The Garage x McCormick
The Garage is a community and physical space for every Northwestern student interested in entrepreneurship to learn, iterate, and grow. We offer students resources, programming, and mentorship designed to help build the skills and entrepreneurial mindset they need to succeed in any industry.
Students from across the University bring a wide range of diverse academic and personal experiences that enrich the entrepreneurial environment at The Garage through exposure to new ideas, ways of thinking and skill sets.
In the fall of 2022, there were 98 McCormick students participating in programs at The Garage, working on projects ranging from SteadyScrib, a startup designing a pen to increase ability and independence for people with Parkinson’s Disease, to Overture Games, a startup developing video games for music students that they play with their instrument.
Niraj Shah, McCormick ‘23 & Will Xenakis, McCormick ‘23
Niraj and Will, longtime members of The Garage’s Residency program, are co-founders of Xenah Developers, an affordable web development firm. The pair advanced to the finals of VentureCat 2022 and were recently featured in Chicago Inno’s ‘25 under 25′ list.

Major: Both students are pursuing a B.S. in Computer Science
Project / Company: Xenah Developers is a coding consultancy that aims to develop skills for CS undergrads while delivering quality apps and websites to clients.
Alexis Chan, McCormick ’24
Alexis participated in The Garage’s summer pre-accelerator program, Jumpstart, and is a current member of the Residency program working on her startup, SteadyScrib. Alongside her co-founder, Izzy Mokotoff, Medill ’24 the team took home first place and the audience favorite award at the end-of-program Demo Day, securing a $5,000 prize. They were also featured in Chicago Inno’s ‘25 under 25‘ list.

Major: Biomedical Engineering
Project / Company: SteadyScrib is designing a pen to increase ability and independence for people with Parkinson’s Disease, specifically counteracting the most writing-inhibitive Parkinson’s symptoms.
Tyler Nanoff, McCormick ’23
Tyler is a member of the Residency program and recently began exploring his own venture in The Garage’s Activate program – designed to create an inclusive community and resources for Black Northwestern student founders.

Major: Mechanical Engineering
Project / Company: Buddybot is a kid-focused builder kit that allows kids to learn how to build a quadruped robot and code its movements with relative ease.
Isaac Winoto, McCormick ’24
Isaac is a participant in the Residency program building out his startup, Skuy. He’s also a member of the fifth cohort of the Little Joe Ventures Fellowship where a select group of students are offered immersive learning opportunities, networking, and a financial award. He and his team at Skuy recently launched a beta version of the app and are testing key features with students at Northwestern.

Major: Computer Science
Minor: Data Science and Entrepreneurship
Project / Company: Skuy is a community-focused discussion and news aggregation mobile platform where students can start a chat, ask for help, or even rant about a certain topic, AND find other people who would love to join in on the conversation.
McCormick Students at The Garage
Tinker Program:
Sparsh Gautam | Stanley Chen | Chloe Leung |
Eagan Notokusumo | Matt Williams | Andy Curran |
David Dorf | Sam Ridet | Aya Ben Saghroune |
Justin Dong | Matthew Khoriaty | Shannon Tan |
Jason Lu | Spencer Hong | Peyton Ridland |
Dev Shah | Mark Chauhan | Ian Lundeen |
Khalid Siraj | Zachary Braffman | Ryan Poon |
Sneh Deshpande | Davi Gutkin | Buğra Gündüz |
John Kalemkerian | Alisha Spradlin | Jagruti Garia |
Nityasri Aileni | Ami Takamatsu | Wencheng Zhang |
Trevor Abbott | Zhengyuan Li | Vidita Hasija |
Zach Delson | Philip Ho | Richard Lam |
Alexa Keane | Aditya Singh | Sitanshu Goyal |
Mohamed Elbayumi | Antonio Santana | Matthew Chang |
Matthew Lee | Mia Scarpati | Michael Miller |
Yibo Wen | Tahira Grewal | Eduardo Cienfuegos de Paz |
Prarena Chailaivanichkul | Kai Feinberg |
Residency Program:
Kai Yun | Zachary Gerstenfeld | Taehyun Yim |
Tyler Lee | Yvan Chu | Tyler Nanoff |
Radek Chlebicki | Herminio Bodon | Yuzhou Du |
Charlotte Oxnam | Manu Deva | Zegale Talmadge |
Justin Dong | Frank Yang | Jenna Kim |
Zihan Yin | Kevin Kaspar | Pablo Schnelle |
Jay Park | Brennan Benson | Jasmine Javaheri |
Charlie Tanas | Erin Park | Abhishek Shah |
Brent O’Reilly | Emran Majidy | Panashe Muriro |
Pratham Bansal | Bryan Sanchez | Isaac Winoto |
Priya Dave | Briana Segal | Alexis Chan |
Bella Gonzales-Portillo | Cheryl Chen | Sidharth Runwal |
Gabe Bider | Valeria Vita | Grayson Donnelly |
Niraj Shah | Will Xenakis | Edward Lee |
Jumpstart Program:
Alexis Chan | Erin Park | Isaac Kim |
Taehyun Yim | Sidharth Runwal | Minwoo Chang |
Activate Program:
Tyler Nanoff | Ada Michaels Shapiro | Lutgardis Ineza Ukangutse |
Fortune Emmanuel-King | Iphigenie Bera |
Propel Program:
Aya Ben Saghroune |
The Garage x McCormick News
McCormick students win big at Jumpstart Demo Day 2022
Cue the Curves, SteadyScrib featured in The Garage’s Holiday Gift Guide
McCormick students featured in Chicago Inno’s ‘25 Under 25‘ List
The Late Knight Team Spotlight: Featuring Sidharth Runwal ’23
SteadyScrib Team Spotlight: Featuring Alexis Chan ’24
Overture Games Team Spotlight: Featuring Erin Park ’24
Isaac Winoto, McCormick ’23 to launch Skuy, a community-based social media app
McCormick students featured in The Daily Northwestern’s student startup photo gallery
Jimmy Paul, McCormick ’13, returns to The Garage as a Family Dinner Guest Speaker
VentureCat 2022 Results: Kevin Kaspar, McCormick ’24 wins Grand Prize
Questions?
Email us at thegarage@northwestern.edu