DifferenceMaker Sandi DeRuntz Shares Entrepreneurial Journey with ZipperBuddy

A row of a half dozen young people stand and applaud while smiling. Image by Ed Brennen
Manning School of Business students, from middle left, Dhruv Shenoy, Diego Carrero and Quinn O'Brien react to a "creative infusion" presentation during IDEA Con 2024 at Boston University.

10/29/2024
By Ed Brennen

Senior liberal arts major Sandi DeRuntz was up until almost 4 a.m. the night before she was to speak at IDEA Con 2024, an innovation conference hosted by Boston University that draws hundreds of college students from across New England.

DeRuntz wasn’t up late rehearsing her “IGNITE” presentation, however. She was working frantically to make sure that online sales of her adaptive clothing device ZipperBuddy could go live while she was on the conference stage.

“I was trying not to cry, I was so excited,” said DeRuntz, who developed ZipperBuddy for a course called Adaptive Devices for Better Life and the Rist DifferenceMaker program at UMass Lowell. “I’ve been working so hard for the last year trying to make this happen, and I actually did it.”

DeRuntz was among more than a dozen UML students at IDEA Con, a free daylong event that features workshops on creativity, pitching, networking and more. The Manning School of Business’ Jack M. Wilson Center for Entrepreneurship has served as a conference partner for the past three years, along with schools such as Harvard, MIT, Northeastern and Tufts.

A person with dark hair and glasses makes a presentation on a stage. There is a walker next to her and a projection screen behind her. Image by Ed Brennen
Senior liberal arts major Sandi DeRuntz delivers an IGNITE talk about her venture, ZipperBuddy, at IDEA Con.
“I’m excited to be here and learn more from other entrepreneurs,” said Elliot Johnson, a senior applied biomedical sciences major who is eyeing a career that combines entrepreneurship with humanitarian aid or disaster preparedness.

Johnson, who is from Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts, discovered an interest in entrepreneurship after competing in the 2023 DifferenceMaker Idea Challenge. He and his team won the $4,000 Contribution to a Healthier Lifestyle award for NeuroLyze, a device that can be inserted inside a helmet to measure the impact that athletes endure in contact sports.

Johnson attended the conference with fellow DifferenceMaker alum Michael McCarthy, a junior mechanical engineering major from Taunton, Massachusetts. 

“I didn’t expect to talk to a lot of engineers here, but I’ve met a few and we’ve been able to discuss different 3D printing projects we’ve worked on,” said McCarthy, whose team won the $4,000 Commitment to a Sustainable Environment award for their solar-powered drone Solar Sails at the 2023 Idea Challenge.

Julia Shea, a junior English major with a concentration in journalism and professional writing, was attending her second IDEA Con.

Thirteen young people stand in a line, posing for a photo outside of a college's student union. Image by Ed Brennen
A group of UML students arrive at Boston University for IDEA Con, which was co-sponsored by the Wilson Center for Entrepreneurship.
“I love learning about other people’s ideas and connecting with students from other schools like Harvard, BU and Northeastern,” said Shea, who is from Walpole, Massachusetts.

As president of the Entrepreneurial Ventures Association, junior business major Quinn O’Brien was looking to bring ideas back to the student organization.

“Local business is so important to the American economy, so I’m glad to see so many ideas for small startup businesses here,” said O’Brien, who is from Westwood, Massachusetts.

Virginie Assaf, a first-year international business and marketing student from Methuen, Massachusetts, enjoyed a session on identifying problems to solve.

“As a freshman, any experience I can get is good,” said Assaf, who also enjoyed the IGNITE talks by DeRuntz and three other young entrepreneurs. “They weren’t like the usual TED Talk where you sit and take notes; they were very engaging and geared toward younger people.”

A man wearing glasses and a blazer speaks into a microphone while pointing to his head with his left hand. Image by Ed Brennen
Michael Ciuchta, professor of marketing, entrepreneurship and innovation in the Manning School of Business, leads a session on pitching at IDEA Con.
Michael Ciuchta, a professor of marketing, entrepreneurship and innovation (MEI) in the Manning School, led a standing-room-only session on how to pitch yourself, your story and your idea.

“It’s good for our students to get into the city and know that they are part of a broader ecosystem of other people who are interested in the same things they are,” he said.

Entrepreneurship is booming in the United States. Last year, there were a record 5.5 million applications to start businesses, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. So far this year, there have been 430,000 new business applications per month, which is 50% more than in 2019, according to the U.S. Department of Treasury.

DeRuntz is excited to join the surge with ZipperBuddy, an adaptive clothing device that helps people with mobility challenges to close their jackets. During her IGNITE talk, she described the culture of innovation and entrepreneurship at UML, where she won the $4,000 Contribution to a Healthier Lifestyle award at the 2024 Idea Challenge.

Thanks to a recent $8,000 I-Corps Site grant, which she learned about from the DifferenceMaker program, DeRuntz is able to make 100 ZipperBuddy prototypes — and announce on stage that sales had launched online.

“The emails are already coming in with people asking to buy them,” DeRuntz said after taking part in an “ask me anything” session with other IGNITE speakers. “I’m running on adrenaline, but it’s so cool to have the opportunity to be here and learn about all these different entrepreneurial programs.”

Share