Kate Gallo, founder and CEO of Underdog, launched her startup in order to address safety concerns for women and others who feel unsafe on a college campus. Competing in pitch competitions and securing around $70,000 in funding, Underdog’s platform of events and workshops — ranging from self-defense classes to healthy relationship boundaries workshops — has gone on to win support from colleges and sororities nationwide. Underdog charges universities and other customers that use its services an annual subscription fee, which includes a defined number of classes and events as well as access to resources, training and campus safety tips via its online platform. The individual end user is not charged to use Underdog’s platform.
I grew up dreaming about changing the world while doing something I loved.
Some of my strongest memories of high school are sitting at the kitchen counter talking about the news with my dad while he cooked dinner and thinking of ways to solve global problems.
I had many strong interests and things I cared about, but I wasn’t sure what cause I wanted to focus on until my freshman year of college at the University of Pittsburgh.
Growing up in suburban New Jersey, moving to a city proved a significant life shift — taking buses to unfamiliar neighborhoods, walking city streets daily and even dating was all new to me. I realized very quickly I had no knowledge of how to keep myself safe physically or psychologically, nor did any of my friends.
After hearing stories from my sisters, friends and strangers of the similarly dangerous situations they were going through, including sexual harassment, assault and abuse, I got fed up with sitting idly by and letting my ignorance and hope of safety be the only things that kept me protected.
My journey with Underdog began in the spring of 2021 when I competed in the Big Idea Blitz through Pitt’s Big Idea Center, pitching our initial idea and winning first place.
Since then, we’ve heard from hundreds of women+ that they also feel unsafe and unable to protect themselves, physically or psychologically. About two dozen colleges and sororities have reached out over the past few months asking how soon we can host events on their campus, spanning from Pittsburgh to Texas to California.
Our last six months as a team have been focused on hosting events on Pitt’s campus to test our suite of events. The highlights of those events include a “Healthy Relationship Boundaries” workshop co-hosted with the dating app Bumble, and a situational and physical self-defense class we organized for the sorority Chi Omega with very talented trainers from a local jiu-jitsu gym called Stout PGH.
Throughout the past year, we’ve competed in many of the largest pitch competitions at Pitt and in the City of Pittsburgh, winning five of them and receiving non-dilutive funding totaling around $70,000. And I’ve been incredibly lucky to have family and friends that support me in what I do, as well as access to resources through Pitt Business and the Big Idea Center and mentors that have helped indescribably in filling the knowledge gaps I currently have. I will always be beyond thankful for the team of coworkers and advisors at Underdog that have helped to move this vision forward.
If the need for Underdog isn’t clear from the statistics and daily news stories of women+ getting harassed, attacked or trapped in abusive relationships, it is made ever clearer every day when we receive requests for events, questions from students or anonymously submitted stories. Effective, preventive and empowering safety measures for women+ have been a necessary solution for centuries, and we’re proud to be part of a new generation of technology and ideas that listens to women+ and provides what is needed to save lives.
ABOUT KATE GALLO AND UNDERDOG:
Title: Founder and CEO, Underdog
Year established: 2022
Age: 20
Employees: Four
