MBA student, engineering and business alumni team up to take top prize at UCF’s Annual Shark Tank-Style Competition
A health care consulting and technology company that builds AI systems aimed at reducing administrative burden and preventing revenue leakage took home the top prize of $12,000 and more than $27,000 in in-kind services at last week’s 2026 Joust New Venture Championship. The competition is UCF’s version of the ABC TV show Shark Tank and it is open to all UCF students.
This year’s winning team, CareFlo, was led by current MBA student Jad-Alexander Shalhoub ’19, who is also a UCF engineering alum and former student body vice president, along with engineering alum Joshua Boloña ’19 and business alum John Alex Kurutz ’21.
“The CareFlo team…walked away with $12,000 to invest back into building Deacon, a tool designed to help revenue cycle for the healthcare practices that need it most,” Shalhoub wrote in a LinkedIn post. “Nights like this remind me we’re onto something…Proud of this team, and we’re just getting started. A sincere thank you to the coaches and mentors who helped sharpen the pitch.”
Hosted by the College of Business’ Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership, UCF’s annual premier startup showcase sees student competitors pitch their business models to a panel of industry professionals and entrepreneurs for the chance to win money and other valuable resources for their venture.
“This competition is what it looks like when ideas meet action, when learning turns into doing. As Florida’s Technological University, UCF does not separate ideas from execution, because that is what today’s economy demands and what tomorrow’s economy will be built on,” said UCF President Alexander N. Cartwright, speaking from the stage before the winners were announced. “Competitions like the Joust matter because they create powerful moments where connections, insights and opportunities emerge that turn ideas into products, students into founders and potential into progress.”
Led by computer science majors Jordan Campbell and Aridsondez Jerome, Luro finished second and earned $7,000 for a real-time intelligence platform for live streaming that monitors and understands video, audio and chat streams as they happen.
Third place went to computer science majors Rahul Ghosh and Wei-Lin Chou and their company TenX, a project-based hiring assessment tool that measures how engineers use AI tools to solve practical engineering problems. Ghosh and Chou earned $4,000.
Rounding out the top four was GeriTrac with the freshman-led team of Om Telang, a biomedical sciences major, and Amit Prasad, a computer science major. The geriatric care revenue gap-closing company that automates Medicare compliance earned $2,000.
The four student teams made their pitches on stage at the Student Union to a live audience and a panel of industry-leading experts, entrepreneurs and College of Business Hall of Famers. The judges included 2017 Hall of Fame inductee Sonya Dixon ’96, ’98, president of Kimaya Real Estate; 2026 inductees Taylor A. Gerring ’05, co-founding member of Ethereum; and Serguei Melnik ’98MS, president and chairman of the board of directors, at Nutriband, Inc.; Michael Cantrell, former Coca-Cola executive; and Miriam Mitchell, chief lending officer at Addition Financial.
“Our Joust Entrepreneurship Challenge events have become a leading platform for UCF’s creative talent to connect with community leaders and startup advocates,” said Cameron Ford, founding director for Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership, and executive director of the UCF Blackstone LaunchPad. “The progression from this year’s Ideas Tournament to our Innovation Tournament to, finally, our Joust New Venture Championship engaged over 250 students and almost 100 expert community judges. These connections promote learning, creativity, collaboration and startup success needed to enrich our campus and our community.”
Cash award sponsors for the Joust included the Michael & Colleen O’Donnell Family Foundation, Jeff’s Bagel Run (Justin Wetherill ’07) and PETE Learning (Jacque Fu ’08). In-Kind Essential Services sponsors awarded to the Joust Champion include BK Consulting Services, Design Theory, Orlando Law Group, Serverizz, Think Integrated and UCF’s Business Incubation Program.