Demo Night in the Dome Room: iLab Incubator Offers UVA Founders A Springboard to Success

The University of Virginia i.Lab Incubator recently held a startup showcase, in the Dome Room of the historic Rotunda, that highlighted the program’s growing impact across UVA and the Commonwealth.

At the “Demo Night” on 8 August, 28 new ventures that completed a 10-week startup program run by the Batten Institute of Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Technology at the Darden School of Business made pitches to an audience of peers, mentors and supporters, including Caren Merrick, the Virginia Secretary of Commerce and Trade.

Merrick thanked UVA founders for contributing to the Commonwealth of Virginia’s  robust entrepreneurial ecosystem that helped propel it to victory in CNBC’s 2024 America’s Top States for Business rankings.

“Entrepreneurs have courage and boldness to innovate, to persuade people that their idea is going to change lives and change the world,” Merrick said. “Our country was founded by entrepreneurs, and if we’re going to continue to be the best place to live, work and raise a family, not only in Virginia but in the United States, we can’t do it without entrepreneurs.”

This year’s i.Lab cohort included companies in diverse fields, spanning food products, sports performance supplements, fintech and AI tools for business.

“The students, new grads and alumni in the 2024 i.Lab Incubator thoroughly impressed us with their commitment to learning, growing and building community throughout the program,” said Batten Institute Executive Director Omar Garriott. “They made wildly disproportionate progress on their ventures than they would have otherwise — while growing as leaders — in 10 very intense weeks. I’m super excited to watch, and continue to advise on, their next steps.”

Of the 28 teams, five represent UVA alumni ventures. Twenty-three ventures were founded by students from Darden, the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, the College of Arts and Sciences, the McIntire School of Commerce, and the School of Nursing.

The annual program, established in 2000, has increased the number of accepted ventures by more than 50% since last summer. It also expanded the curriculum and added workshops, mentoring sessions and practitioner talks. Garriott acknowledged that the growth was due in part to the support of the Pan-University Entrepreneurship Initiative and participating UVA schools, which have contributed additional funding and other resources to the 2024 program.

At the “Demo Night” on 8 August, 28 new ventures that completed a 10-week startup program run by the Batten Institute of Entrepreneruship, Innovation and Technology at the Darden School of Business made pitches to an audience of peers, mentors and supporters.

The i.Lab Incubator provides a goal-oriented, guided-learning program for student founders of innovative ventures.

“The program relies on its UVA process: ‘Understand, Validate, and Accelerate,’ to guide ventures through three distinct phases over a 9-month period from spring to fall,” said Jason Brewster, i.Lab Incubator director. “During the Validate phase, which is 10 weeks full-time during the summer, we rely on effectuation, design thinking and stakeholder theory, frameworks that originated at Darden and are part of the Darden curriculum.”

“Saras Sarasvathy and Jim Zuffoletti gave me the effectuation framework and community that push me to be the best entrepreneur I can be,” said a former pro golfer Kelly Okun (MBA ‘25), who founded Fairway to Green, an equitable sports media company whose mission is to increase visibility and funding in women’s sports.

During the first week, which was in-person in Charlottesville, founders heard from multiple speakers and conducted workshops with Darden professors, including Yael Grushka-Cockayne, Jeanne Liedtka, Saras Sarasvathy and Ed Freeman, in addition to notable UVA alums Evan Edwards, co-founder of Kaléo, and an i.Lab alum Jack Ross, co-founder of Beanstalk Farms.

During the seven virtual weeks of the incubator, teams met over Zoom with entrepreneurs-in-residence, worked directly with a dedicated mentor, and participated in regular check-ins and lunch-and-learn sessions as they progressed toward their goals.

As members of the i.Lab cohort, startups receive grant money, which combined with other funding sources available across UVA, made a world of difference to the husband-and-wife team of Paige and Ben Foote (MBA ‘25). Their startup, Noogs, offers athletes uniquely flavored energy chews, packed with quick-digesting carbohydrates and essential electrolytes. “We’ve benefited from multiple school grants,” said Ben Foote, “and have competed in all stages of the E-Cup, gaining valuable feedback and funding.”

Demo Night attendees heard from Matt (MBA ’16) and Kristina Loftus (MBA ’17) who eight years ago used i.Lab’s resources and grant money to launch Rhoback, the stylish activewear company. The Rhoback team encouraged i.Lab alums to develop “big, 10-, 20-year goals and stay laser-focused on them.” They also shared the goals that have driven their growth, including the ambition to “be a billion dollar brand without raising or investing a dollar of [their] own money.”

Success stories like Rhoback and UVA’s reputation as a hotbed of entrepreneurship is what convinced Zack Landsman (Engr ’21), to become a Hoo.

“At my orientation I talked with Alex Zorychta (MBA ’21) and heard all about UVA’s entrepreneurial spirit, including a wildly successful student project called Contraline,” said Landsman. “I had always been interested in wild and crazy ideas but had never thought I could turn them into reality.”

This summer, Landsman and co-founders Elly Zarzyski (Engr ’23) and Jack Morgan (Engr ’23) worked on their “crazy idea” at the i.Lab. Their startup Junk Labz aims to make recycling transparent, efficient and fun, while reducing waste streams that head to landfills.

Learn more about the program and this year’s ventures at the i.Lab Incubator site.