Techstars ‘Demo Day’: USC-affiliated startups make pitches for investment

An alum of the USC Viterbi School of Engineering touts an AI-powered platform to streamline video production from concept to script to completion. A diabetes specialist and former professor at the Keck School of Medicine of USC offers a patient-controlled medical device that may help people lose weight without drugs or surgery.

These two proposals, spearheaded by USC-affiliated entrepreneurs, were among nine startups featured at the first-ever “Demo Day” for the USC and Techstars Digital Economy Program. Backed by upbeat, pumping music, the founders pitched their ideas and business plans — Shark Tank-style — to potential investors.

“You’re the talent that’s going to make USC great, and this country great,” said Ishwar K. Puri, USC’s senior vice president of the USC Office of Research and Innovation, who opened the event earlier this month.

Techstars: cultivating future founders

Techstars — which is accepting applications for its next cohort — is open to nearly anyone with a USC connection: students, alumni, faculty and former faculty. Techstars cultivates future founders with expert feedback, deadlines, workshops and access to mentors.

The program begins with a special event, Startup Weekend, where entrepreneurs and creators mix and match, brainstorm and hone their ideas for products or services. Next comes University Catalyst, a 10-week online program that helps companies take the first steps toward commercialization.

The most successful ones get invited to join the Accelerator, an intense, full-time three-month program. What’s more, at that point, Techstars provides up to $220,000 in funding in exchange for a small percentage of ownership in the company.

“They’re here 50 to 60 hours a week,” said Gabriel Schlumberger, managing director of USC and Techstars. “They make two to three years’ worth of progress in about 13 weeks, and then it culminates in Demo Day. That’s sort of the end of the beginning.”

Investors at the Techstars’ Demo Day heard a pitch for a Keurig-style protein shake machine that is the brainchild of a mechanical engineer with an executive MBA from the USC Marshall School of Business. Another USC Marshall alum touted an AI-based language coach designed to teach conversational English to nonnative speakers.

Techstars event highlights USC founders in many disciplines

“It speaks really highly of USC that there’s such a diverse set of founders working in so many different disciplines, and each of them are coming up with potentially game-changing things,” Schlumberger said. “We’re just really trying to make them better, and we’re trying to turn them into great entrepreneurs.”

After making her pitch, endocrinologist expert Elizabeth Beale praised the program for helping her bring her dream closer to reality. Decades of working with diabetes patients inspired her to tackle the underlying problem — obesity — through invention.

Her device — a slender, discreet tube anchored to a patient’s molar in the back of the mouth — can deliver an appetite-suppressing nutrient solution directly to the small intestine. In other words, it’s a nonsurgical gastric bypass.

“It’s the same mechanism as the surgery, but it’s fully reversible,” Beale said. “It can be done by a nurse at home. People can eat when they have the tube in. They can socialize normally, and no one knows it’s there.”

Jessie Tran, founder of the AI-assisted language coach company Native, said that when she attended the first Startup Weekend, she had only a vague idea of what her business could be. That’s where she met her co-founder, Rex Ordonez, who brought his programming savvy to her business know-how.

“He can build things very fast, and he’s from Viterbi,” said Tran, who earned a master’s in entrepreneurship and innovation from USC Marshall last year. “And we’ve been working with each other ever since.” They currently have 300 English-language students testing out their product.

Brian Kordich, founder of the protein shake company EasyShake, said he’s planning to branch out into other pod-based drinks. He noted that USC and Techstars are both well-known for their communities of mentors and supporters across the world.

“We worked through all the highs and lows of starting a business, all the while encouraging each other to be great,” Kordich said. “The sense of community … was such a positive life-changing experience, and I’m truly grateful for having the opportunity to participate. Fight on, Techstars!”

DEMO DAY STARTUPS

USC + Techstars’ first-ever Demo Day showcased nine startups:

• Alsteni Medical, a patient-controlled medical device that triggers the body’s own appetite-suppressing hormones without drugs or surgery. Founded by endocrinologist Elizabeth Beale, an alum and former associate professor of clinical medicine of the Keck School of Medicine of USC.
• EasyShake, a Keurig-style protein shake system. Founded by Brian Kordich, a mechanical engineer with an executive MBA from the USC Marshall School of Business.
• Henna, customer-discovery platform for scientists to assist in the commercialization process. Founder Arsh Haque is an alum of the USC Gould School of Law.
• Native, an AI-based language coach designed to teach conversational English to nonnative speakers. Founded by USC Marshall alum Jessie Tran.
• Praxi, a technical accounting tool that distills business contracts into checklists and memos. Founded by USC Marshall alum James Kinda.
• Preface Health (formerly Fluency), a predictive AI copilot for outpatient care. Founder is Geoffrey Gu, an alum of the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences.
• Prismia touts “error-free AI documentation for real estate.” Founded by Charlie Geraci, an alum of the USC Jimmy Iovine and Andre Young Academy.
• Silver Spur Therapeutics is developing a drug delivery method to treat a progressive form of kidney disease. Co-founder Eun Ji Chung is a USC Viterbi associate professor of biomedical engineering.
• VideoDraft, an AI-powered platform that streamlines video production from concept to completion, automating scripting, storyboarding, editing and more. Founded by Charan Kilari, a former engineer at Apple who earned his master’s in multimedia and creative technologies from USC Viterbi.