college markets.
When asked what it鈥檚 like to win it all, she pauses and then ekes out a single word: 鈥淯nreal.鈥�
An Entrepreneurial Ecosystem
鈥淵ou miss 100% of the shots you don鈥檛 take,鈥� says Stacey Tank 鈥�02, evoking comparisons between entrepreneurship and hockey. She鈥檚 shown here with fellow judges (from left) Jeff Knauss and Savneet Singh.
For the past 11 years, Orange Tank has been helping visionaries like Lubkemann scale pitches into businesses. The event runs on donor support, namely gifts to the Entrepreneurship and Emerging Enterprises Fund, the Scrub Daddy Entrepreneurship Fund and the Whitman Dean鈥檚 Fund.
Some contestants are regulars, proving that learning is an ever-evolving process.
Host Jack Adler 鈥�23 in conversation with Couri Hatchery Program Manager Indaria Jones 鈥�14.
Emcee Jack Adler 鈥�23 respectively placed third and second in Orange Tank before claiming the top prize two years ago. His venture鈥攁 sports marketing agency called Out2Win鈥攔ecently secured $1.3 million from 15 individual investors.
Adler praises the campus entrepreneurial ecosystem, which includes startup opportunities like the , and the as well as numerous pitch competitions.
Healthy competition is good for students, professors and other businesses, adds Singh, whose background includes venture capitalism and fintech.
鈥淚鈥檝e judged a lot of competitions, and Syracuse鈥檚 students are among the most prepared,鈥� he observes. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e very professional.鈥�
This year鈥檚 finalists have moxie鈥攚hat Stacey Tank calls a 鈥渟peaking-truth-to-power and failure-is-not-an option鈥� mindset. She says that even though the landscape is littered with shuttered businesses, the key is 鈥渢o not give up, to learn from your mistakes.鈥�
Proving Their Grit
Frank Marin 鈥�24, G鈥�24 (above) credits LaunchPad鈥檚 Jonathan Weiss for helping him hone his startup pitch. Constructive feedback is the 鈥渇uel that keeps me going,鈥� says Marin, who has developed a water-treatment technology that eliminates 鈥渇orever chemicals.鈥�
Frank Marin 鈥�24, G鈥�24, is not your typical Orange Tank entrant. The holder of an , he works full-time for Pratt & Whitney, a leading maker of commercial aircraft engines.
Marin also runs an orbital infrastructure and manufacturing company called Marhold Space Systems. One of their products is a water-treatment technology designed to eliminate 鈥渇orever chemicals,鈥� in addition to harmful fungi, biofilms and microbes.
鈥淲e use an advanced plasma technology to break them down without harming the environment,鈥� says the ECS alumnus, who works out of a lab at the nearby SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry.
While the terrestrial applications seem vast, the device could be an asset to space missions, Marin explains, especially as organizations like the seek alternate ways to understand Earth鈥檚 declining health.
鈥淲e鈥檝e gotten a lot of encouraging and realistic feedback. It鈥檚 the fuel that keeps us going,鈥� he says.
Scaling the Future
Jack Venerus 鈥�27, Orange Tank鈥檚 second-place winner, has devised a platform called WingStat to make pre-owned aircraft sales data more transparent.
Marin is not the only finalist with his head in the clouds. Jack Venerus 鈥�27, an applied data science major in the , is a veritable 鈥淢averick.鈥�
While earning a private pilot license, he found that reliable aircraft sales data鈥攑articularly involving pre-owned business planes鈥攚as almost impossible to obtain.
Venerus has devised a platform called WingStat that seeks to upend the $46 billion pre-owned aircraft industry.
鈥淲e source verified data from aircraft brokerage companies and then compile it onto a data intelligence platform,鈥� says Orange Tank鈥檚 $7,500, second-place winner. 鈥淏rokers can then track the current market value of a pre-owned aircraft without spending time and money on research.鈥�
鈥淚t鈥檚 like Zillow for airplanes,鈥� says Tank, adding that WingStat provides a kind of market transparency that previously hasn鈥檛 existed.
Ronan Hussar 鈥�26, winner of the competition鈥檚 $2,500, third-place prize, also champions data accessibility. His venture, MacroFlow, capitalizes on the ubiquity of Microsoft Excel.
鈥淓xcel鈥檚 automation system is outdated, hard to learn and nearly impossible for most people to use,鈥� grouses the dual major in finance and accounting in the Whitman School.
His solution? A novel Excel add-in that uses AI to automate repetitive tasks, like formatting reports, applying formulas and organizing data.
鈥淚 got to see firsthand how powerful automation can be,鈥� says Ronan Hussar 鈥�26, recalling an internship where his Excel add-in, MarcoFlow, was adopted. He was Orange Tank鈥檚 third-place winner.
He came up with the idea while interning at a major accounting firm. 鈥淚 built an Excel macro [a series of commands] that was adopted across multiple offices,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 got to see firsthand how powerful automation can be, even when used by people who don鈥檛 fully understand how it works.鈥�
Just as MacroFlow promises to 鈥渟upercharge the work of professionals,鈥� Orange Tank aims to help students like Hussar scale their operations.
Says Knauss: 鈥淪yracuse supports students willing to take the most important step in starting a business鈥攖he first one.鈥�
