The Mayleben Venture Shaping (Phase I) grants are part of the Zell Lurie Institute’s Student Startup Grants Program, which moves University of Michigan students through the business creation process by offering startup workshops and awarding grants to individuals and/or student teams.
The Mayleben Venture Shaping (Phase I) grant program takes students through the process of constructing a viable business out of a business idea – a differentiated, sustainable venture that holds commercial promise and that can be launched. Support for the Mayleben Family Venture Shaping Grants is provided by Tim Mayleben, CEO and president of Aastrom Biosciences, and his wife Dawn Evans. The Mayleben Family believes in the power of action-based learning and entrepreneurial education.
The 2023-2024 Mayleben Venture Shaping (Phase I) $500 grants have been awarded to the following ventures:
Ad-Ventures
Steven Lohan, BBA ‘26, Adam Simpson, BS ‘24 | Mayleben Venture Shaping Phase I (Fall 2023)
Ad-Ventures seeks to utilize the property and window-space of people in high visibility areas as well as within vehicles to deliver ads to targeted communities while providing a source of passive income for said independent advertisers.
Anti-Stress Sphere
Gabriel Bauer, BA ‘25 | Mayleben Venture Shaping Phase I (Fall 2023)
A social network for individuals struggling with similar distress.
Birdseye
Jeong Hin Chin, MSI ‘25 | Mayleben Venture Shaping Phase I (Fall 2023)
A free platform for humanities scholars to share digital primary sources primarily on the topics of Asian history where the scholars are able to query documents using neural information retrieval and communicate with other scholars in messaging rooms.
Campus Chats
Jeong Hin Chin, MSI ‘25 | Mayleben Venture Shaping Phase I (Fall 2023)
Campus Chats provides high school students with college advice by virtually connecting them with currently enrolled college students who provide insights into the student experience at their school.
ChargeGo
Faisal A. Khan, EMBA ‘24 | Mayleben Venture Shaping Phase I (Fall 2023)
The two definitive problems are: 1) Where can I find a charging station that has sufficient power to charge my car, preferably close to home; and 2) What are the wait times so I may plan accordingly? With our busy day-to-day lives, an electric vehicle (EV) may seem efficient but being able to operate it with convenience is the crux of the issue.
ClimatEco
Faye Xiao, BBA/BS ‘25 | Mayleben Venture Shaping Phase I (Fall 2023)
Sustainable products cashback and education platform seeking to educate and incentivize consumers to make more eco-friendly decisions.
CoPrint Housing
Jakob Bouna, BBA ‘27 | Mayleben Venture Shaping Phase I (Fall 2023)
CoPrint Housing 3D prints low-income homes and communities for those in need.
Culturally Informed Mental Health
Dilan Swami, BS ‘25 | Mayleben Venture Shaping Phase I (Fall 2023)
We are dedicated to improving mental health care by creating culturally sensitive and empowering services.
Dadul Academy
Tenzin Dadul | Mayleben Venture Shaping Phase I (Fall 2023)
Design For You
Mingfei Liu, MBA ‘25, Yiwen Zhang, MBA ‘25, Xuekun Su, MBA ‘25 | Mayleben Venture Shaping Phase I (Fall 2023)
An online design service platform to provide customers with interior design solutions, online art education and product sales business.
Frost Factor Cooling
Naethan Mundkur, MBA ‘24 | Mayleben Venture Shaping Phase I (Fall 2023)
FrostFactor aims to revolutionize advanced cooling and heat recovery solutions for high-performance PCs and electronics cooling by offering an innovative air pre-cooling technology.
HELIOS Aeronautics, Inc.
Eric Gavizon, BSE ‘27, Avery Blalock, BSE ‘27, Ryan Kaelle, BSE ‘27 | Mayleben Venture Shaping Phase I (Fall 2023)
HELIOS Aeronautics strives to provide the world with an entirely sustainable solar-hydrogen hybrid airplane capable of rivaling its jet-fueled counterparts.
Herbtropica Co.
Marlena Branham, MSI ‘25 | Mayleben Venture Shaping Phase I (Fall 2023)
Elevating your well-being with premium organic herbal blends, carefully crafted to nourish the body and soul naturally.
Maize Entertainment
Robert Feldman, BA ‘26, Ben Kahn, BA ‘26, Tomi Bruno, BSE ‘26, Nate Edinberg, BA ‘26 | Mayleben Venture Shaping Phase I (Fall 2023)
Maize Entertainment is a streaming service for student-produced music and movies.
MinaRosa
Ana Timoficiuc, BSE ‘24, Lily Li, BS ‘24 | Mayleben Venture Shaping Phase I (Fall 2023)
MinaRosa (TM) is a health biotech start-up that offers a medical alternative light-therapy solution for Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs) to empower all people, especially women underserved by medical healthcare, to take control of their well-being.
OrganFlow
Karthik Ramasubramanian, MBA ‘24, Jordan Silva, MD ‘26, Tyler Dann, MD ‘26 | Mayleben Venture Shaping Phase I (Fall 2023)
OrganFlow is building an automated clinical decision support system to enhance real-time transplant surgeon decision making and help to redefine the organ exchange process.
Project HEAL
Brianna Ross, MBA ‘26, Maya Ambady, MBA/MPH ‘26 | Mayleben Venture Shaping Phase I (Fall 2023)
A platform-based app or model designed to facilitate patient-provider communication and self-advocacy; it will be integrated into healthcare provider websites and funded by Medicaid plans.
PosturePal
Pooja Saran, MBA ‘24 | Mayleben Venture Shaping Phase I (Fall 2023)
Posture Pal is the developer of an AI-powered virtual assistant that provides real-time posture and mobility feedback to prevent employee burnout caused by prolonged hours sitting and working at a desk; the company aims to improve employee wellness, especially for those in high-demanding careers such as consulting, investment banking, and law.
PrisonMusik
Brooks Moore, MM ‘24 | Mayleben Venture Shaping Phase I (Fall 2023)
A nonprofit organization that facilitates the necessary infrastructure for music production in prisons and navigates the distribution landscape while redirecting profits back into underserved communities.
Project Pathfinder
Ronil Chaudhary, BS ‘26, Tamberly Williams, BS ‘26 | Mayleben Venture Shaping Phase I (Fall 2023)
Project Pathfinder, emerging from insights gleaned from our customer discovery interviews, is a carefully crafted platform aimed at aiding individuals battling substance use disorders.
Project-STEM
Robert Silaghi, BBA ‘27, Kieran Llarena, BS ‘27 | Mayleben Venture Shaping Phase I (Fall 2023)
Project-STEM is a K-12 math and science tutoring organization that is dedicated to providing high-quality personalized tutoring at a low price.
PTDaily
Yiwen Zhang, MBA ‘25, Guanyong (Leo) Liu, MBA ‘25 | Mayleben Venture Shaping Phase I (Fall 2023)
PTDaily is an online platform that is dedicated to help improve the fitness industry by developing a client focused, multidisciplinary model which includes physical therapists, nutritionists and exercise physiologists. Elevating personal trainers to fitness engineers.
SEL
Ryosuke Takenaka, MBA ‘25 | Mayleben Venture Shaping Phase I (Fall 2023)
Online Platform for children’s Social and Emotional Learning (SEL).
SHARITEM
Ronghao Wang, BBA ’27, Allen Lin, CSE ‘27 | Mayleben Venture Shaping Phase I (Fall 2023)
We provide individuals with the ability to own whenever, wherever, and whatever they want.
Sustainable GenZ Laundry
Ati Kian, BA ‘23 | Mayleben Venture Shaping Phase I (Fall 2023)
We are seeking to relieve both the environmental and labor stressors which result from fast fashion processes through offering an affordable and stylistically relevant alternative.
Tweel’s Wheels
Lauren Tweel, MBA ‘24 | Mayleben Venture Shaping Phase I (Fall 2023)
Tweels Wheels aims to design and build toys for children living with a physical disability so that they can achieve the same social and intellectual opportunities to experience play as able-bodied children are able to without assistance.
Wardrobe Whisper
Amelia Zhang, BBA ‘25 | Mayleben Venture Shaping Phase I (Fall 2023)
WardrobeWhisper is real, authentic, and diverse, providing clothing reviews by the people for the people.
Calorie Dense Nutrition
Joshua Dubler, BS ‘25 | Mayleben Venture Shaping Phase I (Winter 2024)
Calorie Dense Nutrition (CDN) makes a delicious 600 calorie nutrition bar with no added sugars that empowers our consumers consisting of athletes and busy-individuals to meet their performance and life goals by allowing them to conveniently obtain a nutrient-dense and cost-effective meal.
CereteraBot
Siddharth Anilkumar Bhurat, MS ‘24, Gokul Prabhakaran, MS ‘24 | Mayleben Venture Shaping Phase I (Winter 2024)
Developing a mobile robot platform capable of navigating uneven terrain, circumventing tall and densely packed crops, and implementing precision agriculture techniques, including targeted and optimized chemical spraying for fertilizers and pesticides based on individual plant health, contributing to an efficient and cost-effective approach in promoting both plant health and overall agricultural sustainability.
Curbsyde
Beverly Blaze, MBA ‘25 | Mayleben Venture Shaping Phase I (Winter 2024)
Curbsyde seeks to deliver the information and services that allow you to know what is wrong with your vehicle, how much it should cost, and what authorized repair shop fulfills your criteria to repair it so you feel confident when facing car repairs or maintenance. Our platform gives you immediate access to repair advice, maintenance prices and auto body shop marketplace bids that fit your knowledge, budget and quality needs, unlike dealerships and independent repair shops.
Girls Who Impact
Ruolin Zhang, BS ‘24 | Mayleben Venture Shaping Phase I (Winter 2024)
Girls Who Impact creates a place where young women are at the forefront of change, driving impactful solutions and creating lasting connections that foster growth, leadership, and community.
GlowCrop
Karishma Lunawat, MSCM ‘24 | Mayleben Venture Shaping Phase I (Winter 2024)
Our business focuses on the use of food irradiation technology to extend the shelf life of fruits and vegetables, thereby minimizing waste and tackling demand-supply mismatch.
Lex Daemon
Noah McGuire, BS ‘24 | Mayleben Venture Shaping Phase I (Winter 2024)
Lex Daemon is a contract and litigation management application integrated in the Google Workspace using vector database enhanced artificial intelligence.
Mercurial
Aditya Jalin, MS ‘24 | Mayleben Venture Shaping Phase I (Winter 2024)
Mercurial is a mental health assistant that utilizes wearable sensor data and advanced analytics to capture objective, real-time mood data without reliance on inaccurate self-reports.
Milieu Symbiotics
Nathan Shatz, BS ‘25, Saad Umar, BBA ‘26, Alex Wilhelm, BSE ‘26 | Mayleben Venture Shaping Phase I (Winter 2024)
Milieu Symbiotics offers tailored skin and scalp health solutions, combining advanced AI with scientific research to create personalized products that nurture the skin microbiome.
NeoNest
Erin Donnelly, MS ‘24, Dhiya Krupashankar, BBA/BSE ‘24 | Mayleben Venture Shaping Phase I (Winter 2024)
NeoNest is a nonprofit creating a low cost, non-electric infant incubator to treat global neonatal hypothermia in low resource communities.
Younity
Ryan Kohn, BA ‘24 | Mayleben Venture Shaping Phase I (Winter 2024)
Mental health empowerment and educational platform for athletes.