Grain Wins Grand Prize at 11th Jeff Marine Bull Ring Competition

Grain captured the grand prize of $10,000 at the 11th annual Jeff Marine Bull Ring New Venture Competition for its innovative streaming platform that enables independent filmmakers to self-distribute and earn a profit from their films. Grain also earned the Audience Choice Award. Grain: Carl Fassberg, Skyler Gommeren and Maxwell Fung

The final event, held April 23 at the USU Grand Salon, brought together five student teams—Vylist, Marketers Box, listabid, Hued and Grain— from across campus to pitch their ventures to a panel of distinguished judges in a fast-paced, two-hour competition.

Awards:

Second Place ($5,000)

Vylist — Michelle Montalban and Kevin Payumo

Vylist is a secondhand clothing marketplace that helps resellers list inventory at scale by using AI to extract item details, pricing and catalog-ready images from simple walkthrough videos.

Third Place ($2,000)

Listabid — Kamyar Sepanlou and Kailo Owhadi

Listabid is a prop-tech platform where home sellers post properties and realtors compete based on commission rates and experience, allowing sellers to choose the best agent for their needs.

Semi Finalists:

Social Impact Award ($1,000)

VoucherReady — Bailey Simien (McKee) and Yeri Rodriguez

VoucherReady focuses on creating solutions that improve access and efficiency in voucher-based systems, aiming to deliver meaningful community impact.

Best Use of Technology Award ($1,000)

PolicyProof AI — Devashish Arora and Sumedha Uppal

PolicyProof AI leverages advanced technology to streamline and enhance policy analysis and verification processes.

The event featured keynote speaker Paul Jennings, principal and CEO of PCS Energy, and a panel of judges, including US Bank’s Christina Ketsoyan, restaurateur Frank Leon, CSUN graduate and long-time supporter Harvey Bookstein and Diamond Landscaping founder Brian Diamond. The competition was hosted by Wendy Greuel, Nazarian College executive-in-residence and civic leader.