Whether taking an idea into the development stage or already working on the next new startup, student entrepreneurs from across North Texas are coming up with the tools, technologies and innovations that have the potential to drive the future.
To highlight the young entrepreneurs and techies from across the region, from those still juggling college classed to others running fully-fledged startups, NTX Inno has compiled a list of some of the most promising and accomplished innovators poised to shape the local ecosystem and beyond.
Last year’s list included inventors as young as 13, founders, counterterrorism researchers and a business development director at local VC firm RevTech Ventures. This year’s showcases local innovators working on ventures ranging from launching rockets to using tech to help others hear again, as well as others using their entrepreneurial drive to help build the community up alongside them.
So, let’s meet the newest additions to NTX Inno’s Under 25 stars.
Those on the list were chosen based on nominations and Inno’s editorial selection process.
Kaden Smith, 24, co-founder at Progage Connect
While Flower Mound native Kaden Smith isn’t always residing in DFW, he is the co-founder of Dallas-based startup Progage Connect, a platform helping brands connect with athletes for endorsement deals. And if he’s not in North Texas, that’s likely because he’s in New York, where he’s a tight end on the New York Giants roster. Progage’s origin stems from Smith’s athletic career when he found that most deals mostly went to the star players. Since launching earlier this year, the company has pivoted from becoming a marketplace to more of a managed services platform while still focusing on the sports marketing industry. Even while in the public beta phase earlier this spring, Progage worked with around 25 companies and had around 100 athletes on the platform. The Progage team includes Head of Customer Success Jake Nelson and Head of Product Development Kyle Fenner.
Tanaka Tava, 22, co-founder and chief information officer at Videloo
Before graduating from Baylor, Fort Worth native Tanaka Tava had launched a podcast, clothing line and media production company focused on innovation and social impact. And drawing on the feeling of isolation and anxiety that comes with the ever-increasing blend between the online and real-world social scene that exists for many, he’s helping launch Florida-based Videloo, a social media platform that creates and fosters local communities. While still in its beta phase, Videloo’s platform allows users to live stream what’s going on around them and connect with others in the area. It’s planning its full launch this month. As a child of Zimbabwean immigrants, Tava said he sees his role and company as a platform for increasing diversity, equity and inclusion. Now, with a bachelor’s in theater arts from Baylor, Tava is set to attend the University of Southern California to work on a Master of Science degree in integrated design, business and technology.
James Sackville, 23, founder at Athletes in Recruitment
James Sackville jokes that he first played American football in his first matchup against the University of North Texas. Still, his skills at the Australian version of the game landed him a spot on Southern Methodist University’s lineup and brought him from Melbourne to Dallas. From here, he’s launching Athletes in Recruitment, which he describes as a mix between LinkedIn and a dating app. The startup’s platform allows student-athletes to create profiles, which can be searched by recruiters based on GPA, geography and field position. The company got early validation, completing Austin’s Newchip Accelerator last year. It had its public launch earlier this year and has already amassed more than 12,000 users across nearly 100 schools in the U.S. and Canada, at a time when the pandemic has caused matches to be canceled and in-person recruiter travel more difficult.
Emmet Halm, 20, founder of Acceptitas
After finding it difficult to build his resume in Dallas, competing for limited internship spots while taking a break from Harvard due to the lack of in-person classes, Emmet Halm asked fellow students at the university what they felt help them get accepted the most. And the overwhelming response was passion projects. So Halm launched his own last September. Called Acceptitas, the startup provides near-to-peer mentoring services to middle and high school students, helping them prep for the college admission process by designing their own passion projects and building a personal narrative. In August, the company acquired New York-based online tutoring company The Massapequa Tutor, where Halm serves as CEO and co-owner, in a move that doubled its 87-person team. Since the launch, Acceptitas has helped hundreds of users. When not working on the startup, Halm serves as a research assistant for Harvard’s Negotiation Task Force, which focuses on Euro-Atlantic and Eurasian security issues.
Dillon Baxter, 24, chief executive officer at PlantSwitch
While traveling with Southern Methodist University’s golf team, Dillon Baxter found he hated the single-use paper straws that would so often fall apart mid-drink. So, in 2020, he launched PlantSwitch. The company makes straws and cutlery produced from agave plants leftover from tequila manufacturing that biodegrades around six months. That translates to PlantSwitch clients, including the Vandelay Hospitality Group and McGuire Moorman Hospitality, saving more than 10,000 pounds of plastic each month. It’s grown from just three clients in June of last year to about 300 and has seen monthly revenue increase 350% since January. And last month, PlantSwitch reported raising $500,000 in equity funding. The company is eyeing to get more of its products on the table, with research and development efforts underway for new products, including cups, containers, and bags set to launch next year.
Akshat Sharma, 21, and Mario Flores, 24, co-founders at a stealthy food purchasing startup
With one still taking computer science classes at UT Dallas and the other a recent grad from the university, Co-founders Akshat Sharma and Mario Flores entered the North Texas startup scene with their company Reallos. Launched last year, the robotic process automation company focused on building bots that could handle the administrative tasks of real estate agents. While the company found some early success in accelerator programs, pitching at UT Dallas’ Big Idea Competition and onboarding around 20 clients, the project has been postponed due to a lack of funds. However, through those accelerator programs, they met new people and ideas. Together, they are building a new company. While Sharma declined to say what the project is called, he said the idea is to develop a social e-commerce platform for the vegan community, allowing users to make bulk purchases and split the prices and goods amongst themselves. The company is currently building its minimum viable product and hopes to launch “as soon as possible.”
Jakayla Dixon, 20, founder and president at Feel The Color
Texas Christian University student Jakayla Dixon has been working on her startup Feel The Color since she was a junior in sophomore school nearly seven years ago. The company has developed a clothing tag with raised braille and letters to help the visually impaired feel the item's color. The concept came to her from her aunt, who became blind as an adult and often asked for Dixon’s help matching clothing colors. When the company hits the market, which is expected to happen later this year, it will first focus on getting tags to consumers who need them for clothes already in their closets before working directly with clothing manufacturers. Even before its official launch, Dixon and Feel The Color have already attracted attention. In 2019, she became the youngest person to take home the $25,000 First Place prize at the United Way of Tarrant County’s social impact-focused KERNEL Live! Challenge.
Sarah Romanko, 21, operations lead at UT Dallas Entrepreneurship Club and chapter vice president at UT Dallas SkillsUSA
Sarah Romanko brought a chapter of the nonprofit professional training program SkillsUSA to UT Dallas in 2018, serving as national director at the college level for a stint. She said it was instrumental in pushing her towards entrepreneurship and hoped it could do the same for others. Through that effort and others on campus, she is helping the next crop of student startups and entrepreneurs. In addition to her work with SkillsUSA, where she now serves as vice president of the chapter, Romanko serves as the operations lead for the university’s Entrepreneurship Club and previously helped lead the UT Dallas Seed Fund as a venture capital associate. She is also currently a participant in the university program Hacking for Defense, where she is working on identifying innovative solutions for the U.S. Army and Army Reserve’s capability gaps. Her work with the university identifying the next batch of innovative startups has led her to the local VC community. She has interned for firms like RevTech Ventures and Moonshot Capital. She plans to continue working in the local ecosystem, either on the startup or investor side of the table.
Aryan Bhatnagar, 21, co-founder and CEO at EZTutor
Drawing from his own experience, Aryan Bhatnagar thinks students learn best when they hear from someone who has sat in the same classroom. And using that idea, Bhatnagar helped launch the peer-to-peer tutoring marketplace EZTutor while still a high schooler in Coppell. He’s been able to convince others of the concept, landing about $50,000 in funding, largely through pitch competitions. The company recently took home the $11,000 top prize at the Dallas semifinals leg of the Global Student Entrepreneur Awards competition. At the time, EZTutor had provided more than 8,000 hours of tutoring and had a revenue of about $180,000. The work EZTutor has done in the industry has helped it identify pain points in the space. The company recently pivoted to a SaaS model, looking to allow other tutors and extracurricular educators to automate their businesses. Bhatnagar said the company would likely kick off its first funding round following his graduation from Southern Methodist University next year.
Mavis Tang, 23, and Devan Peplow, 24, Maddie Kingsbury, 23, co-founders at Sounde
Need help hearing? There’s an app for that. And, it’s being developed by Texas Christian University grads Mavis Tang, Devan Peplow and Maddie Kingsbury. Called Sounde, the three are looking to commercialize tech designed by computer science professor Liran Ma that helps those with hearing loss by breaking sounds apart and re-piecing them together with adjusted frequencies in real-time. Sounde was launched in 2019, and that same year took home the $15,000 Third Place prize at TCU’s Values and Ventures Competition. This year, the company is looking to debut its app on the iOS store, with plans to hit the Android app store after. Tang said the goal is to make the most impact in the community, noting that funding rounds or acquisition deals could be on the table in the future. Kingsbury serves as a chief marketing officer. In addition to being a co-founder, Tang is also a doctoral student at the University of North Texas, studying strategy and entrepreneurship. Peplow serves as CEO and recently finished up a stint as a program manager at TechFW.
Kendel Rogers, 25, outreach specialist at UNT’s Health Science Center
While those active in the Fort Worth entrepreneurial ecosystem may not have heard Kendel Rogers’ name, they have likely heard a podcast she’s helped produce or read an article she’s written highlighting the activity in the Panther City. Rogers joined the University of North Texas Health Science Center in 2019, with roles ranging from helping plan events for Global Entrepreneurship Week in Fort Worth, producing the Innovate Fort Worth podcast and writing articles for entrepreneurial support organization Sparkyard. In addition to drawing attention to the movers and shakers in the Fort Worth startup scene, Rogers’ work aims to spurring more of a unified community around the ecosystem on both the private and public sides. She’s currently working on a master’s degree at Texas Tech University, studying communication and innovation. She said she ultimately hopes to advocate and create innovative solutions for people living with diabetes.
Eric Aaberg, 21, student director of esports at UT Dallas
Eric Aaberg has taken a passion for content creation and esports to build a brand for himself and build a community of others to help them hone their skills. When Aaberg started classes at UT Dallas in 2018, he was one of the first to sign up to help launch an esports program on campus. As the university’s 14th athletic team, Aaberg has helped it grow its marketing and communications on social media, bringing its following into the thousands. The program now has a staff of about 15 and around 30 volunteers. Also, on campus, Aaberg has helped launch a content career program that has helped close to 100 students figure out how to turn their personal brand into a business. He’s also managed to do that for himself. Going by Erictigerawr, Aaberg marketing, photography and content creation business. He also joined Dallas esports and entertainment company Envy Gaming in June as its new social media coordinator intern, where he primarily works on the company’s TikTok channel.
Raleigh Dewan, 21, founder at Sister Shaq Sweet Tea
Southern Methodist University student Raleigh Dewan considers himself a polymath. On top of dual majoring in creative writing and marketing, with minors in Italian, history, public policy and international affairs, Dewan is behind three different ventures. One, called Sister Shaq Sweet Tea, sells bottled tea from U.S.-grown beverages. A QR code on each bottle allows someone to choose anti-human trafficking nonprofit for the company to donate to. Dewan’s other endeavors also involve finding solutions to help others. In another project, Dewan is working with colleagues in the university’s engineering school to develop eating utensils that use similar design technology to that which stabilizes action movie set cameras in Hollywood to self-stabilize, allowing people with Parkinson’s disease to function more on their own. His other project is a platform that helps solve the “paradox of American colleges:” having to pick a major while still trying to decide a career path. On the platform, students can connect with peers, researchers and professors to get involved in projects happening on campus that they are interested in.
This article has been updated to show PlantSwitch is not partnered with Utopia Plastix.
