Masters Hosts Third Annual Diamond Challenge Pitch Competition

This year’s event is especially meaningful for Masters, which has two student teams advancing to the pitch round.

On Saturday, March 7, more than 30 student teams will head to the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center to pitch and present their ideas to a panel of judges who are business leaders and executives. To earn a place in the pitch round, teams advanced through a competitive Submission Round that required a one-minute video and a five-page concept outline. 

“There are only 20 Diamond Challenge Pitch Partners in the world and only four in the United States,” said John Chiodo, director of innovation, engineering and computer science. “Having this event at Masters for the third year running is both an acknowledgement and endorsement of the high quality of our entrepreneurship education program.”

Juniors Ryan Mah, Harvey Pena and Aarav Singh are the team behind Grove, a private social media app designed to help people find community and purpose after retirement. Xinqi Clara Chu ’27 and Yuwei Crystal Niu '28 are pitching their idea for Luminex, a device created to track and improve sleep quality.

Mah described the impact of making it this far in the competition: “It marks a point where our vision is really coming to life. This is a huge step forward in our goal to prevent social isolation among retired adults, and we are incredibly excited for the opportunity to share our solution on a larger scale.”

Jonah Hardy, associate director of innovation, engineering and computer science, is "incredibly proud of our Diamond Challenge teams. Hundreds of teams applied to pitch at Masters, and only 25 advanced. Our students earned their spot through real grit and serious work. Watching them partner with universities, research institutes and mentors to turn big ideas into real ventures has been exciting, and I can’t wait to see what they do next.”

The event will feature keynote speaker Keenan Williams, a 3x venture-backed founder; an active angel investor; and the founding partner of Stratum Growth, a strategic advisory firm for early to mid-stage startups, first-time founders, and creatives to become stronger operators, formalize their products/services, and raise capital.

Two winning teams from the Pitch Round, which will be announced later that day, will advance to the Diamond Challenge Finals at the Limitless World Summit in Delaware this April, where they will compete for top prize money.