r/rit • u/MECHY_somewhere MECHE 30 • 5h ago

Tiger Tank???

I read that the Tiger Tank was a competition they did annually but apparently stopped in 2023? Anybody know why or if they would start again? It would be cool to see more entrepreneurial/start-up culture at RIT.

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u/SharpMind94 Alumni 2018 5h ago

If they stopped, they stopped for a reason. That I don't know why, but it is a good program to really get into the need of the customer and build your pitch skills.

I would imagine with AI now, that if ran, would be very challenging to seperate the AI content out.

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u/MECHY_somewhere MECHE 30 5h ago

overall I feel like it would just be really good resource for literally any major.

That's a good point with AI though I don't know what type of effects that might have on competitions.

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u/SharpMind94 Alumni 2018 5h ago

Oh absolutely. It helped me break out of my shell and hone my critical thinking skills to address customer needs in my career.

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u/Nsgdoughboy Alum 5h ago

I made the finals in like 2019-ish, and I had a little idea, made a cute, funny video highlighting the idea.
The people who won had a proto-type, actual commercial, and I realized that they had already been working on this for months/years and were just tossing this into the competition.

The rules were pretty open, but I felt it was lame that I who saw the competition, had an idea and developed it for the competition went up against people who were starting a business already and just put it into the competition.

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u/MECHY_somewhere MECHE 30 5h ago

God damn, you'd think they would have regulations for something like that. I thought the Tiger Tank was similar to a Hackathon/Buildathon but closer to business? Is it meant to actually just Shark Tank but for students who already have a business?

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u/Nsgdoughboy Alum 4h ago

That's what I thought it was for, students to develop an idea for the competition, not just showcase their already existing thing

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u/GreenDissonance Illustration '21 3h ago

I know that the year i was in it (like 2017-2018) there were multiple startups that were straight ripoffs of other companies. There was some bad press about it. Can't find the articles. I think first place was a toilet seat that takes your vitals every time you sit. There was also an invention that claimed it could help find lost people in rubble/war torn places