By Jennifer K. Morita

April 13, 2023

A mobile app that’s “like an Airbnb for electric vehicles” and a prototype for movable race car wings took the top two prizes at the Carlsen Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship’s first University-wide pitch competition, held at Sacramento State on April 5.

whereEV, an app to help electric vehicle owners find safe, reliable places to charge their batteries such as homes of other electric car owners, won first place and $1,500.

Recent Sac State alumnus James Gouveia, Jr., founder of Total Control Aero, took the $1,000 second-place prize for his invention: race car wings that can be programmed to tilt at different angles to maximize speed at various segments of a track.

In addition to winning cash prizes, the top two winners earned spots in the Sunstone CSU Startup Launch Competition at San Jose State University on May 5, where teams from 18 CSU campuses will compete for a total of $200,000 in prizes.

The Carlsen Center had previously held pitch contests for individual academic colleges at Sac State, but this was its first University-wide competition. The goal of the larger event was to provide more students an opportunity to pitch their problem-solving business, product, or service ideas, said Carlsen Center Executive Director Cameron Law.

“We’re excited about students sharing all they’re working on,” Law said. “We’re hoping to inspire additional students to bring their ideas to life and pursue their entrepreneurial spirit here.”

Out of more than 30 entrepreneurial hopefuls who submitted applications, nine finalists were chosen to participate in the pitch competition. The center provided them with coaching sessions and mentors who helped them craft their pitches.

Ideas included environmentally-friendly paper bags made from fallen leaves; a cafe-by-day and bar-by-night spot in Davis; a microgreens delivery service; and a non-profit, on-campus plant nursery.

“There’s so much that goes into an idea being successful,” Law said. “Having students think through a great idea – such as who they’re targeting, how much it will cost to make and how much revenue would you receive – gives them more structure to think about their business holistically and not just the end product or end service.”

The help from the Carlsen Center paid off for Enrique Alcacer, a Sac State Computer Science graduate student and whereEV co-founder. He and his business partner Joshua Maddox, who works for Sac State as an energy and sustainability analyst, were worried a week before the pitch event because their five-minute pitch was 30 minutes too long.

The coaching and practice they received in the Carlsen Center’s Hivemind Cohort program, however, helped them whittle it down and prepared them to answer judges’ questions.

“We had to break it down so much, but we made it and we’re so proud of that,” Alcacer said.

Alcacer, who is the software developer for whereEV, said the app would help address the infrastructure problem electric vehicle owners face.

Often, drivers go to public charging stations only to find they’re full or out of service.

“The Carlsen Center is the incubator for the next generation of innovators, and there were some amazing ideas that went through that pitch competition.” -- James Gouveia, Jr., Sac State alumnus and founder of Total Control Aero

In addition to public places, whereEV would help drivers find nearby private homes with charging stations, creating an online marketplace for electric car battery chargers.

“We are not building infrastructure, we’re getting whatever is out there already and putting it on the market,” Alcacer said, adding the prize money will go towards launching and testing the first version of their app.

For Gouveia, creator of the movable racecar wings, the cash prize will help put his prototype on the racetrack.

“The prize money made it possible to buy the part that was holding me back from real-world testing,” said Gouveia, a lifelong racing fan and crew member for a professional race team.

“I gained a lot of skills at Sac State that I could use to build stuff,” Gouveia said. “I was wondering how I could use those skills and apply them to racing, which is my passion.”

Gouveia has been working on his idea full-time since graduating in January, with the help of Carlsen Center staff and faculty.

“It’s great encouragement for people who want to start a business or invent something, but maybe need a little push from someone saying, ‘You can do it,’ ” Gouveia said. “It can be very discouraging when you’re trying to do something by yourself.

“The Carlsen Center is the incubator for the next generation of innovators, and there were some amazing ideas that went through that pitch competition.”

Alcacer shared Gouveia’s enthusiasm for the event.

“This pitch competition is an amazing way to help young people who have an idea make it happen,” he said. “I’m really thankful to the Carlsen Center for this opportunity and for the help going through this process.”