Several Arizona startups are vying for an investment from an AOL co-founder when he visits Phoenix on the last leg of the Rise of the Rest bus tour.
Steve Case, co-founder and former CEO of AOL, will pick one local startup to invest $100,000 in after coming to Phoenix, the last city on the 5-day tour. The tour, which seeks to promote entrepreneurship in growing cities, has already stopped through Omaha, Denver, Salt Lake City and Albuquerque.
The tour will visit with local startups and community leaders about fostering entrepreneurship over the course of the day. Eight local startups will pitch their businesses to Case before a winner is announced at a party hosted by the tour at The Dutch.
Ava School Solutions is one of the companies competing for the ultimate prize. The startup hopes to create an easier and more efficient way to help schools screen for vision and hearing disabilities.
“Primarily, really the first thing I want to do is to ease the burden on schools so they’re not given more responsibility than they realize,” said Danna Evans, founder and CEO of Ava School Solutions.
The idea for Ava School Solutions was conceived when Evans was working with Arizona Vision and Hearing, where the problem of paperwork and follow-up was piling up. The company could not handle another vision and hearing testing season without some help, so Evans started Ava School Solutions.
“It’s not even like comparing apples against oranges,” Evans said of the competition. “It’s like comparing fruits against vegetables against dairy and meat. There are so many things being offered on stage.”
Ava School Solutions hopes to bring more jobs to the downtown Phoenix area and help give school nurses the time to take care of the students.
“That’s one of the big things that makes me jump over hurdles for Ava, because I see them working so hard every day and if I can bring them a solution that lets them work with students instead of paper, then I would be happy to help,” Evans said.
Evans said she is excited to work with policy makers who will help Ava School Solutions grow and bring solutions to the students. The competition is a great opportunity to create and build relationships and partnerships in the Phoenix area, she said.
“Phoenix should be really proud of its startup community,” Evans said. “It is incredibly supportive.”
The competition is fierce and every startup is different, such as MSDx, which is another startup battling for the $100,000 prize.
Tucson-based MSDx is developing commercialized blood tests for brain diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.
“In the community of Arizona, we really get to leverage all of the wonderful work going on in the brain and neurological conditions,” said Marie Wesselhoft, president and co-founder of MSDx, Inc.
Wesselhoft pointed out that the blood test industry is huge, but there isn’t a market for blood testing of the brain, even as diseases continue to grow.
“The bigger attack is even beyond the state,” Wesselhoft said. “Health care is a global thing.”
MSDx hopes to create more job opportunities along with creating more awareness of blood testing of the brain, not just in Arizona, but globally. The startup emphasizes the huge change in technology and hopes to help solve big problems in health care.
“In the end, it’s about personal growth,” Wesselhoft said, emphasizing the importance of readiness for change when starting as an entrepreneur.
“If it doesn’t really create a lot of fire in your soul, you’re going to run out of fuel,” Evans said. “You have to believe in what you’re doing.”
Contact the reporter at bayne.froney@asu.edu
