Following the proposals, students called on an audience of approximately 40 students to offer criticism and ideas on how the pitches could be changed or improved.
Student entrepreneurs practiced pitching their companies to potential future investors and to present both their accomplishments and future goals of the company.
Companies apply at the beginning of each term and only four or five are selected to go through a 10-week accelerator program to develop the organization, culminating in a final presentation. Mitosis helps students expand their ideas and projects with the aid of resources such as funding and mentorship.
"It was mostly interest-based we open up the application to anybody but these were companies we thought would be interested in the program," said Riley Ennis'15, who will leave Dartmouth at the end of the term to pursue a Thiel Fellowship. "We're still learning. They're almost like guinea pigs."
Jon Kubert '16 presented on behalf of DiagnosMe, a device and smartphone application that allows individuals to monitor their immune system from home and detect disease prior to the onset of external symptoms. Ennis, Kiah Williams '15 and Rob Lauzen '15 are also involved.
Andrew Gay '14 and Garrett Waggoner '13 spoke about Samsara, a water bottle system that filters and flavors water and which is currently patent pending.
Derek Salama '14 presented Food Circles, a mobile app that connects students looking to dine with others on college campuses and which intends to expand to the business world.
Last fall, the Mitosis companies presented to a group of potential investors, allowing students to seek funding for their projects, Kubert said. No investors were present at this term's showcase.
"It was more about companies practicing giving their pitches, and it was not as formal as it was in the fall," Kubert said. "Part of it was that it was Memorial Day weekend and people did not want to come up to Hanover."
Ennis said Mitosis had investors work with the companies throughout the term, so the organization had not planned on the showcase being a source of funding. He said the spring event largely aimed to showcase a more "seasoned" idea and company to campus.
Earlier in the term, Mitosis hosted Matt Rightmire, a partner at Hanover-based Borealis Ventures, to lecture on the importance of "hooking" investors in the first 30-seconds of a pitch and specifying the precise amounts and uses of funds requested, Graham Mellen '15 said.
"In terms of investors, our attendance was sub-optimal," Mellen said. "However, we had a solid turnout of students on campus with an interest in entrepreneurship who were interested to see the companies and ideas we've been working with."
Ennis said that while the number of attendees was not large, student engagement was high-quality.
"It's not a number games given we only have 4,000 students on campus," he said. "It's the quality of the students who are constructively growing and criticizing the ventures. Yes, not everyone on campus showed up, but it was a really solid event given that we're also during finals."
In the fall, Mitosis will be incorporated into the new office of entrepreneurship and technology transfer and will work heavily executive director Trip Davis '90.
"What we commit the most time to is supporting the students," Ennis said. "I'm happy the College is starting to move in that direction as well."
Staff writer Josh Koenig contributed reporting.
