Indianapolis, Indiana – An idea that several IPS students came up with while driving around Indianapolis is now making history in a state-wide business competition.
The first IPS students to ever advance to Regionals in the Innovate WithIn Pitch Competition are Kieron Bishop and his companions.
2,400 students took part in the competition this year and were asked to come up with practical solutions to problems that they encounter every day.
Kieron Bishop, a freshman, travels to and from Herron High School daily on an IndyGo bus.
He came up with the notion of building a platform where bus users could provide feedback to IndyGo on their experience while coming up with a business plan for the pitch competition.
“We are going to collect insights on what riders think about the bus, and then we are going to send those insights to IndyGo so that they can use it improve the bus,” said Bishop.
The company is known as “Bussl.”
Bishop and his team received the opportunity to engage with Salesforce on the idea’s online and app development, and Elevate Ventures awarded them $2,000 in startup cash as compensation for their video proposal.
“The key is that I want them to see problems as opportunities. When they have the mindset that they hear people complaining or they see something that could be improved, I want them to know that they can do something about it, form a team, and really go after it,” said Don Wettrick, CEO and co-founder of the STARTed Up Foundation.
Bishop and his team are hoping that Bussl can assist passengers in collaborating with IndyGo to enhance the overall bus experience.
“I guess the buses being late, that is a pretty big issue. Sometimes there is like, I mean it is rare, but sometimes there’s rude drivers. Then just like the more obvious things like cleaning the bus more often,” said Bishop.
In order to make the concepts a reality, Salesforce has been mentoring students throughout the process.
According to executives, they are encouraging the traits and abilities that they desire in their future workers.
“They just loved interacting with the students [and] were really impressed and actually inspired by them. I think the goal of the event was for us to inspire these students, but it was completely the opposite,” said Katie Meares, manager of U.S. State and Local Government Affairs at Salesforce.
The Innovate WithIn Pitch Competition winners from the previous two years created their businesses and actually turned a profit.
On April 26, Bishop and his team took part in the Regional tournament at Purdue University.
No matter how the competition turns up, the team can keep working on Bussl and you can still check in and provide your thoughts on the bus experience.
