BYU’s Sandbox Program to Host Demo Day on April 19, 2024

April 15, 2024, Provo, Utah

On April 19, 2024 at 10:00 AM, 31 companies in BYU Sandbox's cohort three will be presenting their startups at Sandbox Demo Day. The event will take place at BYU's West Campus Building (the former Provo High School at 1125 N University Ave, Provo UT 84604).

Sandbox Demo Day will be both in-person and virtual. Seating is limited. Register to attend here: https://lnkd.in/g6TQWB3v

See list of participating companies below.

Sandbox is a full-year, for-credit capstone program for BYU students interested in entrepreneurship. It offers participating students a comprehensive, hands-on experience where they form teams and create and launch their own tech companies.The program is managed by Chris Crittenden.

Sandbox Demo Day is the year's culminating showcase for participating students. Student-led startups prepare intensely for months, present their products, and pitch their company to investors in a rapid-fire, two-minute presentation format. It operates somewhat similar to a SharkTank pitch event. A witty MC introduces each new team with often self-effacing, PG-rated humor, and lots of cultural references. Teams pitch their idea to investors and have the opportunity to receive offers for real money to scale their companies. 

See previous TechBuzz coverage of Sandbox here. 

“I didn’t know it was going to end up being as important to me as it was, said Tanner King, a current BYU student going through the Sandbox program.

King is one of three Sandbox participants that we sat down with recently to learn more about their experiences with the program; the other two were Pearl Hulbert and Brett Hilton.

Each of them had always thought that working on entrepreneurship at BYU would be awesome, given BYU's strong track record of producing successful startups. Hulbert put it this way, “It was a goal, but I wasn't sure I could do it and be great at it.”

It wasn’t until the three actually got accepted into the Sandbox program that they realized how much they loved this kind of work.

King, an engineering major, said about the program, “My plan was to get good grades, prepare the lead code questions as an engineer, do the interview, and then you get into Big Tech, a FAANG company. Then you make $200,000 a year, and that's what success looks like, right? 

King was content with pursuing that occupational plan until he got inundated with the Sandbox stories and what was possible to come out of it. He changed his plan and is now focused, as are 30 other startups, on making the most of their startup through participation in Sandbox. 

To participate in the Sandbox program, BYU students first apply and then participate in an intense hackathon.

King described it as follows:

“We all showed up on a certain day and spent all day, 12 hours straight, trying to build something interesting. The engineers were coding like crazy. The designers were fiddling like crazy. We formed teams. The project managers were making pitch decks. Others were talking to customers to get validation. It was a long day, but super fun, and it set the tone for what the rest of the experience was going to be like.” 

After the initial hackathon, students who are accepted into Sandbox go to a variety of activities that help them find the people that they want to build a team, and ultimately build a company with.

King said about his team, “They held a bunch of retreats and get-togethers. The point of all of these was to mix and mingle, and find the people you would be co-founders with. That was where I found my co-founder, Jason. I'm an engineering guy, and Jason just really had the fire. He had everything that I would want as someone who compliments me in a founder role.”

Then, the fun begins. 

After forming teams, the rest of the program focuses on building the startup from the ground up.

King and his team are working on their company Mars AI, an AI note taking software for sales calls and meetings.  Their product provides users with a transcription of what was said in the meeting. What is unique about it is that it also creates quantitative, actionable data for users to figure out their next steps.

Hulbert and her team are working on their company, EasySpeak, an app that helps people with speech impairments communicate using their phone or tablet. It uses predictive technology based on input information and what it hears in order to help users form responses.

Hilton is working as a designer for two teams in the program. One of them is KIBA, an app that turns your phone into a two-way GPS radio. The other is Stratus, an AI dental administrator that can automate calls to insurance companies and clients in order to reduce workload in dental offices.

All of these teams are putting in 30-80 hours a week on their companies, striving to grow them the best they can, all in time to pitch and showcase their company to investors at Sandbox Demo Day on April 19, 2024.

2024 Cohort 3 Sandbox Companies presenting on April 19, 2024:

Update: At the April 19th Sandbox, Chris Crittenden announced the program will be expanding to three additional universities in Utah: Utah Valley University (Orem, UT), Utah Tech University (St. George, UT), and Utah State University (Logan, UT).

Watch the 2024 Sandbox pitches here (morning session) and here (afternoon session).