Campus Cribs finds a home at Aman Pirate Challenge
Finding the right place to live can be stressful and time-consuming for East Carolina University students who live off campus. Campus Cribs hopes to connect the two, giving students a place to stay and property owners a tenant.
Campus Cribs, consisting of sophomores Quincy McKay and Gavin DeGregorio, junior Stuart Cohen, and 2024 ECU graduate Ben Casatelli, won the eighth annual Aman Pirate Challenge (APC) on April 15 at the Murphy Center. They bested five other teams and claimed a $20,000 cash prize to expand their venture.
“It feels awesome to win. I was not expecting it at all,” said McKay. “I’m proud of our team, and this will make our success a lot quicker.”
The Aman Challenge is the Miller School of Entrepreneurship’s premier competition. With more than $280,000 in money and prizes awarded this year, it’s the largest competition of its kind in the UNC System. Since its inception eight years ago, the competition has awarded over $1 million in prizes giving dozens of entrepreneurs the foundation needed to take their idea to the next level.
“Thanks to the generous gift from the Aman family, we’ve been able to add more programming between rounds — and this year, it really showed,” said Chip Galusha, interim director, Miller School of Entrepreneurship. “It was inspiring to see six top-notch teams from multiple colleges across campus at the culmination of this year’s challenge and to witness the spirit of entrepreneurship that’s alive and well at ECU.”
The idea for Campus Cribs was developed in an entrepreneurship class taught by College of Business teaching instructor Corey Pulido during the fall 2023 semester.
“We do pitches in the class every semester,” said Pulido. “When asked at the beginning of the semester who has an idea they’d like to work on, (McKay) volunteered to pitch his idea then and has been working on it ever since.”
“I was sitting in class and at the same time, my friends were talking to me about figuring out where to stay off campus and how the process works,” said McKay. “In class, (Pulido) said to come up with a problem and a solution. I came up with a solution at the time called Grid Housing, and since then it has blossomed into Campus Cribs and what it is now.”
Campus Cribs partners with local rental homes and apartments to market their properties directly to college students. McKay describes the company as “basically a Zillow but for student housing.” Students can register for free while property owners pay a fee to list their properties.
While Campus Cribs claimed the top prize, each finalist left with a reward for their efforts. The teams had five minutes to pitch their idea to the judges, followed by a three-minute question-and-answer session.
Parker Raven pitches Kidfit during the final round of the eighth annual Aman Pirate Challenge.
Surf Stick Wax, a heat-resistant, sealable applicator for surf wax, was developed by team members Garrison Miller and Will Jones. They finished as the runner-up and earned $15,000 as well as an in-kind prize worth $1,000 from Radiate Prints. The Aman Pirate Challenge won’t be the last pitch contest for the duo as they will compete in e-Fest hosted by the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on April 26-28. Surf Stick finished fifth in the 2024 Aman Pirate Challenge.
Kidfit is a company that uses science-backed programming and a culture of encouragement to envision a future where every child can reach their full potential, one gym exercise at a time. Kidfit finished in third place and earned $10,000 and won the Rural Community Impact Award, sponsored by First National Bank for another $10,000. Additionally, Kidfit claimed the ECU Women’s Roundtable prize of $2,500. Kidfit is run by Greenville native Parker Raven, who finished fourth in 2024 and won the inaugural Pirate Sales Challenge in February as well as a sales challenge hosted by Middle Tennessee State University earlier this month.
“Tonight was truly amazing,” said Raven. “I included the kids as part of the pitch in the opener. It was special to have them there and show the impact that Kidfit has on the children here in our community. It means a lot to win the Rural Community Award because I’m so thankful for this community and having those resources to help expand and work with more children will be huge for us.”
Anatovault, a supplier of accessible 3D anatomical models to support medical education, finished in fourth place and took home a $5,000 prize. Pane Pirates, an exterior cleaning company, earned fifth place and a $3,000 prize. Pane Pirates also won a $5,000 prize from Red Shark Digital for marketing efforts. Huddle Wealth, a nonprofit focused on financial literacy education, finished sixth and earned $2,000 plus an additional $500 for winning the popular vote from those in attendance.
The six finalists made their pitch in front of an esteemed group of judges consisting of:
- Fielding Miller, CEO and founder of CAPTRUST
- Garrett Blackwelder, founder and CEO of Grover Gaming
- Elizabeth LaFave, CEO of Invenire and 2023 winner of the Aman Pirate Challenge
- Matt Crisp, co-founder, eVestment
- Dr. Whitney Peake, Vitale Professor of Entrepreneurship at Western Kentucky University
- Ashby Tarkington, First National Bank’s Greenville market executive and special judge for the Rural Community Impact Award.
Honors College Dean Dr. Todd Fraley, center, holds the Challenge Cannon along with Quincy McKay. The Challenge Cannon is awarded to the college whose student wins the Aman Pirate Challenge. The cannon will stay at the Honors College until next year’s Aman Pirate Challenge.
According to David Mayo, director of the Aman Pirate Challenge, the six finalists all shared one primary focus in the weeks between the semifinal round on Feb. 4 and the final round.
“They’ve been working on business development,” he said. “It depends on the team for what exactly that means, but a lot of them have had changes in the scope of their business model. They’re thinking bigger now. They’re going from a small business to a national or even global reach.”
Mayo said that the Aman Pirate Challenge has three goals that can be linked to each of the APC’s rounds: to promote entrepreneurship across campus, provide mentorship and acceleration for business ideas, and to fund startups and provide resources when ready.
Mentors for this year’s finalists included Ryan Butcher, an Inc.500 entrepreneur; Tyler Lumley, a startup business counselor with the ECU Small Business and Technology Development Center; Vin McCaffrey, entrepreneur who grew and sold Game Plan; Tom Snyder, the executive director of RIoT, an internet of things company and startup accelerator; and Dr. Tilwanda (Tee) Steinberg, a COB faculty member and Miller School Entrepreneur-in-Residence.
The Challenge Cannon was awarded to Dr. Todd Fraley, dean of the Honors College. The Challenge Cannon is awarded to the dean whose student wins the Aman Pirate Challenge. In addition to the Honors College, the College of Business, Thomas Harriot College of Arts and Sciences, Arthur Graduate School of Business, and the Brody School of Medicine were represented by students in the finals.
The $1 Million Milestone
The contest has surpassed the $1 million mark in cumulative prizes since the first challenge eight years ago.
It was renamed in memory of Gene Aman ’65 last year as the Gene T. Aman Pirate Challenge. The $3.2 million gift from Helen Aman and family supporting the Miller School of Entrepreneurship allows the program to provide more opportunities for participation, larger cash gifts and expands its reach and influence across the campus and in eastern North Carolina.
“We were progressing towards that mark, and we’ve seen growth in the challenge each year,” said Mayo. “This year, we took a large leap because of the gift from the Aman family. We’ve been able to help a lot of students create successful businesses, create jobs and realize their dreams. I think the million-dollar mark is a nice figure that you can show, but what backs up those million dollars is everyone that went to enabling the success of all those student startups.”
In 2017, the first Aman Pirate Challenge featured 46 competitors and around $40,000 in prizes. The event has grown each year in more than just prizes and the number of participating students.
“The Aman Pirate Challenge has enabled a lot of alumni to come back and help,” said Mayo. “They do our workshops. They judge our competitions in the first and second rounds and they also mentor our participants. I always say, if someone wants to help, we’ll find a place for them.”
Mayo believes the growth is likely to continue.
“It’s grown in every way,” said Mayo. It’s grown in the number of people it engages; it’s grown in the prize funding; it’s grown in the support. Next year, I think we’ll see even more growth.”
What’s Next?
Following their Aman Pirate Challenge victory, McKay said Campus Cribs is focused on solidifying its online presence.
“The next step for us is finishing our website,” said McKay. “It’s live, but not 100% perfect. Once we get it perfected, I’m going to market to more homeowners and get their properties on board and start expansion.”
McKay has simple advice for any ECU student who is on the fence about competing in the Aman Pirate Challenge.
“Do it,” he said. “It has been the best decision of my life. Starting a business was the second-best decision and doing the Aman Pirate Challenge was the best. It’s taught me so much and has helped me grow to where I am today.”