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NUvention: Web + Media Students Pitch Web-based Businesses

On June 6, students pitched their ideas to an audience of faculty, peers, and guests

Jugl’s Haridu Senadeera explains his startup’s job application tracking system during a demo session.Jugl’s Haridu Senadeera explains his startup’s job application tracking system during a demo session.
Gateway’s Lauren Ball explains her startup’s service to help students quickly find academic resources.Gateway’s Lauren Ball explains her startup’s service to help students quickly find academic resources.
ShareVR’s Henry Keyser demonstrates his startup’s platform to share virtual reality experiences online.ShareVR’s Henry Keyser demonstrates his startup’s platform to share virtual reality experiences online.
Members of Collective present their Chrome extension tool that makes it easier to donate money to those in need.Members of Collective present their Chrome extension tool that makes it easier to donate money to those in need.

For new graduates, the prospect of transitioning from school to the workforce can be daunting. But even before beginning a career, students must first navigate the complex, inefficient process of applying for jobs. As candidates submit dozens of applications across different company websites, job search sites, and social media platforms, the work to oversee each individual application’s status can quickly become unmanageable.

“Students easily feel overwhelmed by the number of different websites and portals they need to search and sign up for to submit an application,” said Vijeta Ojha, a graduate student in the Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications’ Media Innovation and Entrepreneurship program. “There’s no tool in the market to organize all of their applications effectively.”

Determined to help relieve the stress new graduates experience during the application experience, Ojha and her NUvention team created Jugl, an online platform that organizes and tracks all job applications within one simple, intuitive dashboard. The startup was one of nine student-developed online businesses introduced at the final presentations of NUvention: Web + Media, a two-quarter course offered by the Farley Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation in which students work together across disciplines to design, plan, and launch web-based startups.

On Tuesday, June 6, members of the class pitched their startups to an audience of faculty, peers, guests, and members of the NUvention board of advisers.

Jugl’s Google Chrome extension allows job seekers to save postings from any website directly to their Jugl job board. With all of their applications in one place, users can easily update and track the progress of their applications, review to-dos, and access company information without having to leave the platform.

Ojha, who noted that members of her team have applied to as many as 70 different jobs, believes that the startup’s service addresses a need for a growing market.

“There are expected to be 4.5 million college graduates this year entering the workforce,” said Ojha. “The job search process as it stands now is not built for them. We think Jugl can change that.”

Other NUvention: Web + Media projects include:

  • Breezy: A social media marketing tool for small businesses that lowers the cost and maximizes the efficiency of social media ad campaigns
  • CoEva: A platform that empowers students to offer useful feedback on classes simply and efficiently
  • Collective: A Chrome extension that rounds up your online purchases to the next dollar and donates the difference to those in need
  • Follower-Stack: A service that offers easy integration of multiple social media accounts to increase traction
  • Gateway: A centralized hub to help students quickly find academic resources
  • Muse: An outing-based dating application that promotes connection through activity
  • ShareVR: A platform for VR players who want to share their virtual reality experiences online
  • Teleos: A video analytics tool that aggregates key audience metrics across video publishing platforms

NUvention: Web + Media exposes students to the entire product and business lifecycle in the web and media fields. Teams are encouraged to continue to work on their projects after completing the course. Past NUvention: Web + Media teams have gone on to appear in TechCrunch, PCMag, and Rolling Stone.