Rowan startup competition helps turn ideas into viable businesses

The basics:

• A recent graduate of Rowan University won $30,000 through the Rohrer New Venture Competition to grow her new greeting card business.



• The contest, which is organized by the Rowan Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, aims to prepare students for the process of starting a business.



• Recent investment from the Rowan Innovation Venture Fund has enabled the competition to expand financial support for the winning student company.

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For Anna DeMasi, success is in the cards.

The newly minted Rowan University graduate recently scored $30,000 to help her greeting card business, Lunch Box Cards Co., evolve from student startup to growing business.

While DeMasi will begin working full time in corporate recruiting and sales next month in Philadelphia, she’ll be able to start building her enterprise as a side hustle thanks to the Rohrer New Venture Competition . As first-place winner in the April 19 on-campus contest, DeMasi received $5,000 from the Rowan Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and a $25,000 convertible note option from the Rowan Innovation Venture Fund.

Considering the concept for Lunch Box Cards is not even a year old, it’s quite the accomplishment for a 21-year-old.

According to DeMasi, the idea for the brand came from her mom’s daily habit of putting hand-drawn notes in her lunchbox every day following the birth of her little brother 14 years ago.

“They were her way of showing me that she is still there loving and supporting me, even when a lot of her attention was now on my baby brother. It was an extension of love outside of the home and it helped create the foundation of the strong, healthy relationship we share today,” DeMasi said.

“I did not know that she had saved each card until recently when my family had moved and she showed them to me again. I was talking to [Rowan] Professor Greg Payton one day in class and mentioned the cards and he told me that I had to do something with them,” she said.

Off and running

DeMasi first presented the idea of Lunch Box Cards in April 2023 when she participated in a new venture expo held by the Rowan Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship.

“The feedback that we had received was amazing,” she recalled. “People were very interested in our cards and wanted to create a story similar to the one my mom and I share. After the expo, I really began to build the business and the brand.”

From there, DeMasi went on to participate in the summer accelerator program at Rowan, where she figured out the direction of the product and began finding the right resources to bring her cards to market.

DeMasi who graduated with a marketing degree described Lunch Box Cards as an “emotional vitamin” that provides a daily boost of love, support and encouragement to kids.

“Something that sets us apart from regular cards is the artwork. Each card has one of my mom's hand drawn designs on it,” she said. “We also have a unique packaging component that protects the card from the messes of a child lunch box and allows for each card to be saved like my mom had done for me.”

They come with a pre-written message, however there is a space for senders to add a few lines of their own, too, said DeMasi, who added, “Our cards allow for parents to express their love in a special way while also saving time.”

One of the biggest lessons I have learned about the business world from someone in my spot is to be open to ideas and coachable.

Anna DeMasi, Lunch Box Cards Co. founder

Lunch Box Cards plans to generate revenue from two streams: business-to-business and business-to-consumer sales.

A subscription-based B2C model would be based on the school year since many parents only pack lunch for their children while classes are in session. According to DeMasi’s concept, 50 cards would be delivered every two months to ensure there are enough for each week of the school year.

In a B2B channel, Lunch Box Cards would work with schools and other child care facilities to purchase cards in larger quantities. Pricing is still being determined, DeMasi said.

During the 17th annual New Venture Competition, Lunch Box Cards was up against four other student startups:

• Finn, an AI-powered financial advising mobile app and website that aims to “make financial wellness achievable by everyone.” (Kevin Crawford, Computer Science '24)



• Bobica Bars, a superfood-glazed, high-antioxidant granola bar that is allergen-free. (Harrison Nastasi, Management '26, and Justin Iannelli, Marketing '26)



• Flo Good Technologies, an eco-friendly, compostable straw made from all natural ingredients (Jerek Garcia, Communications '24, and Florinda Good-Gonzales, Accounting '23)



• Circlez, a gamified goal-setting app for college students and young adults (Aiden Tahmazian, Mechanical Engineering '26, and Sydney Wiredu, Chemistry & Neuroscience '26)

 

Getting a head start

The contest, which is organized by the Rowan Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, aims to prepare students for the process of starting a business, as well as give them a chance to develop their ventures in both a collaborative and competitive environment. It also provides them with an opportunity to win cash prizes for their business.

In order to compete, students must meet several requirements, including taking part in a series of mandatory workshops on business models, customer discovery & development, finances and presentation skills.

Teams are then assigned to a mentor and work on the viability of their concepts and business plans during the preparation weeks. Those who advance to the semi-finals must then submit a video pitch and business plan.

From there, five entrants are selected to advance to the final competition, where they presented their ideas to a panel of industry-leading judges and live audience.

This year’s judges were: Linda Rohrer, president of Rohrer & Vail Real Estate and former Rowan University board of trustees chair and university benefactor; Matt Edson, founding dean of the Shreiber School of Veterinary Medicine at Rowan University; Isabelle Kent, CEO of Philly Startup Leaders; and Marty Rosica, owner of Hawks & Co.

Rowan Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship Assistant Director and School of Innovation & Entrepreneurship Adjunct Professor Jessica Vattima said finalists were evaluated “on a combination of how well the problem was identified and validated, their solution, their market and competition was identified, key financials, and overall viability and presentation of the business.”

While the judges were impressed by all of the finalists, Vattima said they saw promise in DeMasi’s business. “The judges really admired her story and that made Lunch Box Cards stand out in the competition,” said Vattima, who described the concept as a “great product that is unique.”

Bobica Bars came in second, winning $2,500. Circlez took the third-place prize of $1,000.

Funding increase

Since it began 17 years ago, the contest formerly known as the Business Plan Competition has awarded more than $130,000 to students launching their business ideas into reality. Up until last year, first-place winners received $4,000. However, an additional equity investment from the Rowan Innovation Venture Fund enabled the competition to expand financial support for the winning student company.



At the time, Michael , chair of the RIVF board of managers, said increasing the amount of funding awarded through the annual competition is expected to make an already fertile environment for student startups even more attractive.

“For some, the award itself will be enough to hit their next milestone, but the additional investment and backing from the RIVF can help accelerate additional scale for their company. Further support of student-led ventures is a key component to the growth strategy for the broader University and community ecosystem,” explained , an executive director at JP Morgan Chase & Co.

The RIVF was created a decade ago by the Rowan University Board Foundation with $5 million to support new, scalable companies and bolster the South Jersey economy. In 2022, the fund expanded to $25 million, making it among the largest for a public university regionally.

Since 2015, RIVF has seeded more than a dozen local and regional startups, many launched by university students and faculty.

The breakdown includes more than $2.4 million to life sciences companies, more than $1.2 million to software/mobile app firms, some $450,000 to telecommunications startups and $150,000 to entrepreneurs in the food and beverage sector.

Early recipients include:

• Halfday, a company founded by two Rohrer College of Business alumni and 2018 Rohrer New Venture Competition winners, Mike Lombardo and Kayvon Jahanbakhsh, that produces a line of healthful tea drinks and today is sold in more than 2,000 U.S retailers, including Target, Whole Foods, Wawa and Publix stores;



• ExpressCells, a Philadelphia-based company that uses DNA editing technology to create cell lines for improved drug development and biological research;



• MRIMath, a health science company co-founded by Rowan faculty that, among other things, provides physicians critical information for life-saving procedures like radiation and surgical therapies for brain cancer.

 

Following the competition, DeMasi said the $30,000 award “will help grow the business in so many ways.”

“It will allow us to craft and perfect the first pack of cards that we plan to release soon. This includes finalizing our graphics, the production costs, and allowing us to begin the certain legal components needed to protect our emotional vitamin,” said the Berlin native, whose goal is to launch in time for the start of the 2024-25 school year next fall.

As DeMasi gears up to drop her first product, she said, “I always refer to these cards as ‘my baby.’ My mom made them so special for me and I want every detail to be the best that it can truly be before I launch them. Through the RCIE, I have had the opportunity to connect with many great business leaders and professionals who have offered their help and guidance with Lunch Box Cards in terms of the product launch.”

Reflecting on the experience, DeMasi said it was a challenging but rewarding undertaking.

“I had a lot of self-doubt about myself as an entrepreneur and simply felt like I wasn't cut out for this. But, by competing in the competition, I was able to conquer that doubt and the voice in my head telling me that I wasn’t cut out for this,” she said. “One of my professors, Greg Payton, always reminds me that entrepreneurs find opportunity within chaos and I feel like that perfectly describes how Lunch Box Cards came to be.”

“One of the biggest lessons I have learned about the business world from someone in my spot is to be open to ideas and coachable. It is very difficult to see your brand and your product from an outside perspective. Sometimes we are too far into it and know the product almost too well to see it like our consumers would and that isn't necessarily good,” she went on.

“Hearing feedback from peers, other business owners and professionals can often lead to breakthroughs,” DeMasi recalled. “I was very stuck with my pitch at certain points but when I sat down with other small business owners and professors, I took certain things that they said and it gave me a whole new perspective on how to approach my idea.”

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