‘DecompressX’ Secures Top Prize at 6th Annual Fowler Business Concept Challenge

Knauss School of Business Master of Science in Real Estate student Brice Hamilton’s passion captured the attention of judges and attendees alike when pitching his groundbreaking business concept to help address a serious unmet medical need. His seating solution, DecompressX, won the grand prize of $15,000 at the University of San Diego’s Fowler Business Concept Challenge (FBCC) on December 6. 

The 2024 Fowler Business Concept Challenge, organized by the Knauss School of Business' Entrepreneurship and Innovation Catalyzer, marked a celebration of innovation and creativity at the University of San Diego. 

“The entrepreneurial ecosystem is a large part of what attracted me to USD,” said Brice. 

Out of 52 submissions by student teams who participated in workshops throughout the semester to refine their business ideas and hone their pitching skills, 16 semi finalist teams emerged to present their innovative ideas to panels of diverse industry professionals who served as judges. 

 “During my weekly meetings I worked with various advisors. It was awesome to hear the different perspectives and I felt like I learned a critical detail from each advisor which was invaluable to the process,” Brice added. 

Following a day of full-length pitches, the Awards Ceremony provided students with the opportunity to present their ideas to an audience of over 250, earning the chance to secure a People’s Choice Award based on the audience’s vote. All 16 semi finalist teams, selected by our esteemed judges, vied for an additional portion of the $45,000 scholarship award fund.

DecompressX, the winning business concept pitched by Brice, is an advanced ergonomic seating solution designed with the goal of achieving spinal decompression while in a comfortable, upright seating position, helping to alleviate a variety of spinal issues while still allowing the user to maintain a working position. 

“This idea sparked from previous experience I had with a serious injury and spinal surgery in 2022,” said Brice. “One of the key things I wanted to solve was patient productivity during the post-op phase because you’re essentially laid up in bed all day and one of the worst parts is how deteriorating it is from a productivity standpoint. You’re lucky if you can read a book, let alone study, work or anything that you would normally do. My goal is to help those suffering from serious pain and enable a stronger and faster post surgery recovery.”

Brice was not the only competitor to draw from real world issues when creating his business concept. The first runner-up team, QRinger, first thought of their idea as a solution to a tragic incident that occurred in India, where a student was assaulted by a stranger after unknowingly answering the door.

“This motivated us to create a lean, efficient and affordable doorbell solution to help prevent such incidents and enhance safety for everyone,” said Aashika Arasu, a Knauss undergraduate student in the QRinger team. 

QRinger is a mobile app that allows users to see and talk to visitors at their door through a secure video call, without needing additional hardware. Visitors simply scan a QR code outside the front door to connect with the user. Competitors Aashika Arasu and Akash Thamizh pitched this idea, winning the second place prize of $7,500. 

“The FBCC process was a great learning opportunity. It was iterative and focused on continuous improvement, with valuable feedback helping us refine our business at every step,” added Aashika. 

The People’s Choice Award was presented to another team with the health and safety of others in mind. Drones for Humanity, pitched by Chance Aaronson and Maria Vicens, won $2,000 for their idea offering fast, reliable, cost-effective and scalable drone solutions to transport life-saving blood across Mexico, addressing the challenge of reaching rural hospitals, especially during emergencies where every second counts.

A $5,000 award was given to the second runner-up team, Safe Ballot, a blockchain protected digital voting platform designed to revolutionize the way people cast votes, pitched by Donatella Falcomer, Elijah Johnson and Cordano Russel. The third runner-up team secured a $3,500 prize with their pitch of Same For You, an app empowering restaurants to sell their leftover food at a discounted rate, created by Jack Morrison, Jaziel Mayoral,  Andre Suaid and Thomas Frei. 

“[We enjoy] watching the students tackle really interesting problems with such entrepreneurial vigor and enthusiasm,” said Andrew Fowler, one of this year’s finalist judges and vice president of investments & strategy at Liquid Investments. “We always walk away so much more optimistic about the future, because it’s in your hands students and you always do such an incredible job.”

— Story by Jessica Applonie