The iBUCS Pitch Competition Just Proved Northeast Tennessee’s Student Founders Are the Real Deal

We talk a lot about building a startup ecosystem in this region. What happened at ETSU’s 9th annual iBUCS pitch competition is proof it’s working.

14 student founders took the stage. From idea-stage concepts to ventures already on shelves at Barnes & Noble, this was what the organizers themselves called the “highest-quality lineup they’ve ever seen.” And FoundersForge was proud to be a part of it.

First place and $4,000 went to Rizwaan Abdulkadir from the School of Medicine for DigiLab One — a next-generation PC board built for physics, electrical engineering, mechatronics, and vocational school classrooms. What makes it stand out is its deep, full integration with Canvas, D2L, and Blackboard.

Second place and $2,000 went to Sara Tendulkar from Digital Media in the College of Business and Technology for Tale Tossers — a game concept bringing a non-screen, collaborative, multigenerational gaming experience to life. In a world drowning in screens, that’s a counterintuitive bet. The good ones usually are.

Third place and $1,000 went to Tinashe Prince Chavunduka from Marketing and Entrepreneurship for a gamified app designed to help new students find their footing — connecting them to on-campus and off-campus resources so they actually feel like they belong. He’s solving a problem every university struggles with, and he’s doing it from inside it.

Sonu Mirchandani is the program developer and coordinator for the ETSU Entrepreneurship Minor and the iBUCS competition. If you’ve been around this program at all, you know how much time and energy he puts into it. This semester, he ran over 30 pitch prep sessions to get students ready. That’s someone who genuinely believes in what these students are building.

Sonu has said his goal is for students to complement their classroom academics with real-world, hands-on startup experience. With $7,000 in seed money up for grabs and a panel of judges who’ve actually built something iBUCS definitely delivered on that 

Speaking of judges — our very own David Nelson was in the room along with regional startups like The Operations Guide and Green Llama. That’s community showing up for community. That’s the ecosystem doing what it’s supposed to do.

This isn’t just an ETSU story. The younger generation is stepping into entrepreneurship all over the world — and it’s just as strong right here in Johnson City.

A 2023 Samsung and Morning Consult survey found that 50% of U.S. students ages 16 to 25 want to start a business. Gen Z isn’t waiting to be handed a career path. They’re building their own. And ETSU’s entrepreneurship program — one of the fastest-growing in the College of Business and Technology — is meeting that energy head-on.

Teaching students to build here is a privilege. It takes a village, and this program has built one.

Founders Forge is a proud supporter of the iBUCS pitch competition — and even prouder of what we saw on that stage. Keep an eye on these founders. They’re just getting started.