The contemporary world is motivated by data-driven decision-making. Small 501(c)3 nonprofit organizations are often limited in their reach due to their size, lack of funding, and a lack of data analysis expertise. In an effort to increase accessibility to data analysis for such organizations, a Founders Lab team designed a product to help them understand and utilize geographic information systems (GIS) software. This product – You Got GIS – strikes the balance between highly technical documentation and general overviews, benefiting 501(c)3 nonprofits in their pursuit of data-driven decision-making. Through the product’s use of case studies and methodologies, You Got GIS serves as a thought experiment platform to start answering questions regarding GIS. The product aims to continuously build partnerships in an effort to improve curriculum and user engagement.

A large section of United States citizens live far away from supermarkets and do not have<br/>an easy way to get to one. This portion of the population lives in an area called a food desert.<br/>Food deserts are geographic areas in which access to affordable, healthy food, such as fresh<br/>produce, is limited or completely nonexistent due to the absence of convenient grocery stores.<br/>Individuals living in food deserts are left to rely on convenience store snacks and fast food for<br/>their meals because they do not have access to a grocery store with fresh produce in their area.<br/>Unhealthy foods also lead to health issues, as people living in food deserts are typically at a<br/>higher risk of diet-related conditions, such as obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.<br/>Harvest, a sustainable farming network, is a smartphone application that teaches and guides<br/>people living in small spaces through the process of growing fresh, nutritious produce in their<br/>own homes. The app will guide users through the entire process of gardening, from seed to<br/>harvest. Harvest would give individuals living in food deserts an opportunity to access fresh<br/>produce that they currently can’t access. An overwhelming response based on our user<br/>discussion and market analysis revealed that our platform was in demand. Development of a<br/>target market, brand guide, and full lifecycle were beneficial during the second semester as<br/>Harvest moved forward. Through the development of a website, social media platform, and<br/>smartphone application, Harvest grew traction for our platform. Our social media accounts saw a<br/>1700% growth rate, and this wider audience was able to provide helpful feedback.

A large section of United States citizens live far away from supermarkets and do not have an easy way to get to one. This portion of the population lives in an area called a food desert. Food deserts are geographic areas in which access to affordable, healthy food, such as fresh produce, is limited or completely nonexistent due to the absence of convenient grocery stores. Individuals living in food deserts are left to rely on convenience store snacks and fast food for their meals because they do not have access to a grocery store with fresh produce in their area. Unhealthy foods also lead to health issues, as people living in food deserts are typically at a higher risk of diet-related conditions, such as obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. Harvest, a sustainable farming network, is a smartphone application that teaches and guides people living in small spaces through the process of growing fresh, nutritious produce in their own homes. The app will guide users through the entire process of gardening, from seed to harvest. Harvest would give individuals living in food deserts an opportunity to access fresh produce that they currently can’t access. An overwhelming response based on our user discussion and market analysis revealed that our platform was in demand. Development of a target market, brand guide, and full-lifecycle were beneficial during the second semester as Harvest moved forward. Through the development of a website, social media platform, and smartphone application, Harvest grew traction for our platform. Our social media accounts saw a 1700% growth rate, and this wider audience was able to provide helpful feedback.

A large section of United States citizens live far away from supermarkets and do not have an easy way to get to one. This portion of the population lives in an area called a food desert. Food deserts are geographic areas in which access to affordable, healthy food, such as fresh produce, is limited or completely nonexistent due to the absence of convenient grocery stores. Individuals living in food deserts are left to rely on convenience store snacks and fast food for their meals because they do not have access to a grocery store with fresh produce in their area. Unhealthy foods also lead to health issues, as people living in food deserts are typically at a higher risk of diet-related conditions, such as obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. Harvest, a sustainable farming network, is a smartphone application that teaches and guides people living in small spaces through the process of growing fresh, nutritious produce in their own homes. The app will guide users through the entire process of gardening, from seed to harvest. Harvest would give individuals living in food deserts an opportunity to access fresh produce that they currently can’t access. An overwhelming response based on our user discussion and market analysis revealed that our platform was in demand. Development of a target market, brand guide, and full lifecycle were beneficial during the second semester as Harvest moved forward. Through the development of a website, social media platform, and smartphone application, Harvest grew traction for our platform. Our social media accounts saw a 1700% growth rate, and this wider audience was able to provide helpful feedback.

As part of the Founders’ lab program, this thesis explores a social venture idea whose concept is to connect the philanthropic community with individuals and organizations in need of funding a project relating to (Sustainable Development Goals) SDG indicators through a peer to peer donation platform. Through this platform, the philanthropic community will have the possibility to easily access a wide range of projects to support as well as underserved individuals and communities seeking for help, track their impact, donate in a complete transparent donation process, and automate donations through bank card rounds-up. This social venture idea has been named PhilanthroGo.

Founders Lab is a thesis pathway for Barrett students under W.P. Carey’s Center for Entrepreneurship. The pathway provides students of all majors with the opportunity to experience entrepreneurship through designing a business idea and obtaining traction for that idea. In this honors thesis project, safety on the Arizona State University campus was considered to create a business idea involving personal safety jewelry. Throughout the year of Founders Lab, this concept has been refined and ultimately tested for its demand and potential.

Founders Lab is a thesis pathway for Barrett students under W.P. Carey’s Center for Entrepreneurship. The pathway provides students of all majors with the opportunity to experience entrepreneurship through designing a business idea and obtaining traction for that idea. In this honors thesis project, safety on the Arizona State University campus was considered to create a business idea involving personal safety jewelry. Throughout the year of Founders Lab, this concept has been refined and ultimately tested for its demand and potential.

A significant sub-market within student affairs has been long ignored and broken: Student housing success. Research shows that strong relationships between students that live together are crucial to the well-being and academic success of that student. The problem is that universities have not figured out a standard way to group students effectively with some universities opting to market this inefficiency as a normal part of the college experience. For our thesis as a part of Founders Lab, we created our company, RiZing, to tackle this inefficiency. RiZing addresses the student-housing gap and proves that the lack of effective matching can be solved with the right people and of course, video games. Both students and higher education institutions are desperately trying to solve this problem. General event service vendors are racing just as quickly to serve this collegiate market and are extremely motivated to work with anyone who does. As the world today is becoming increasingly digitized, the founders of RiZing believe that the solution to building and maintaining strong connections with peers is possible through leveraging technology such as video games to create strong personal bonds.

A significant sub-market within student affairs has been long ignored and broken: Student housing success. Research shows that strong relationships between students that live together are crucial to the well-being and academic success of that student. The problem is that universities have not figured out a standard way to group students effectively with some universities opting to market this inefficiency as a normal part of the college experience. For our thesis as a part of Founders Lab, we created our company, RiZing, to tackle this inefficiency. RiZing addresses the student-housing gap and proves that the lack of effective matching can be solved with the right people and of course, video games. Both students and higher education institutions are desperately trying to solve this problem. General event service vendors are racing just as quickly to serve this collegiate market and are extremely motivated to work with anyone who does. As the world today is becoming increasingly digitized, the founders of RiZing believe that the solution to building and maintaining strong connections with peers is possible through leveraging technology such as video games to create strong personal bonds.

A significant sub-market within student affairs has been long ignored and broken: Student housing success. Research shows that strong relationships between students that live together are crucial to the well-being and academic success of that student. The problem is that universities have not figured out a standard way to group students effectively with some universities opting to market this inefficiency as a normal part of the college experience. For our thesis as a part of Founders Lab, we created our company, RiZing, to tackle this inefficiency. RiZing addresses the student-housing gap and proves that the lack of effective matching can be solved with the right people and of course, video games. Both students and higher education institutions are desperately trying to solve this problem. General event service vendors are racing just as quickly to serve this collegiate market and are extremely motivated to work with anyone who does. As the world today is becoming increasingly digitized, the founders of RiZing believe that the solution to building and maintaining strong connections with peers is possible through leveraging technology such as video games to create strong personal bonds.