On Monday night three brave students dared to enter ‘Cuse Tank.

The event, hosted by The Syracuse University Entrepreneurship Club, was modeled off the popular ABC show “Shark Tank,” and allowed student entrepreneurs to pitch their business ideas to the audience, then field questions and critique.

“Unlike on TV, we cannot give any money away,” said Austin Miller, president of the SU Entrepreneurship Club. “But (we) ask questions, make sure they have viable business ideas, but don’t necessarily crush their dreams too much.”

The first student to pitch an idea was Josh Rhoades, a senior at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry majoring in environmental science.

Rhoades is the founder of Costa Efficient Cookware, a company that is developing a cooking pot that saves time in the kitchen.

After returning to the U.S. from a spring break trip to Costa Rica focused on sustainable living, Rhoades had an “aha” moment when he was boiling vegetables.

“I asked myself: why does this take so long? I wanted to make the process faster and more efficient,” he said.

Costa Efficient Cookware is Rhoades’s solution to this problem. Rhoades has developed a cooking pot accessory that heats the sides and bottom of the pot, rather than a traditional pot that is only heated from the bottom.

The Costa Efficient Cookware products can reduce the time it takes to boil a 15 quart pot of water from 33 minutes to 15 minutes.

Rhoades is still in the development stage of the process but hopes to target growing areas of demand in full-service restaurants, particularly restaurants serving seafood or Italian food.

“I want to prove myself,” he said. “I want to be known as the one stock pot you want to buy.”

Another student looking to prove her business model is Hannah Fagut, a junior psychology and neuroscience major.

Fagut is the founder of SyrCa, a gourmet food service that delivers food from high-end, local restaurants in downtown Armory Square to students on campus.

“Like many students, I was sitting in my apartment frustrated about the lack of delivery from downtown restaurants like Pastabilities or Dinosaur Bar-B-Que,” she said.

SyrCa is still in test phases, but in the next few months will offer a preliminary trial of the service to students at SU.

Unlike other delivery services like GrubHub, SyrCa does not charge delivery services, gratuity or require a minimum purchase.

“We will deliver quality food to South Campus, off campus, the library,” she said. “Anywhere you are, we will deliver it to you.”

The third student also wants to deliver a high quality service to the customer.

Rayshon Mason, a senior double entrepreneurship and emerging enterprises and information management and technology major, has dreamed of changing the way the world travels for seven years.

Insight Travelers is a personalized travel guide service that has planned trips for SU students to destinations like Atlanta for the 2013 Final Four game.

“I want people to get the local perspective with something fun and interactive,” Mason said. “I don’t just book hotels — I take care of you. I feel like the soccer mom of travel.”

Insight Travelers has developed a website and served more than 80 clients so far with customized events and trips. Mason plans to grow the business and employee base in the next year.

The service is currently planning Spring Break trips to Las Vegas for SU students to join.

One difficulty of being an entrepreneur is learning to yield power as your business grows, said Mason.

“You need to learn to give things up,” he said. “You need to be able to take charge and take command, but also believe in your employees to hopefully carry on your vision”

Published on February 11, 2014 at 2:14 am

Contact Jen: jbundy@syr.edu