Accelerate@Shea

Accelerate@Shea is a 9-week program that provides student startups with expert advice, resources, and funding to launch and grow their businesses.

Teams have access to a network of founders and mentors, including alumni and friends of Boston College.

Through comprehensive workshops and one-on-one office hour sessions, Accelerate@Shea aims to bring together the innovative startup community at Boston College by giving teams the opportunity to discuss their progress and build a relationship with other student entrepreneurs going through the same challenges.

Several student founders who have been a part of a past Accelerator cohort have gone on to grow their startups in the professional world. Others have used their Accelerator knowledge to jumpstart successful careers in entrepreneurship, finance, technology, and many other fields.

Apply for the Spring 2024 cohort!

Questions? Email shea.center@bc.edu

Amenities for Participating Students

$1500 in an equity-free grant to use toward their startups

Personalized mentorship from professionals and alumni

Workshop sessions to implement new ideas

Curated lectures and Q&A sessions to inspire growth and confidence

Access to all Shea Center resources, learning spaces, and community

Free publicity and visibility for student startups, including an end-of-semester Demo Day open to the BC community

Curriculum

Nine weekly workshops featuring collaborative exercises and guest lectures by established entrepreneurs

Office hours with mentors experienced in running accelerator programs and managing startups

Group bonding and reflection to allow student startup concepts to become fully realized

Personalized advice and assistance for student startups, whether they are a new idea or a licensed company

2024 Accelerator Members, Mentors, and Staff

Tom Bardhi

Co-founder, NutriDine

MCAS '24

Tom Bardhi

Co-founder, NutriDine

MCAS '24

Isabel Bernhard

Founder, Regu-Glucose

CSOM '27

Isabel Bernhard

Founder, Regu-Glucose

CSOM '27

Meghan Boyer

Founder, Friendate

SSW '24

Meghan Boyer

Founder, Friendate

SSW '24

Bo Yun Brainerd

Founder, Ophelia

MCAS' 25

Bo Yun Brainerd

Founder, Ophelia

MCAS' 25

Josh Buck

Co-founder, Pear

CSOM '24

Josh Buck

Co-founder, Pear

CSOM '24

Chingsum 'Nemo' Cheung

Co-founder, Kaleido

MCAS '26

Chingsum 'Nemo' Cheung

Co-founder, Kaleido

MCAS '26

Luke Colbeck

Co-founder, Ensemble

CSOM '26

Luke Colbeck

Co-founder, Ensemble

CSOM '26

Drake DiPaolo

Co-founder, Pear

CSOM '24

Drake DiPaolo

Co-founder, Pear

CSOM '24

Caroline Driscoll

Co-founder, Flobag

MCAS '27

Caroline Driscoll

Co-founder, Flobag

MCAS '27

Josh Ellenbogen

Co-founder, Eagle Services

MCAS '24

Josh Ellenbogen

Co-founder, Eagle Services

MCAS '24

John Giglia

Co-founder, Ensemble

CSOM '26

John Giglia

Co-founder, Ensemble

CSOM '26

Connor Kause

Founder, Reinfluence

MCAS '25

Connor Kause

Founder, Reinfluence

MCAS '25

Ananya Kommineni

Founder, The NatScrub

MCAS '27

Ananya Kommineni

Founder, The NatScrub

MCAS '27

Suyi 'Amy' Liu

Co-founder, Kaleido

LSOEHD '26

Suyi 'Amy' Liu

Co-founder, Kaleido

LSOEHD '26

Kyle Radimer

Co-founder, Musync

CSOM '25

Kyle Radimer

Co-founder, Musync

CSOM '25

Toby Ting

Intern, Friendate

MCAS '27

Toby Ting

Intern, Friendate

MCAS '27

Colin Tsui

Co-founder, NutriDine

CSOM '24

Colin Tsui

Co-founder, NutriDine

CSOM '24

Advaith Vadlakonda

Co-founder, Musync

MCAS '24

Advaith Vadlakonda

Co-founder, Musync

MCAS '24

Ben Wakim

Co-founder, Eagle Services

CSOM '24

Ben Wakim

Co-founder, Eagle Services

CSOM '24

Ruiyang 'Mike' Wang

Co-founder, Kaleido

CSOM '26

Ruiyang 'Mike' Wang

Co-founder, Kaleido

CSOM '26

Chenhao Zhang

Co-founder, Kaleido

MCAS '27

Chenhao Zhang

Co-founder, Kaleido

MCAS '27

Bell

Ava Korbani '26, Dylan Dulchinos '26, Sophia Perry '26, Keira Dubitsky '26

Bell plans to significantly reduce textbook costs while also creating a digital platform for a college-specific, student-driven economy. Their app directly connects students within the same college, allowing them to buy and sell textbooks from one another.

BlockPool

Leo Henkels '23, James Pusey '23

BlockPool is creating anonymous, automated, betting pools with no fees. Through development of the Block Pool app, its creators will leverage blockchain technology to make a decentralized application to host transparent, automated, no-fee pools, thereby making pool betting a better experience for all involved.

Campi

Michael Faris '23, Madelyn Divino '23, Bobby Wittman '25, Erica Bittinger '23

Campi reduces social and economic waste for colleges. The Campi app creates a safe space for students to connect with peers, learn about on-campus events, and sell or trade their products and services.

Visit website | LinkedIn page

Crypto Bites

Evan Brady '23, David McCabe '23, Michael Hofbeck '23, Minh Le '23

Crypto BItes allows users to buy food using crypto without an exchange. Users will be able to spend directly from their self-custody wallets. No waiting periods. No transfer fees. Only the crypto to cover the food costs is put in escrow.

Grapher

Matthew Klein '25, Matthew Gordon '25

Grapher is the first online authentic sports memorabilia marketplace. Their user-friendly marketplace actively evaluates the prices of assets based on recent transactions, demand, supply, and popularity, helping sellers and buyers make informed decisions.

LinkedIn page

Joga by PassionLabs

Zach Peter '23

Joga is creating a soccer-specific social media with NIL training. Their platform provides high-level, low-cost training to athletes by connecting them with local college-level players. Much like how Uber connects passengers with local drivers, Passion will utilize gig-work to pay college athletes for training nearby youth athletes interested in learning from the best of the best.

LiquiDex

Blake Germani '24, Aiden Nasca '24, Nick Obert '24

LiquiDex is securitizing startup equities on-chain. They remove the incentivized third party in the Venture Capital system, which is the venture capital firm itself. The removal of the venture capital firm in this transactional relationship allows for maximal benefit for both the investor and the startup receiving capital.

Macellum

Justin Walker '26

Macellum is creating a SaaS enabled free-market exchange of virtual goods. The video game industry is incredibly competitive. Being able to promise players the ability to earn money playing your game is a differentiator. By creating the tools for developers to institute free markets into their games, Macellum gives independent developers the opportunity to utilize the newest and most user friendly means of monetizing their games.

Shakedown

Chris Farese '24, Mason Willix

Shakedown gamifies beer labels. By using an extended content peel-off label, printed with interactive information, on a beer bottle, Shakedown provides a way for beer companies to differentiate themselves from competitors and offer a better experience for customers.

Socion

Ted Wind '25

Socion is creating an influencer marketplace centered around trust. Businesses looking for partnerships with influencers will be able to post projects and contracts on the Socion site, allowing influencers to freely apply for the contracts and partnerships they actually want to do.

Visit website | LinkedIn page

Venu

Trent Tully '23, Maite Macias Cazorla '24

Venu is simplifying the process of making plans with peers by creating a collaborative interface showing local bars, clubs, restaurants, sports games, and concerts. Users will be able to see their options, create a plan, and send it to their group via the Venu app messenger. Peers have the opportunity to vote on or edit a plan, making the process of getting together easier and more fun.

Visit website | LinkedIn page | Instagram

Vitaliti

Zarah Lakhani '24, Andrea Crewe, Lindsey Dotson

Vitaliti believes human health should not be a privilege but a norm. Their first project seeks to address one aspect of air quality and safety by developing and producing an effective, affordable, and accessible in-home mold detection device. This is the start of Spore.

Visit website | LinkedIn page

2022 Cohort

Adzen

Ivan Lubyanitskiy '25 • Content Marketing for Eastern European Companies

European companies have trouble entering the U.S. market. With the use of AdZen, these companies receive security consulting at a low cost. All AdZen team members live, work, and see the world the way that U.S. consumers do. AdZen understands their target audience, because they are the target audience.

CrossCheck

Kevin Koh '24 • Using Machine Learning to Eliminate Organizational Stress

Cross Check came from a personal need for an automated scheduling system that ensures that users never miss an assignment. Sometimes, professors always put up the quizzes late or sometimes an assignment, you just don’t see it. That’s why Cross Check automatically refreshes and checks daily, or multiple times a day, to make sure you never miss an assignment.

DeFi-Able

Hailey Wilcox '23, Jack Moffat '23 • Portfolio Valuation Analytics for NFT Traders & Investors

The recent development of NFTs (non-fungible tokens) and NFT portfolios has sparked confusion in determining their value. DeFi-Able is a platform that appraises NFT portfolios. Right now, DeFi-Able is leading the charge in the NFT space in trying to develop software that accurately projects price trends, market trends, collection data, and collection validity.

Visit website

Eagle Analytics

Nathan French '24 • Improve Dining Hall Efficiency Through Traffic Analytics

Eagle Analytics, is a Boston College dining hall app which features wait times, menu items, nutritional information, status updates, and more. The name of the game today is data driven analytics, and this is what Eagle Analytics is founded on, whether that be consumer or business facing.

fello

Julia Burdsall '25, James O'Malley '25 • Organize Your Connections Into Relationships

fello is a streamlined note-taking platform that allows users to keep track of contacts and people they meet.

KATCH

Jack McConnell '24 • Insulated Lock Box for Packages and Groceries

KATCH is an insulated lockbox that secures your packages with a keypad. Equipped with a one way door located on top of the box, KATCH is hassle free and easy to use for any delivery service.

MCEE

Rhett Somers '23, Jack Russell '23 • Collaborative Music Curated By Everyone, Everywhere

MCEE is an interactive music platform that allows users to select songs to play at an event. It allows people to crowdsource music on a common cue, giving the power to the people when it comes to the music being played. Users will be able to instantaneously request their own songs which will then be subject to voting by everyone else at the party.

Visit website

MDFiTech

Alex DiBlasi '23, Nilesh Mukherji • The Alternative and Automative Asset Management Firm

MDFiTech is a hedge fund company for investors to generate returns correlated to market conditions by focusing on risk avoidance and capital preservation. The fund has two core competencies. The first is its trade packages, which are a unique way of layering equities and options to provide us with exposure asymmetric risk. The second core competency is its software, which allows it to scan dozens, if not hundreds, of stocks instantaneously, and figure out where those trade packages would best be executed.

LinkedIn page

Sneakers Made Simple

Scott Holmes '24, Jack Winslow '24 • Mainstreaming the Ability to Secure Limited Edition Sneakers

Sneakers made Simple is a platform to enhance the shopping experience. The market for sneakers is becoming increasingly competitive, resulting in expensive resale prices. To combat this, Sneakers Made Simple is a free platform that organizes shoe release dates into a calendar, ensuring that buyers never miss a purchase.

Twitter | App store

Split

Jay Wadhwa ’24, Colin Nichols ’24, Hans Dewitte ’24, Jorge Dickens ’24, William Sievewright ‘24 • Reimagining Group Payments with Buy-Now-Pay Later Technology

Split is an app that simplifies paying your friends back. When you go out, Split will pay for your bill. All you have do is invite your friends, and after that, they have 24 hours to accept the invitation and select what they owe.

LinkedIn page

SpotDrop

Arthur Brenninkmeijer '22 • The Foodie App that Brings Hot Spots and Friends Together

On the SpotDrop app, users can recommend their favorite restaurants to each other, creating a more enjoyable and effective dining experience.

Visit website

VYBE

Isabelle Bauer '22, Jean Ng '22 • A More Authentic Take on Social Media Shopping

In the age of social media, users have trouble identifying the products they are interested in,. VYBE is a platform that creates an authentic shopping experience where users can share their favorite items in a consolidated list. VYBE hopes to create a business model that supports consumer to consumer relationships where people who successfully recommend products to their peers are rewarded.