Hello TYErs,

What a great event last Sunday. Am proud of all of you  ‘graduates’ of the TYE class of 2013-2014. What a remarkable display of ideas, smartness, discipline, organization and presentation.

Congratulations to all of you! As I had said at the event you are all winners irrespective of placements. Though I knew you will all do a great job, I (and everyone gathered including the judges) were truly amazed at the assimilation of knowledge gained through a short period of 10 weeks or so across the various topics we covered – idea generation, sales & marketing, operations, financials etc, the team work / professionalism at display and the presentations.

Here is a short summary of the various teams and the ideas.

  • A total of 6 teams presented – 4 high school teams and 2 middle school teams
  • Cross section of ideas ranging from Healthcare to Social Networks to Women Empowerment
    • Team 1 – DocAid – An online/mobile medical record keeping system targeted at healthcare professionals and hospitals in Latin America
    • Team 2 – Vizon – A wearable electronic device (‘smart cane’) for the blind with an ultrasonic sensor to help them avoid obstacles
    • Team 3 – Zorinc – A flexible table that can be attached to a bed to keep objects (books, laptops) etc  in a comfortable position for correct posture
    • Team 4 – Fantopus – A focused, moderated, safe social network with special interest groups specifically targeted at teens/tweens
    • Team 5 – TrustLocker – An online subscription based network of close knit individuals who can vouch for a limited number (10) of others who they trust and could help in referral based hiring/recruitment
    • Team 6 – Adhane – A combination of microfinancing for women who own small businesses around the world and an ecommerce channel to create a market for their products in the US
  • The order of placements  – first place Team 6, followed by Team 5, Team 2, Team 4, Team 1 and Team 3 in that order
  • The first place gets $600, the second $300, third $200 and the 4th, 5th and 6th place teams get $100 each
  • The winning team will represent Dallas at the Global finals in Vancouver in June 2014

Next Steps

> We will likely arrange a team social sometime soon and will distribute the prize checks at that time. Alternatively these could be mailed to your addresses. Stay tuned

> The global will be held in Vancouver in June (21-23). We will communicate additional details,  logistics and planning for this soon.

Several of you and your parents took pictures. If you would like, please send them to me so that I can add these to the gallery and we will keep it updated.

Thanks again for the opportunity to have been able to work with you all..

Ram