True Life: I took 2nd Place in the Michael L. Karapetian ’97 Entrepreneurship Symposium

Lauren Zsilavecz '18 almost didn't take the class that would lead her to a $3000 cash prize—and her first big entrepreneurship idea.

When I registered for Dr. Gary Kaskowitz’s entrepreneurship class, I wasn’t sure what to expect. When I started to read ahead in the syllabus that first night, I could tell this class was going to take me out of my comfort zone. I’ll admit: halfway through the first class, I pulled up AMOS on my laptop to see if there were any other classes I could take in its place! I had no idea I was capable of what I achieved—and I am so glad I stuck it out.

For Dr. Kaskowitz’s class, each student is charged to come up with a business or product idea to work with throughout the semester. The business idea was just a start: we also had to create a business plan for it, and present all of our work at the Michael L. Karapetian ’97 Entrepreneurship Symposium for a chance at our share of $8000 in prizes. Along the way, we also had a few short papers and presentations, all based around our big idea.

Coming up with the product was one of the hardest parts for me. The idea for me came out of to something I wish I had that did not exist. After sadly realizing there is no way I could make myself have wings, I came up with WhoWhatWear: an app that allows you to create a virtual version of your closet by taking pictures of your clothes and categorizing them. My app also allows you to become “friends” with other people using the app, which grants you the ability to borrow and share clothes with them. All the while, WhoWhatWear keeps track of who has your garments so you don’t have to. Over the years I have lost hundreds of dollars’ worth of clothing from lending them to friends and simply forgetting, so much so that my mom eventually told me I was no longer allowed to share clothes with friends. When I came up with this idea, I was so excited that I could do something to fix the problem that I and so many others have.

Fast forward to the symposium, held this year on November 20—I made the final five! Although the top five were selected in class before the symposium, the whole class was required to attend the symposium to network with Moravian University alumni. I met so many fellow entrepreneurs, and I learned so much from then in just the short time we chatted.

The networking opportunities themselves were amazing, but I was in it to win it. It was also an extremely nerve-racking day for me, worst part being I was the last to present. While I felt I was very prepared, I was still terrified of tripping over my words or, even worse, actually tripping in front of all those people and judges. Thankfully, my presentation went smoothly and I got very nice feedback from the judges. After the judges deliberated, they called everyone back to announce the winners. I took second place—and $3000!

Of course winning the prize money is exciting, but I would have been just as happy without it. I got so much more out of the class and symposium; I was able to take what I was learning in the classroom and apply it to a real-world situation. As for the future of WhoWhatWear, I would love to see my idea become a reality, and I met an entrepreneur at the symposium who would like to help me do that. To say the least, I am very grateful that accounting class I was going to take was full—or else I don’t think I would have had this incredible opportunity.