{"id":2,"date":"2017-09-28T14:54:25","date_gmt":"2017-09-28T14:54:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/bobcat-ventures\/?page_id=2"},"modified":"2026-01-09T14:03:50","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T19:03:50","slug":"home","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/bobcat-ventures\/","title":{"rendered":"Mission"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Who We Are<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Bobcat Ventures is a series of training, coaching and mentoring events and programs leading up to an annual pitch competition. It is organized each year by the Center for Purposeful Work and a group of hard-working students dedicated to growing the entrepreneurial landscape at Bates. We work with alumni, faculty, and staff all year long to prepare a program that will help teams refine their idea, project or business, and pitch it successfully in the spring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2025 Pitch Competition<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\"College
photo credit Theophil Syslo\/Bates College (l to r: Judge Pranav Ghai \u201993 P’26, Ella, Judge Chris Barbin \u201993)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Ella Beiser \u201925<\/strong> of Chicago took top honors, and a big check for $15,000, for her project, the Campus Reporting Network. Co-developed with Micah Clark Moody, a Ph.D. candidate at Northwestern University, the platform offers resources to empower student journalists to report on campus discipline systems with confidence and care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2025 Competitors:<\/h6>\n\n\n\n

Bruno Cardonnel ’26 pitching (ital) ChronoNexus
Samarth Jha ’27 pitching Weekend School
Ella Beiser ’25 & Micah Clark Moody pitching Campus Discipline Project
Tanvir Thamid ’26 pitching Affortable.ai<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2025 Judges:<\/h6>\n\n\n\n

Pranav Ghai \u201993, P\u201926, co-founder of CalcBench
Ben Schippers \u201904, co-founder of HappyFunCorp.
2025 Bobcat Ventures Program Coordinator and Student Leader: Max Good ’25<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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2024 Pitch Competition:<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
\"group<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
2024 Competitors:<\/h6>\n\n\n\n

(l to r) Ella Blum ’24, Max Good ’25, Sadie Kriegler ’24, Ben Schippers ’04, Linh Hoang Vu ’26, Pranav Ghai ’93, P’26, Azajul Islam Neloy ’27, David He ’26, Thomas Davis ’27, Diyor Kamolov ’27, Aidan Stark-Chessa ’26, Carine Warsawski ’07, Vova Sosnovskii ’26, Anh Duc Than ’24, Tanvir Thamid ’26, Aldair Desiderio ’24, Ethan Bean ’24 and Charlie Gainey ’24 (on Zoom) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

2024 Judges:<\/h6>\n\n\n\n

Pranav Ghai ’93, P’26, co-founder of CalcBench<\/a>; Ben Schippers ’04, co-founder of HappyFunCorp<\/a>; Carine Warsawski ’07, founder of Trybal Gatherings<\/a>. 2024 Emcee: Chris Euston<\/a> ’23, analyst at DH Capital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2024 Winners:<\/h6>\n\n\n\n