The winners of the 2025 Jeff Marine Bull Ring New Venture Competition gather on stage at the University Student Union Grand Salon on Thursday, April 24, 2025. (Bryan Rodgers / CSUN)

Tim Attewell pitches the “CoVolta” battery to the panel of judges.(Bryan Rodgers / CSUN)

Grand prize winner Tim Attewell (center) poses for a photo with Chandra Subramaniam, dean of the David Nazarian College of Business and Economics (right) and CSUN alumnus Jon Georgio ’83. (Bryan Rodgers / CSUN)

The team behind “Chronoflow,” an AI project management platform, won second place and the “Best in Technology” prize. (Bryan Rodgers / CSUN)

Brittany Evans won 3rd place with “Sassy Mouth Straws”— reusable and customizable boba straws. (Bryan Rodgers / CSUN)

A former film director, field producer and writer-turned-engineering grad student took the top prize at the 2025 Jeff Marine Bull Ring New Venture Competition final pitch event, on April 24, 2025— a $10,000 check for his invention aimed at creating a safe and stable power grid, particularly in emergencies. The Bull Ring is CSUN’s version of the popular show “Shark Tank” and spearheaded by the David Nazarian College of Business and Economics. 

Grand prize winner Tim Attewell, 37, is working toward a master’s degree in engineering management in CSUN’s College of Engineering and Computer Science. He’s the founder of “CoVolta,” where he’s working with his sister, Laura, and fellow engineering graduate student Vedi Vartani to bring his idea to fruition: to equip homes with small batteries, located behind a homeowner’s refrigerator, as a way to store power.

The idea came to him, Attewell said, while he was watching the California Independent System Operator app, which provides real-time information about the state’s power grid conditions.

“I felt that visceral frustration when I watched demand spike just as solar energy declined in the evening, and it was that disparity that drove me toward pushing for a solution,” Attewell said.

Attewell outlined for the Bull Ring competition judges the two main purposes for his battery: to act as backup power for critical appliances, such as refrigerators, during blackouts and emergencies; and in normal conditions, to reduce stress on the power grid by automatically switching refrigerators — which are major power drains — to battery power during peak hours. This could help utilities avoid blackouts and keep power grids more stable, he said. This backup power solution also could be particularly helpful in states where electricity grids are already stressed, he added.

Attewell, who has production assistant credits in the Hollywood hits “This is 40” and “The Hangover, Part III,” said he was “speechless” when Bull Ring organizers announced his pitch as the grand prize winner. Attewell’s resume also includes a stint as a field producer on a Discovery Channel survival show called Yukon Men, that was filmed in a remote village in Alaska. His career switch, from filmmaking to engineering, was a big jump — but the lure of problem-solving brought him back to school, he noted.

“It was ideas like this that made me want to change to engineering,” Attewell said.

His invention also won the competition’s “Audience Choice Award,” which will provide him with an additional $2,500. He said he’ll use the prize money to pay for manufacturing a battery prototype.

Chandra Subramaniam, dean of the David Nazarian College of Business and Economics, said he’s always impressed with participating students’ inventions.

“Students these days blow my mind, in terms of what they can think of or what they can come up with, what they see [as] gaps in society” where innovation is needed, he said.

Second place ($5,000) went to the team of computer science and business management students behind “Chronoflow,” an AI-powered project management platform. Third place ($2,500) was awarded to the creator of “Sassy Mouth Straws,” a line of reuseable and customizable boba and cocktail straws, to help event planners and consumers reduce plastic waste.

The two other finalists tied for the Best in Technology Award. “AutoEdit” is an AI-powered software add-on for video editing software. “Cinerra” is a company offering drone customization and pilot services for film, broadcast and commercial productions. Each team won $2,500.

The competition’s Social Impact Award ($2,500) went to the “New Earth Regeneration Initiative,” which is a method to process organic waste into soil and divert it from landfills.

The prizes are funded by alumnus Jeff Marine and his family.

Each of the five finalist teams had seven minutes to make their business and product presentations to the panel of four judges — who, in turn, had five minutes to ask questions of each presenter. The distinguished judges for this year’s final included alumnus Steven Van Alen, CEO of Sleepyhead and winner of the 2017 Bull Ring Grand Prize; Daniela Corrente, chief strategy and business development officer with Suma Wealth; Ugwunna Ikepeowo, chief impact officer with Kwanza Jones and Jose´ E. Feliciano Initiative; Jason Pratts, CEO of Kumo and BuildYourOrg. CSUN alumnus Jon Georgio ’83 gave the keynote address.

This is the tenth year for the Jeff Marine Bull Ring New Venture Competition, which provides an entire program for students — from any academic department — in developing their business ideas. In the weeks leading up to the event, teams are encouraged to take part in training that includes pitch coaching, one-on-one mentoring and workshops.

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