CEI holding Founders' Club Playoff Pitch Competition

Nine participants in venture accelerator program to compete for nearly $10,000

By California State University, Bakersfield

November 13^th, 2023

In celebration of Global Entrepreneurship Week, the nine top participants from the inaugural year of the California State University, Bakersfield Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation's venture accelerator program will be competing for nearly $10,000 in prize money as part of the Founders' Club Playoff Pitch Competition.

The event will take place from 5-8 p.m. on Wednesday in the Stockdale Room. Below are brief descriptions of the nine competing ventures:

FALL 2022 TOP VENTURES (COHORT 1)

Phillip Roberts, Founder of MobileCarWashBako. MobileCarWashBako is a venture that grew out of the pandemic when founder and 2022 CSUB graduate Phillip Roberts started washing cars for people during the lockdown. The business has since brought in roughly $50,000 in friend & family seed capital, generated approximately $200,000 in revenue growth and created two new full-time jobs over the past year.

Brian Gonzalez, Founder of NeuTEK Customs. NeuTEK Customs does applications of window tint and body protective film for high-end autos in the Bakersfield and Southern California regions. The business, founded as a part-time venture in 2021 by BPA alum Brian Gonzalez, has reinvested roughly $50,000 worth of profits into expansion, generated approximately $200,000 in revenue growth, and created two new full-time jobs over the past year.

Ammar Rashik, Founder of Spartan Systems. Ammar is a 2022 graduate of the CSUB Master's in Business Administration program. His company Spartan Systems developed an inventory management software package for Ammar’s family business, SAIF Industries, which is a reseller of aerospace aftermarket components. The software product has generated $10,000 in internal cost savings for SAIF industries over the past year and is now being run as a separate spinoff company targeting government procurement vendors as customers.

SPRING 2023 TOP VENTURES (COHORT 2)

Eric Charles Jr., Co-Owner of Exquisite Concepts. CSUB baseball team member and 2022 graduate Eric Charles Jr.’s business, Exquisite Concepts, manufactures custom farm implements for the agriculture sector, with a focus on grape vineyards in central California. Founded five years ago by Eric’s father and fellow co-owner Eric Charles Sr., Exquisite Concepts has developed several innovative, patentable farm implements in the past couple of years and eclipsed $1 million in annual revenues in 2021.

Bradford Bowman, Founder of Bowman Technology Group. Bradford, a hometown product of Bakersfield, developed Bowman Technology Group three years ago to provide cybersecurity services to local small- and medium-sized businesses currently underserved by either off-the-shelf software or managed service providers. The business has developed several copyrightable software packages, generated approximately $200,000 in revenue growth and created two part-time jobs over the past year.

Noah English, Founder of The Eagle’s Nest BBQ & Campground. The Eagle’s Nest BBQ & Campground is a new food truck/campground combination vendor providing dining and leisure entertainment to the East Kern aerospace and mining sectors. CSUB graduate Noah English’s family owns a prime piece of real estate near Boron, CA, which they intend to turn into a campground and BBQ food truck headquarters serving the nearby locations of Rio Tinto’s Borax Mine, Edwards Air Force Base, the Air Force Research Lab Rocket Propulsion Division, the NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center, Mojave Air & Spaceport and China Lake Naval Air Warfare Center. They’ve already mobilized roughly $20,000 in family seed capital for purchase and refurbishment of the truck and intend to commence operations by the end of 2023.

SUMMER 2023 TOP VENTURES (COHORT 3)

Jose Ceja, Founder of Project Phoenix. Project Phoenix — which originated as the senior electrical engineering project of three 2023 CSUB graduates, Jose Ceja, Marco Gonzalez, and Ramon Lopez — is an innovative device for shutting down power lines before they start fires. Since its inception a year ago, the venture has since seen roughly $20,000 of personal seed investment by Mr. Ceja, earned a $150,000 CalSEED grant award from the California Energy Commission and garnered interest from the local Kern County angel investment community.

Daniel Torres, Founder of Black Gold AI. Black Gold AI — which originated as the senior computer science project of two 2023 CSUB graduates, Daniel Torres and Salvador Vargas — is an artificial intelligence application for analyzing the petroleum saturation of oil well core samples. The venture has garnered considerable expert technical advice from local oil and gas sector leaders and is looking to further develop its algorithms over the coming year in advance of deployment with beta customers in 2024.

Dr. Luis Cabrales, Founder of Carbonil. Carbonil — which was represented in the accelerator by current and former CSUB students Phillip Wagner, Richard Boyd, and Alisha Cancellier — is a venture which converts pistachio shell agricultural waste into filler material for the production of biodegradable plastic. The venture grows out of research Dr. Cabrales has been working on under a $300,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to CSUB’s School of Natural Sciences, Mathematics and Engineering and School of Business and Public Administration. The venture has garnered significant interest from a local plastic manufacturer and has the potential to significantly decrease the amount of plastic waste generated annually in California and beyond.

The venture accelerator program is a 10-week program aimed at helping participants develop their own businesses as well as improve and expand existing businesses. The next cohort is planned to begin February 2023.