This wasn’t Endicott’s first rodeo, but it may have been its boldest yet.
On April 15, Spark Tank returned for its 12th year, transforming Cleary Lecture Hall into a full-scale startup showdown complete with cowboy flair, bright lights, and serious entrepreneurial ambition.
Presented by the Colin and Erika Angle Center for Entrepreneurship and supported by the generous partnership of Cummings Foundation and TD Bank, Spark Tank gives student entrepreneurs the opportunity to take the stage, pitch their ventures to industry experts, and compete for funding to bring their ideas to life.
This year’s theme, “Choose Your Own Adventure,” was a reminder that innovation is a bit like the Wild West; it isn't perfect, and each Gull must have a pioneering spirit and pave their own trail into the unknown.
“Innovation rarely begins as certainty—it begins as a question, a tension, a quiet recognition that something in the world could be better. It starts not with answers, but with curiosity and, often, with doubt. Tonight is a celebration of that space,” said Gina Deschamps, Chair and Executive Director of the Angle Center.
This year’s judges included David Fergusson, Executive Managing Director of M&A at Generational Group and a Senior Fellow at the MIT Media Lab; Justin Young, Assistant Vice President of Unum Ventures; and Carole O’Leary, student entrepreneurship mentor at Munster Technological University and the Rubicon Centre in Ireland.
Out of a record-breaking 33 applications, only 10 teams earned a spot on the stage, making this year’s competition more selective than ever. As the night unfolded, several standout ideas captured the judges’ and audience’s attention, but one venture ultimately rose above the rest.
Liam Weiss ’22 M’23, creator of Site Intelligence, took home the night’s top prize: $10,000 in funding and the opportunity to spend part of the summer in Cork, Ireland. After three years working in construction project management, Weiss identified a clear gap in the industry and set out to build a smarter solution.
“Despite the last 25 years of technological advancements, the construction review layer has stayed almost unchanged. Across the world, construction project managers are reviewing hundreds of project options. They’re looking for errors that could cost their clients millions,” said Weiss.
“Right now, there’s no efficient way for them to do this. It never really ends, from bids to close out and back again to ongoing maintenance,” he added. “There are documents that are flying everywhere. All these are often tracked separately and cross-referenced in different platforms. It’s a very difficult way for project managers to review things.”
That’s where Weiss’ Site Intelligence comes in. Powered by AI, the platform gives project managers a clear view of project documents, deadlines, and risks. Users can upload entire project folders for automatic classification, risk analysis, and instant answers via an AI chat feature, eliminating the need to manually search through files.
One of the night’s most supported pitches was Skewt, presented by Michael Sherriff ’26, Andrew Aylwin ’26, and Arnau Sagues Pedrosa ’26, whose innovative snowboard mobility device won over the audience and earned the Fan Favorite Award, along with a $1,000 prize.
Designed to mount directly between a snowboard’s bindings, Skewt uses retractable tracks to help riders glide through lift lines and across flat terrain without sacrificing the natural feel of the ride. Built with accessibility and ease of use in mind, the device aims to make snowboarding more approachable for beginners and riders with physical limitations.
For Sophie Bordelon ’29, her nonprofit, D.O.V.E Deliveries, was inspired directly by her family’s personal experience. Her brother, who has autism, bipolar disorder, and a psychiatric condition called catatonia, has spent the past five years in and out of hospitals.
“Often when visiting him, I see the same patients over and over again, left with no visitors. They are left without any comfort items, and sometimes the psychiatric units don’t even provide basic essentials,” said Bordelon. “Over sixty percent of psychiatric patients report feeling isolation and loneliness during treatment.”
Through donations from community members, Bordelon creates comfort bags filled with essential items such as shampoo, deodorant, body wash, socks, blankets, and more. The finance major hand-delivers them to care facilities across the North Shore.
Second place (and $3,000) went to Teo Berbic ’26 and Conrad Kadel ’26 for simplifyAi, an AI system designed to help small businesses reclaim time by automating repetitive back-end tasks.
Third place (and $2,000) went to Eric Hine ’27 & Endi Zumbuli (a University of Connecticut student) with their venture Envoyya, an AI concierge specifically designed for boutique and independent hotels.
Additional student and alumni ventures supported by the Angle Center included Brennan Drolet ’27 with Clarus; Amanda Alvarez ’26 with Minty 318; Kara Stingo M’25 with The Smart Cookie; Conor Dunleavy ’26 with Venue View; and Madison Snyder ’26 with Aphira.
“As Steve Jobs once said: ‘The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.’ Tonight, we saw a room full of changemakers,” said Deschamps.