Startup Grind Lansing hosts a panel of young and ambitious founders to learn about their journey from tuition-paying students to capital-raising founders. Join us on April 29, 2021, for an exciting event.

About Panelists: 

Bri Makaric is the Founder and CEO of BRITE bites, an all-natural probiotic snack bite company. She started the business in college as she wanted an easier and more delicious way to consume probiotics after struggling with digestive issues. Bri graduated in May 2020 with a degree in Advertising Management and a minor in Entrepreneurship from Michigan State University. Bri is passionate about health, wellness and loves to create new recipes in her kitchen.

BRITE bites™ are functional snack bites & bars packed with superfoods and shelf-stable probiotics. They are the perfect on-the-go breakfast that keeps you energized throughout your day! We focus on using the highest quality ingredients to create healthy products that people actually enjoy eating. All of our products are gluten, dairy, and guilt-free. Our goal is to make healthy eating simple, delicious, and convenient.

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Brendan Wang is focused on helping people live happier, healthier lives with a cleaner, greener planet. He brings experiences as a two-time founder with various supply chain roles under his belt on his current mission to prevent lung diseases and save lives. As a current MSU supply chain student, he is passionate about learning while maintaining a healthy mind, body, and spirit. 

CAPNOS is addressing the vaping epidemic with the CAPNOS Zero, a patent-pending behavioral aid that provides a deep-hit feel to satisfy oral fixations with no smoke, nicotine, nor charge. They’re uniquely addressing the behavioral addiction associated with vaping and will be launching this Spring going into Summer.

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Seth Killian is the CEO and one of the co-founders of Lingco. He graduated from Michigan State in 2020 with a degree in Computer Science.

Lingco, a Techstars portfolio company, is an adaptive language learning platform for schools. It provides instructors all of the tools to create, assign, and grade assignments and makes predictions on what parts of the language students do and don't know.

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Three Takeaways to Expect from this Event: 

1.  How students can leverage their regional startup ecosystems to fund their ideas. 

2. How young founders can learn to focus on product validation rather than PowerPoint presentations to attract investors. 

3. How young founders can learn to build a team based on mentors, hustlers, and investors, and not just best friends.