CommuniGift heads to ACC innovation challenge
It was just a conversation between friends in a dorm room three years ago. How could utilizing online-giving platforms provide a better Christmas for needy kids?
It was just a conversation between friends in a dorm room three years ago. How could utilizing online-giving platforms provide a better Christmas for needy kids?
“Our big hypothesis is that giving feels better than receiving,” Carolina senior Thomas Doochin said. “All the science shows this.”
That idea led four Carolina students to start CommuniGift, and then to head out to Los Angeles to launch a new birthday platform on the West Coast. Now, they are heading to Atlanta, where the team will pit their company against some of the best student-built startups in the country.
Selected to represent the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, CommuniGift joined teams from all 15 Atlantic Coast Conference universities in the innovation pitch competition at Georgia Tech with $30,000 of prize money up for grabs. After the first day of competition, CommuniGift advanced to the final round, where the team will compete against the other top four groups in the competition.
The final round will be live streamed beginning at 8 p.m.
Competitors’ startups range from portable oxygen delivery systems and styrofoam replacement to semi-truck trailer trackers and biometric monitoring systems for firefighters.
“It’s nice to be with students who may be just as naive as we are as we’re chasing these big dreams and going after these things,” said Doochin, co-founder and CEO of CommuniGift. “We’re 21, we’re not building this to make a ton of money. We don’t need this to support a family. We’re doing something because we think it’s awesome and will make the world a better place. So it’s always inspiring to see other students and the cool innovations they are creating.”
At the competition, the CommuniGift team of Doochin, Zach Newbauer and John Wohlfert will be pitching the company they began back when they were freshmen in Horton Residence Hall.
The students’ goal with CommuniGift was to bring charitable gift-giving programs to a new, modern platform.
“It wasn’t something that we just sat down and thought ‘We want to be 19 years olds starting a company,’” Doochin said. “We see a way to make the world a better place through this. We really believe in what we’re doing.”
Through the company’s website and partnerships with online retailers, children and parents can select a needy child who wouldn’t be receiving any birthday or Christmas presents without some help – and then guests can purchase presents for the boy or girl in need.
“It’s trying to reduce the $4.5 billion spent every year on birthday gifts that all end up in closets, and trying to turn that into backpacks, books and birthdays for kids that normally go without,” he said.
Initially a platform to help provide Christmas gifts for children, CommuniGift has evolved to focus mainly on birthdays. The company launched the new birthday platform in Los Angeles last summer and is beginning the launch process in North Carolina.
While the company continues to look into more gift-giving events to which it could connect its services, Doochin said CommuniGift will always stick to its core goal of fostering a culture of charity and giving.
“We’re really excited about showing kids at 6 or 7 how meaningful giving back can be,” he said. “We want to show these kids that giving back feels good, and there’s opportunities throughout your life to give rather than receive. Feeling special is not about this table that is overflowing with wrapping paper.”
On April 5, Doochin, Newbauer and Wohlfert wrapped the history, goals and mission of CommuniGift into a two minute, 45-second pitch presented to a panel of 15 judges of entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, business executives, innovators.
In the final round, teams will present another pitch to a panel of three judges: Tammy Camp, distribution partner at 500 Startups; Vivienne Goldstein, global director or Innovation Acceleration at General Electica and co-founder of FastWorks; and Doron Weber, vice president of programs and program director for the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
Doochin said the format is a challenge as the group is used to 20-minute pitches — not ones under three minutes.
But as the team prepares to make their final pitch in Atlanta, Doochin said the group’s primary goal is to not just win the competition, but to shed light on the startup culture at Carolina.
“UNC is a public university and is about serving the public,” Doochin said. “You get here, and you’re exposed to all these needs. You’re exposed to a lot of the issues in the world. And then you’re given the tools to try to solve it. You’re told ‘No idea is too big for you. You can tackle it.’ Whether you want to start a nonprofit creating water access in Africa or you want to start a company in technology, no project is too big or too small for you to take on. UNC is an incredible consortium of people who really care and want to make a difference.
“UNC has been huge for us. The opportunity to go and speak on behalf of Carolina, and hope to bring back a win in the first year that we’ve ever done this will be really, really cool.”
To watch CommunGift compete in the final round, click here.
