Heating Up for #WinterWildfire2017

Winter Wildfire Demo Day is coming to The Garage, and we couldn't be more excited. Five student teams are heating up and rehearsing their pitches after participating in the Winter edition of ENTREP 395, combined with The Garage's Wildfire Pre-Accelerator Program. Want to learn more about what Wildfire is all about? Click here for an article featured in Northwestern Now.For the first time ever, Wildfire was offered in conjunction with the Radical Entrepreneurship course for credit. Five teams participated in the course, and worked to develop as both leaders and founders by being introduced to new ways of thinking and problem-solving. Student-founded startups are offered mentorship, coaching, and additional resources and funding to catapult them to the next stage of their venture.Wildfire culminates at the end of the program with Demo Day: a Shark Tank style experience in which all the participating teams present their pitch and compete for a pool of cash prizes, sponsored by Exelon. This year, students are competing for a prize pool of $10,000!

This year, we've invited an elite panel of judges to the table to hear five pitches including tech industry vets and one of The Garage's own Entrepreneurs-in-Residence. Be sure to head to our event page to get the details on who will be handing out $10k!Five teams have been working hard all quarter. There were 15 applications for just five spots. Each team was assigned a growth coach throughout the Winter quarter, and were supported by students from the Legal Design Institute EDI program. Let's get to know each team a little better.

Zcruit optimizes the college football recruiting process through predictive analytics, saving college football programs time and improving the quality of recruiting classes.

HearYe: Plan less, do more. HearYe is a mobile application that’s designed to organize casual group outings in an efficient way by allowing users to create, share, and communicate outing details on a central platform.

VertigōMetric Dx has developed a retinal-imaging medical device that rapidly helps an ER physician differentiate between a diagnosis of a non-life threatening issue and brainstorm stroke. Diagnosing this issue quickly will lead to tremendously better health outcomes for the patient while saving hospitals nearly a billion dollars annually. VertigoMetric Dx is led by an accomplished physician, a bioengineer, and a Kellogg MBA student.

HotPlate is an app designed to help you decide what to order at restaurants. Users can rate individual menu items, so that it is quick and easy to see the best dishes. HotPlate also allows users to see friends’ ratings, search by specific dish item, and receive tailored recommendations.

NewMoon Chicago provides Spectacle Services that pair performance art, mechanical contraptions, and the fundamental elements of an event —from serving food to musical performance— to create new elements that redefine ultra-premium, cutting-edge aesthetics and transform perceptions. From Drones flying guests appetizers to Aerialists pouring champagne, NewMoon provides the fantastical experience guests are seeking and creates memories they never forget.

Want to get in on the excitement of Wildfire? There's still time to RSVP here!

Be sure to follow TheGarageNU on Snapchat for a peek behind the scenes of the event, head to our Twitter where we will be live tweeting during pitches, and check out our Facebook page for the Demo Day results!