Georgetown McDonough Student Participates in BIG EAST 2021 Startup Challenge

John Edson (B’22) participated in the BIG EAST 2021 Startup Challenge on Thursday, Feb. 25. Edson’s company, Global Pal, is a payments platform that helps groups share bills, split in real-time, and always pay their fair share.

The BIG EAST Startup Challenge is an annual competition featuring entrepreneurs from the 11 institutions that are part of the BIG EAST. These schools include Butler University, Creighton University, DePaul University, Georgetown University, Marquette University, Providence College, Seton Hall University, St. John’s University, Villanova University, Xavier University, and the University of Connecticut.

“The pitch competition was a great chance to learn about the incredible startups that fellow BIG EAST students are creating,” said Edson. “I am happy for the winners, and it was a good opportunity to give Global Pal exposure beyond Georgetown as we look to grow.” 

Teams presented their ideas to judges, who included seasoned entrepreneurs, innovators, venture capitalists, and business leaders. Judges ranked teams on factors such as market need and feasibility. 

“It’s exciting to see collaboration like this among BIG EAST member schools that goes beyond athletics and allows our student entrepreneurs to engage in friendly competition,” said Jeff Reid, founding director, Georgetown Entrepreneurship and professor of the practice, Georgetown McDonough, who helped to create the BIG EAST Startup Challenge in 2019. “I expect that John and all of the other competitors will use this experience as an important learning experience on their way to entrepreneurial success.”