An online business plan competition open to all high school students in Northeast Ohio, offering $9,000 in prizes. Finalists are invited to attend Executive Coaching and receive guidance from entrepreneurial professionals in the Cleveland business community. The Final 6 teams will compete live at the thinkBIG! Summit on March 5, 2024.

Elisabeth Flanagan, Eleeana Gates
& Samantha Hoffman

Camille Jackson, Serene Hameed,
Kayla Pierce & Amelia Glasier

Katie Galvin, Braeden Keyes,
Morgan Stoker & Becca Klotz

Benjamin Meybaum, Abigail Hayes
& Carson Weaver

Evan Adler & William Webb

Swish Goswami
CEO and Co-Founder of Surf

The Young Entrepreneur
By Swish Goswami & Quinn Underwood

The thinkBIG! Summit kicks off with an inspirational fireside chat featuring Swish Goswami. He will also act as a judge for the thinkBIG! Challenge and Mini-Maker Hackathon pitches.

Goswami built a multi-hyphenate career by the age of 26. He has started six high-impact ventures across four industries and is currently the CEO and co-founder of Surf, a tech company providing brands with a better way to engage and understand consumers while compensating them for their data. His company has worked with some of the biggest brands, including Netflix, Sony Music, L’Oreal, Electronic Arts, Hewlett Packard, Amazon Prime Gaming, and more. A disruptor, curator, and builder. Goswami explores entrepreneurship, mental health, personal branding and trends influencing technology and business today.

A four-time TEDx speaker, Goswami is the bestselling author of The Young Entrepreneur and host of Track Limits, a motorsport podcast that shares inspiring stories from Formula 1 drivers, mechanics/engineers, and team bosses. He is also an investor and advisor to popular social companies such as FaZe Clan, Wombo AI, and the League of Innovators. through his fund, AGEX.

Goswami was inducted into Plan Canada’s “Top 20 under 20” and Bay Street Bulls “30 under 30”, recognized as LinkedIn’s Top Voice and Startup Canada’s Young Entrepreneur of the Year and awarded the United Nation’s Outstanding Youth Leadership award. Most recently, Goswami was named the Peak’s list of emerging leaders as a young leader helping to shape Canada’s economy, culture, and society.

The fireside chat will be moderated by Alysha L. Ellis, MBA. She will also act as a judge for the thinkBIG! Challenge and Mini-Maker Hackathon pitches.

Alysha is a serial entrepreneur, ecosystem builder, author, and creator. An award-winning business leader and innovator. In 2016, she launched her first company since then she has invested in community, equity, and inclusion. In 2017, she launched a consulting firm where she aims to partner with diverse field experts to provide innovative solutions with a strong focus in strategiv planning. In 2020, she developed Mas LaRae, a multimedia platform aiming to share, connect, and inspire through storytelling, uplifting underrepresented voices, and intentional relationship building. Since then, she has helped share over 200 stories. Alysha is the lead visionary of IGNITE With Light, a social venture collaborating with entrepreneurs, creators, and innovators to build equitable opportunities and sustainability. She is also an award-winning buisness leader and innovator. She is also among the founders of FutureLAND to transform Cleveland’s innovation and tech ecosystem to be more inclusive and supportive of diverse founders.

Alysha L. Ellis
Founder of Mas LaRae

Ariana Smith
Educational Engagement Leader of
The City Club of Cleveland

Ariana Smith, Educational Engagement Manager of The City Club of Cleveland, will serve as the emcee of thinkBIG! Summit.

Smith was born and raised in Shaker Heights, Ohio, and graduated from Shaker Heights High School. Upon graduation, she attended John Carroll University focusing on entrepreneurship and business management. However, it was the experiences outside of the “traditional classroom” that truly set her on her professional path. Notably, the ECITY program, dedicated to nurturing youth entrepreneurship, and the Freedom School program, designed to instilling a passion for reading amongst young minds, both playing pivotal roles in shaping her career trajectory.

Over the last 15 years, Smith has taken pride in her role as an educator, focusing primarily on nurturing the intellectual growth of middle and high school students. Her instructional portfolio encompasses a diverse range of subjects such as entrepreneurship, character/leadership development, financial literacy, and career preparedness. Thus far, her work has left an impact on more than 6,000 young minds and the number continues to grow.

Currently, Smith serves as the Educational Engagement Manager at The City Club of Cleveland and is a recent graduate of the Cleveland Leadership Center’s Bridge Builders program.