NJIT Team Wins Award at International Entrepreneurship Competition

A team of NJIT entrepreneurs was among those recognized by TiE Global, a non-profit organization dedicated to fostering entrepreneurship around the world, at the organization’s second annual TiE University Pitch Competition this fall, which included 13 teams representing TiE chapters from India, Israel, UAE, Israel, the U.S. and Canada. 

The NJIT team, Volant, founded by three College of Computing students, Daniel Salib, Jay Rana and Irving Guzman, had previously won the TiE New Jersey chapter’s pitch competition. Volant’s local chapter success made the team eligible to compete on an international level at TiE University where they received the Best Elevator Pitch award.

During his pitch, Volant founder and U.S. Marine Corps veteran, Daniel Salib, began by recounting a nighttime mission from his military service near the Yemen border where the use of illumination rounds to better see the surrounding terrain was not possible. Thinking about the significant amount of time, risk and resources required to undertake that type of mission, Salib told himself that there must be a better and safer way.

As a student at NJIT, Salib enrolled in Foundations of Tech Entrepreneurship, an entrepreneurship course taught by Ying Wu College of Computing (YWCC) professor and eventual Volant advisor and mentor, Suresh U. Kumar. It was in Professor Kumar’s course where Salib, Rana and Guzman set about developing the better way that, as a soldier, Salib knew was possible. The result was Volant, a long-range reconnaissance platform of mini-drones.

Drones are by no means new to the U.S. military, as Salib explained in his pitch. However, most operational drone systems at the tactical level require a line of sight with its operator, so are not effective in providing a live video feed for “over the hill” reconnaissance. Volant, on the other hand, leverages secure mesh network technology and a series of mini drones as relays to extend the reach of the platform. Other key differentiators include the light weight of each Volant drone, under 250 grams, a 20-minute fly time, which is four times that of similar drones, and the platform’s reasonable per drone cost. 

Salib’s emphasis on Volant’s safety, security, ease of use, expedient coverage and its affordability was detailed in the pitch using market research, operational data and a logical approach to launching the business. Those elements, along with Salib’s clear and professional delivery, made for a compelling presentation that left a lasting impression on the TiE University judges. 

“Volant is yet another success story of our young entrepreneurship program," said Professor Kumar, who was recruited by Ying Wu’s Dean Gotsman in 2018 to create and run the college’s entrepreneurship courses. "The team conceived the idea in the classroom and developed it as part of the Foundations of Tech Entrepreneurship course requirements. But they did not stop at that. They ran with the idea to external entrepreneurship development organizations I introduced them to, such as TiE-NJ. The team demonstrated that they have the key ingredients for a successful startup – knowledgeable founders, cohesive team, domain expertise, hard work, determination and resilience. What they need now is a little financial help to build a MVP and take it to customers.” 

The TiE University program focuses on “enhancing the learning objectives of university students globally through the creation and presentation of business pitches for startups and new small business ventures so that they aspire to become entrepreneurs.” The program supports TiE Global’s goal “to inspire entrepreneurs through mentoring, networking, education, incubating and funding programs and activities.”

“In today’s tech economy, entrepreneurs are no less important, if not more important, than run-of-the-mill software engineers” said Dean Craig Gotsman. “They are responsible for most of the new technologies that have disrupted our lives and their contribution cannot be underestimated. I am proud that some of our students are taking that route, and Prof. Kumar, I, and others at NJIT – including the VentureLink unit - will continue to support them in any way we can.”