April 1, 2026
The Flemming Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation launched Hill Excursions Across Town (HEAT) initiative with two inaugural trips, where students expanded their entrepreneurial knowledge and outperformed many high-ranking colleges and universities.
The first excursion took four students to the 54-hour Techstars Startup Changemakers Entrepreneurship Immersion Competition at the University of Richmond from February 20–22. The second followed shortly after, with students attending the Collegiate Entrepreneurs Summit on February 27 in Indianapolis.
“The HEAT program grew out of a desire to see how students and institutions elsewhere experience and approach entrepreneurship,” says Dr. Michele King, director of the Flemming Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. “When we talk about Hill Excursions Across Town, the phrase can be interpreted creatively—across town can really mean anywhere.”
Representing Hampden-Sydney at Techstars, where the College also served as a promoting partner, were Daniel Bradley ’28, Christopher Montecino ’28, Peter Reel ’28, and Asa Williams ’28. The team arrived early to take part in a LEGO® Serious Play® workshop, where they networked, strengthened their teamwork skills, and explored how others express ideas through building and creativity. Following the workshop, the team headed to the event’s pitch competition.
“We made a bold entrance at the pitch competition,” Daniel says. “We came in with a Hampden-Sydney flag and didn’t sit in the back—we came to the front and draped our flag over the chairs in front of us, making sure everyone knew we were there, bringing passion and energy.”
The Tigers did not intend on pitching at the competition. Struck by inspiration, though, Daniel thought about a concert he recently attended with his sister, where she and her friends swapped outfits with strangers they connected with through an Instagram account for clothing exchanges and short-term rentals. He quickly imagined an app to centralize the process and rushed to the front of the line to pitch Drip Share. Daniel’s innovation and presentation impressed the judges and earned him first place and a spot in the next round, where he, Asa, and Christopher joined seven University of Richmond students developing a similar concept, while Peter branched out to a team called Circle Trust, focused on social change in Richmond.
During the Techstars weekend, the teams also participated in a competition hosted by KANU Compete, a platform that helps institutions and entrepreneurs gather feedback through customer discovery interviews. Using the platform’s guided questions, the Drip Share team spent hours interviewing potential customers across the University of Richmond campus, gaining insights that ultimately helped them secure first place.
“It was an amazing experience overall,” Christopher says. “I felt really proud when we found out our team had won first place in the KANU competition—our hard work paid off.”
With high hopes and higher spirits after the success at Techstars, the Hampden-Sydney men turned their attention to the next challenge: the Collegiate Entrepreneurs Summit in Indianapolis, hosted by Roll Tack Ventures. There, they would pitch a business case study and compete against more than 200 undergraduate and graduate students from many well-known institutions including Indiana University, Purdue University, the University of Notre Dame, Butler University, Indiana State University, and the University of Illinois.
“I want to give a shoutout to Dr. Michael Ackermann ’80, who was a huge help throughout this process,” Michele says. “I learned about the summit through him and followed up by reaching out to Andrew Lehman, director of 16Tech, where the event was held. He met with me virtually to walk through the details and help evaluate whether it was a good fit, which ultimately led to our participation.”
Daniel, Christopher, Peter, and Asa were joined by Dylan Morris ’28, Jesse Smith ’27, Jack Lovejoy ’29, and Administrative Assistant and Programs Coordinator Tiffany Gee. For the summit, Daniel, Christopher, and Peter were assigned to one team; Asa and Dylan formed a second; and Jesse and Jack made up a third.
After receiving their case studies the weekend prior to the summit, the teams spent significant time researching and analyzing them. Daniel, Christopher, and Peter were tasked with proposing a solution to help small- and mid-sized Indiana manufacturers integrate evolving AI and robotics technologies without overhauling existing systems.
“We came up with a service that integrated different Internet of Things (IoT) technologies into existing traditional machines,” Peter says. “The challenge is that many of the machines are older, so instead of replacing them with brand-new touchscreen systems, we focused on gradually upgrading what was already in place. It was a more hands-on approach.”
In the first round, teams split into four rooms by case. While all Hampden-Sydney teams performed well, Daniel, Christopher, and Peter stood out, impressing judges with their fluency and mastery of a topic outside their home state, earning a spot in the next round.
“Later in the event, a judge told me it was the best pitch they had heard, giving it perfect scores—all fives—and noting that the team understood the problem better than many of the in-state Indiana students,” Michele says. “That spoke volumes. They really dug in, researched it thoroughly, and were able to speak about it with confidence.”
Tiffany added to Michele’s comments: “I feel like throughout the trip they kept practicing and improving—gaining confidence and becoming more comfortable presenting in front of people who weren’t from here.”
In the end, the Hampden-Sydney team of Daniel, Peter, and Christopher advanced to the finals and finished fourth out of 32 teams, outperforming well-known institutions such as University of Notre Dame, Purdue University, and Indiana University.
“Hampden-Sydney went in as the underdog, but we beat out all these other teams,” Peter says. “There’s no better feeling than walking in as an underdog and competing against schools with strong reputations—places many people dream of attending—and still doing so well. It was truly a gratifying and exciting experience, and we’re proud of the work we put in to succeed during both trips.”