Contributed by Karen Vera Sanchez, IOE ‘27, Entrepreneurship Minor, Michigan Engineering Honor
This October, five student founding teams pitched their ventures to the Fuel judging panel at the Center for Entrepreneurship. Kove, Cre-Ade, Tinu, Ann Arbor Appeals, and Discover Akin earned their spots amid very strong competition: 10 teams applied in October, and judges advanced half of them to the pitch round.
The pitches were sharp, well-prepared, and full of conviction. What stood out most was the founders: students who know their audience, have done the work, and genuinely care about the problems they’re solving.
Meet the Teams Who Pitched
Ann Arbor Appeals helps patients appeal denied prescription coverage. The team pairs AI-drafted appeal letters with careful human review, enabling patients to push back with a strong, well-documented case.
Cre-Ade makes creatine snack bites from natural ingredients. It’s an easy, tasty way to fit creatine into a daily routine, no powders or shakers required.
Discover Akin is a marketplace app for finding and booking hands-on creative workshops. It brings local independent studios together in one place, from ceramics to woodworking.
Kove makes portable coffee tablets for busy young professionals. Just add water for quality coffee on the go, in packaging designed to leave almost no waste.
Tinu is an AI-powered memory layer for organizations. It connects a company’s documents and conversations, so teams can quickly find what was decided and why.
Keep an eye on these teams. Each one walked out of the room with a clearer path forward than the one they walked in with.
More Than a Funding Decision
No awards were given this round. Instead, every team received direct, specific feedback from the judges on their customer, business model, and next milestones. At the early stage, that kind of honest outside perspective is often worth as much as a check.
The Fuel process builds founders at every step:
- The written application pushes teams to put their problem, customer, and plan into words, which is often where the gaps and the breakthroughs show up.
- The pitch is real practice presenting to experienced judges and answering hard questions on the spot.
- The feedback gives each team a concrete list of what to test, build, or prove next.
Fuel runs in 3 rounds per semester, so the door stays open. Check out the dates at this link.
Your Turn
If you’re a U-M student with a venture, or just an idea you can’t stop thinking about, no matter if you’re a first-year student or a grad student, Fuel is built for you. You don’t need a finished product to apply. You need a problem you care about and a willingness to put your thinking out there to people who want to help.
The next round of pitches takes place after Thanksgiving, and Fuel picks back up in January.
Here’s the application link
The teams who pitched this October showed what student founders at Michigan are capable of. We hope you’ll be next.