Three days, 15 startup teams and more than $2,500 in awards highlight a weekend of innovation, collaboration and entrepreneurship.
The Texas Tech Innovation Hub welcomed 135 students to Red Raider Startup October 2-4, introducing a redesigned, fast-paced experience that challenged participants to turn early-stage ideas into working concepts in just one weekend.
By Sunday afternoon, participants had formed 15 startup teams, developed low fidelity prototypes, received feedback from industry experts and pitched their ideas to judges and community members, competing for more than $2,500 in cash prizes and awards.
This fall's event marked a significant shift in the Innovation Hub's approach to experiential entrepreneurship. The renovated program replaced lengthy instructional sessions with a series of short, hands-on Startup Labs, Sprints, and Challenges, giving students the opportunity to learn entrepreneurial fundamentals and immediately put them into practice.
Three Days to Build Something New
The weekend opened Friday with Idea Mania, where students had just 45 seconds to pitch an early-stage idea to fellow participants. After voting on their favorite concepts, students formed teams and began developing their ideas.
From there, the pace accelerated.
Startup Labs introduced concepts including problem identification, customer discovery, competitive analysis and revenue models. Each session was followed by a Sprint, challenging teams to apply what they learned, make decisions and move their concepts forward.
Creative competitions, including an Innovation Hub scavenger hunt, Brand Blitz and one-minute elevator pitch challenge, kept students engaged while encouraging teamwork and entrepreneurial thinking.
Saturday brought opportunities to test those ideas with experienced entrepreneurs and industry experts. During Ask the Experts, iTTU Mentors challenged teams to examine their assumptions, identify potential customers and strengthen their business models.
The afternoon shifted from planning to building. Following a keynote from Innovation Hub Accelerator graduate and entrepreneur Adam Muslow, students entered a two-hour prototyping sprint, creating physical models, digital mockups, wireframes and other early demonstrations of their concepts.
Teams then showcased their prototypes, collected feedback and identified opportunities for improvement before Sunday's final presentations.
Throughout the weekend, entrepreneurs shared firsthand perspectives on the challenges of building a business. Ricky Gaines discussed his entrepreneurial journey through Innovation Hub programs, while Oliver Currlin and Mo Alabdali shared insights on navigating rejection, overcoming setbacks and continuing to move forward.
Turning Ideas into Opportunities
By Sunday, the Innovation Hub was filled with teams preparing to demonstrate how far their ideas had progressed.
Fifteen teams presented their concepts during the Red Raider Startup Showcase, with three finalists advancing to a final round of pitches and demonstrations.
Among them was Protocall, a student team exploring how technology could improve emergency response and safety outcomes. The team proposed an application designed to help facilities anticipate potential emergencies and improve the speed and accuracy of safety responses.
Their concept earned the $1,000 Red Raider Startup Grand Prize, sponsored by the Lubbock Economic Development Alliance (LEDA).
Protocall's team included Brenna Tarbay, Andrew Craythorne, Rati Reza Chondhury, Cole Jiral, Zachary Smith, Joseph Cunningham and Adam Thompson.
Another standout was AcoustiCardia, whose interdisciplinary team explored a wearable heart-sound sensor designed to identify potential cardiovascular disease through continuous acoustic monitoring. The proposed technology aims to make early cardiovascular screening more accessible and affordable, particularly for underserved communities.
The team's work resonated with attendees, earning the $500 People's Choice Award, sponsored by the Bryan Pearce Bagley Regents Chair.
AcoustiCardia brought together students from across Texas Tech, including the College of Arts & Sciences and Edward E. Whitacre Jr. College of Engineering. Team members included Voshita Parvathaneni, An Le, Hesaneh Ahmadi (Ava), Alessandro D'Amora, Maja Ohizu, Dev Bhakta, Serena Palmer, Isabela Haskins and Anthony Garcia-Fermin.
Together, the two award-winning concepts reflected the range of ideas developed throughout the weekend, from public safety technology to accessible health care, and demonstrated how students from different disciplines can collaborate to address real-world challenges.
An Investment in West Texas Innovation
Red Raider Startup's success was supported by a network of community partners, entrepreneurs and mentors committed to helping students explore entrepreneurship.
More than $2,500 in cash prizes and awards were distributed throughout the weekend, alongside the largest number of community-sponsored giveaways in the event's history. Support from partners such as LEDA and the Bryan Pearce Bagley Regents Chair reinforces the connection between Texas Tech's emerging innovators and Lubbock's entrepreneurial community, providing opportunities for students to develop ideas, build relationships and explore the potential for future ventures.
For Texas Tech, the redesigned Red Raider Startup demonstrates the value of hands-on, interdisciplinary learning. For Lubbock, it represents an opportunity to engage the next generation of entrepreneurs and connect them with the resources and expertise available in West Texas.
And for the 135 students who participated, it was an opportunity to experience entrepreneurship firsthand.
They arrived Friday with ideas. By Sunday, they had teams, prototypes, business models and the experience of presenting their work to a room full of people ready to see what they could build.
In three days, Red Raider Startup showed what can happen when students are given the space, resources and encouragement to start.